"Every day that goes by is good and it gets better as he continues to do well, but he still does not have a normal left hind foot, and he needs a normal left hind foot before he can live a normal life as a horse," Richardson said. "He's better, but he has a long way to go."
Barbaro, the unbeaten winner of the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I), is in good health and progressing well on his road to recovery, Dr. Dean Richardson told reporters in a Nov. 1 press conference during the National Turf Writers' Association dinner in Louisville, Ky."When I left this morning he was in his stall, eating, breathing, doing the things that horses are supposed to do," said Richardson, chief of surgery at the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center. "Michael Matz is here in Kentucky training his horses [for the Breeders' Cup], so [assistant trainer] Peter Brette has been coming daily to walk him and he's doing great. We took x-rays of his right hind leg today and we're probably going to be removing his cast permanently next week."Richardson cautioned that although the news on Barbaro's condition is positive, his recovery will be long and slow. He completely ruled out any possibility of the son of Dynaformer standing at stud in 2007.
