Barbaro odds are now poor

[belle]

in his eyes he looks like he is doing well...but gosh he is thin.
best wishes to barabaro

 

[rainbowtrout]

silly question, but can they not just mildly sedate him so he is less active? Like horse valium?

 

[Lorelei]

Wait a minute.....this horse has suffered from mechanical founder and has a fracture on the other leg....what on earth is he doing out of his stable and walking around?????? When a horse has ANY type of laminitis/founder, the sensitive laminae are severely injured and tearing, further allowing the pedal bone to sink or rotate. Absolute box rest is mandatory.

However he is in expert hands and I guess they know what is best for him right now.

 

[Lorelei]

RT - I should imagine he is already on opiates for the pain, which will be helping to sedate him too. I don't know how exactly they are managing his pain as it is a very complicated situation here with the founder and the fracture, but I should think he is receiving a dose of analgesia and or a sedative such as ACP or both. Laminitis is very difficult to medicate, horses feel pain differently and you don't want to give them too much with laminitis as you don't want them walking around on pain free feet, as too much movement can further compromize the laminae, but you want to give them enough to be comfortable, yet so they can still feel the pain and move accordingly. Ideally a sedative is useful as this encourages them to lay down and take the weight off their feet.

However with the fracture too, you don't want Barbaro to be too sedated, so it will be a juggling act for his caregivers to keep him comfortable yet lucid.

 

[rainbowtrout]

I keep thinking this must be like when my dog got sick but on SUCH a bigger scale. We could not lift Sake to go to the bathroom/walk around because he is just too heavy, but he was still mentally fine (he had a neurological condition where his legs didn''t work right). But we still managed to get him out with three people lifting.


Barbaro, though---impossible to just move him around like a smaller animal or force him to do anything he doesn''t want to, like lie down. Even if his mental state is still clear, it must be such a challange just to move him around/get him to rest.

 

[Mannequin]

Date: 7/15/2006 11:51:04 AM
Author: Lorelei
Wait a minute.....this horse has suffered from mechanical founder and has a fracture on the other leg....what on earth is he doing out of his stable and walking around?????? When a horse has ANY type of laminitis/founder, the sensitive laminae are severely injured and tearing, further allowing the pedal bone to sink or rotate. Absolute box rest is mandatory.

My thoughts too, Lorelei.

Even with the multiple types of leg casts they are using on him, the horse should not be out of that stall. It was reported that he was out of the sling for twelve hours recently, and that made me shake my head in disbelief.

 

[Beacon]

I just read this morning that he had a good night last night and may be doing just a little bit better. Hope for the best....

 

[aussiegirl23]

Looks like Barbaro is taking a turn for the better ... check out the article

http://sports.yahoo.com/rah/news?slug=ap-barbaro&prov=ap&type=lgns

Keep your fingers crossed,

Aussiegirl : p

 

[Lorelei]

It is still early days and he has a long way to go, no one yet can predict if Barbaro will recover, but he is hanging in there! Also he hasn''t lost his will to live and fight by the sound of it which is a big plus with a horse in his condition. Great work Barbaro, keep it up!

 

[FireGoddess]

I was just coming over here to post this! Yay! Not out of the woods, but some good news is welcome for sure.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/more/08/14/bc.rac.barbaro.ap/index.html?cnn=yes

 

[Lorelei]

Clever boy doing as well as he is!!! I can''t understand though why he is even out of his stable, especially with the laminitis in his other foot, it is still very early days to be allowing him that amount of movement. I would be expecting him to be confined to his stable for around 4 to 5 months with the laminitis to stabilize the foot and allow some of the damage to grow out.

 

[BeaudryBabe]

Date: 8/15/2006 7:48:15 PM
Author: FireGoddess
I was just coming over here to post this! Yay! Not out of the woods, but some good news is welcome for sure.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/more/08/14/bc.rac.barbaro.ap/index.html?cnn=yes

I did see this, how wonderful! I know he has a long haul, but things seem to be looking up.

Sweet boy is on the road to recovery, YAY!

 

[Madam Bijoux]

I'm thinking that animals get depressed when they're confined to the same small space for a long time, the same as people do. The short trips outside are probably doing his spirits good.

August 17 update: He isn't using the sling any more.