By Mike Curry

Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) winner Barbaro demonstrated considerable discomfort on his right hind foot and underwent a surgery that creates considerable risk on Saturday at the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center.

Barbaro developed a “deep subsolar abscess” on his right foot when he endured a period of discomfort in his laminitic left foot earlier this month. Dean Richardson, D.V.M., chief surgeon at Penn’s veterinary school, removed the cast on Barbaro’s right hind limb on Wednesday, drained the abscess, and replaced the cast with a custom-fabricated plastic and steel orthotic brace to provide additional support and permit easier treatment of the affected area.

Barbaro was not acceptably comfortable in the new brace, however, and on Saturday, Richardson inserted two pins in his right hind cannon in an effort to eliminate all weight bearing from the right foot.

“We attempted to manage the right hind foot in a cast and then in a custom fabricated brace but it was impossible to have access to the foot for treatment as well as acceptable stability and comfort,” Richardson said. “We elected to place his right hind in an external skeletal fixation device in order to provide the foot a chance to heal.

“This means that two steel pins have been placed transversely through his right hind cannon bone,” Richardson continued. “These pins are connected to external sidebars that in turn are connected to a lightweight alloy foot plate. This results in the horse eliminating all weight bearing from the foot; the horse's weight is borne through the pins across his cannon bone.”

The abscess developed after Barbaro, a four-year-old Dynaformer colt owned and bred by Roy and Gretchen Jackson, suffered a ‘significant setback’ in his laminitic left foot. Richardson removed his cast on January 11, discovered a new separation on the inside portion of the left hoof, and removed the damaged tissue.

Richardson said the abscess on his right hind foot was not laminitis.

“It is not laminitis but the undermining of the sole and part of the lateral heel region are potentially just as serious,” Richardson said.

Barbaro similarly developed an abscess on his left foot near the frog in July less than two weeks before he was diagnosed with acute life-threatening laminitis in that foot.

Richardson said Barbaro had another perfect pool recovery from anesthesia, and the colt has been in and out of the sling since the surgery. He said Barbaro’s appetite and attitude were excellent overnight.

Richardson said both front feet also remain a concern for Barbaro, who shattered his right hind limb in the opening stages of the Preakness Stakes (G1) on May 20 and underwent a six-hour operation led by Richardson to fuse his fetlock joint and stabilize the limb.

“We will continue to treat Barbaro aggressively as long as he remains bright, alert and eating,” Richardson said. “This is another significant setback that exemplifies how complex his medical situation remains because both hind limbs have major problems.

“There is significant risk in this approach but we believed it was our only option given the worsening of the right hind foot problem,” Richardson said. “The major risk of the external skeletal fixation device is that the bone bearing the weight can fracture. Unfortunately, we felt we needed to take this risk because this approach offered our only hope of keeping Barbaro acceptably comfortable.”

Mike Curry is a daily news editor for Thoroughbred Times