I dont think there is even the slightest chance of him ever racing again. They fused his entire fetlock joint in the surgery as his long pastern bone (proximal phalanx) was in 20+ pieces. With the loading pressure in racing, or even just working, the ankle would most likely just shatter again and the lack of flexibilty in the joint will majorly alter his stride. At this point, it sounds like he’ll be lucky to breed a mare in the shed let alone run again. Quite a shame. The Blood Horse (bloodhorse.com) has been doing an excellent job keeping up to date with his progress, I’ve been checking every couple hours.
Probally with time he might be able to breed the dummy and they will have to be very very very careful when doing so. Just sad to see such a nice horse have something like that. I was watching TVG cause they were keeping me info’ed about the surgery. I hope he does ok while resting.
Miss Potential is one case that comes to mind. She broke her near foreleg (spiral fracture of her cannon bone) and was immobilised in a sling for 16 weeks. She was a Gr.1 winner before the injury and following the injury (still having problems with bone chips in a fetlock) she went on to win important Gr.1s in Australia and New Zealand (including a massive run to down Alinghi). She’s been served by studs three times but slipped each time only to resume successful racing again. Quite a trooper.
A second example is Magical Miss who was retired after she developed two hairline fractures in her cannon bone (left foreleg I think). She was put back in training and ran successfully for a couple of races before being retired to be bred.
I can happen, but with the attitude and psyche of American racing I doubt Barbaro will ever race again. It would be a tragedy if they don’t have the patience to get him to the stallion barn though…
Barbaro will never race again because of the fused joint. It will be very stiff and will be larger than the other 3 legs. The thoroughbred stallion at the Milne’s, Regal Sanction snapped one of his front ankles in a race. They sent him up to New Bolton where he had his ankle fused and now up to the knee the leg is permanantly swollen, and the joint itself is virtually immobilised. Regal is turned out though and can run around, though he does have a limp.
Even if he hadn’t gotten the joint fused he wouldn’t have been able to run, his long pastern bone was in 20+ pieces.
-Just sighs-Im determined to keep a positive attitude about all this, but its just so sad. But deep down, I know Barbaro will come through it all, I just know it! 
Jase I’m not a vet but the type of fractures your describing are no where near as serious as what Barbero sustained. In a hairline fracture the bones stay in alinement, and looks like a very fine line on an x-ray. A spiral fracture(Torsion fracture) is a single break running at a downward angle. Barbaro has a comminuted fracture(multipul breaks), and the breaks are at a joint which compounds the severity. I can relate the Ortho described my wrist as “smashed”. He said I could hope for getting 50% of my mobility back. I have 95% mobility. However after 9 years I still can’t come close to doing the heavy work with it that I did before. That horse’s ankle is a far more fragile structure than my wrist and it takes infinately more punishment. By vitue of where those breaks are even if he could race again He wouldn’t be the same horse.
Remedy-A dummy? Artifical Insemination is not allowed under the Jockey Club. He will be pretty much useless as a stud and will most likely not be sound for very long.
Here’s some more news on Barbaro and the first picture that I have seen of him since the race. Poor guy.
On Good Morning America today they did a segment on Barbaro. They talked to the vet, they had pictures, and video of him after the surgery. They had pictures of his x-rays. It was a lot of info for a segment. He’s doing well they say, but it’s still a 50-50 chance he’ll survive. I hope he survives well. My Little buddy picked the winning horse, and was rubbing it in my face, now she’s a little ball of tears and is expecting me to know if he’s going to be ok. 
I feel so helpless to my little buddy… 
I’ve found some pictures I thought I’d share…
Before surgery looking from the back of his leg
Before Sx looking from (I believe) the outside of the leg
Post-op front view
Post-op side view from the outside of the leg
UPenn’s pool recovery system
A resting Barbaro
So it looks like they have totally fused both the fetlock joint and the pastern joint.
Very sad Preakness moment…the expression on Barbaro’s face was just heartbreaking…“wait a sec, I was going so well, what happened?”
The New Bolton clinic looks awesome…I wish I could’ve sent my mare there when she broke her leg. It was listed as an option, but I didn’t feel comfortable having her ride in a trailer for 8 hours with a broken leg. The raft thing probably would’ve prevented her from rebreaking her leg, though (as the Bloodhorse articles point out) coming out of anaesthesia is only the first step of many in getting through this type of injury. (For Java it was her shoulder/elbow, but it was like Barbaro - basically shattered into many pieces).
Hopefully Barbaro will come out of this OK, though I’m dubious as to how well he’d handle a stud career if he’s putting a lot of strain on that ankle.
Well reading some news, it sounds like he is making some recovery. He is really working to this. And he is perking to young fillies 
like a young colt should they said. and is seeming pretty well.
Well speaking of Regal Sanction, he is going to be on the Channel 3 news tonight at 11PM and tomorrow at 6/7PM. They found out about Regal’s fused ankle and immediately thought it was the same scenario as Barbaro. Jean, who was interviewed kept pointing out that these were two totally different cases though the reporter chose to ignore her and act as though Regal’s injury was the exact copy of Barbaro’s.
After the interview Jean and I were talking and she told me of a horse that was at the Milne’s that had his cannon bone in 20+ pieces. He had to be put down eventually and Jean made a good point.
“Trying to fix a shattered bone is like trying to put Humpty Dumpty back together again, it’s near impossible.”
Granted if anyone can do it Dr. Dean Richardson can, he’s the one who fused Regal’s leg.
I was really bummed when I realized how shattered his leg was. I’m in the process of moving and had to leave right after the interview with the track vet on Derby day and didn’t have much more info than that when I posted (obviously a horse with a fused hind ankle isn’t going to be galloping extensively on it). Hopefully he’ll survive at least, though I don’t know how much flexibility he’ll need on it to breed mares. The recovery pool definately seems awesome. If they’d had that for Ruffian she might’ve made it. Hopefully more nice horses will make it now.
Here’s a link to the New Bolton clinic:
They are posting updates every day at 3 PM.
Edgar Prado is such a class act jock. He really cares about all the horses he rides. He can get his horse to relax and always gives a top notch ride. Check out this photo of him visiting Barbaro:
That is such a sweet picture!!
Update: Barbaro has severe laminitis in his left hind (the uninjured one), and could be euthanized anytime if he doesn’t improve. 
As sad as it is, I think that alot of people kind of expected it. It’s very hard to prevent laminitis in any case where a leg is completely or mostly unable to bear weight. I hope it does improve for his sake though, he’s shown himself to be a fighter.