He's Been a Long Shot Before

All the cards and letters of innocent children and animal lovers have not helped Barbaro in his recovery. Barbaro who broke his right hind leg in the Preakness, had 23 screws inserted into that leg. Screws in the lower bones became infected so doctors had to do surgery to clean the infection site and remove and replace the screws. That operation was successful but the problem caused Barbaro to put too much weight on his left hind leg and another life threatening problem developed there.
He developed laminitis (an inflamation of the tissue that bonds the horse's bone to the inner wall of the hoof) and is in "poor" condition and considered a "long shot" to survive.
Right now Barbaro is on pain management and is comfortable, but if he stops eating or shows signs of distress he will be put down.
His owners insist he being kept alive because they think he can recover and because they love him. Not because of the potential for lucrative stud fees. In fact, they say that even if he does recover he may not be able to assume the position necessary to knock up a mare. And thoroughbred horses cannot be born through artificial insemination.
I fear that we are approaching a very sad end to a very sad tale.