HOW DO YOU GET ON HIS HEALTH PLAN?:

Barbaro Is Able to Stand After Surgery: Horse's Survival Still a 'Coin Toss' (John Scheinman, 5/23/06, The Washington Post)

Veterinarians announced Sunday night they had successfully fused the shattered right leg of Barbaro, offering reason for optimism after a tumultuous 24 hours during which the racehorse went from Triple Crown contender to struggling for his life.

More than five hours of unprecedented surgery at the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center left doctors cautiously optimistic that Barbaro, who suffered his injury about 50 strides into Saturday's Preakness Stakes, would survive and move on to a career at stud that would be worth millions of dollars. [...]

The surgery required a metal rod and 23 screws to help stabilize a long pastern bone that had shattered into more than 20 pieces.