Well goodness sakes!
Heh... I guess I'm a little surprised at this, and they'd only be able to leave green grass with him IF he ate it right away. I've always been well-warned about feeding grass clippings (or allowing them to eat green grass clippings) after mowing, because cut green grass sours badly if it's not mature, it doesn't dry like mature hay when it's cut.
another common question raised has been whether Barbaro would need additional support for his right hind leg should he eventually recover well enough to be let out in a paddock. Hospital officials said in the release that Barbaro would, ideally, need little additional support once his leg is fully healed. His foot should touch the ground as normal, although the angle of the fetlock may be different.
I'm curious about the last sentence I underlined and why they phrased it that way. If the ankle is fused, surely it won't flex the way it would to move normally, and he'd have a rather hitchy gait, but I'd think the angle they fused it at would be his normal standing angle.
Do you suppose that's what they mean, that his fused ankle will make him step wonky on that side but that they think it should be strong?
About the grass ... I think last week they said people on the staff were doing the hand-picking. Wouldn't they maybe have some special grass patches or a grass farm in concert with the ag school? Or *is* there an ag school at Penn?
I was picturing something like wheatgrass that they put in health food smoothees (yecch) or oatgrass - some tallgrass of some kind. Or, whatever raw stuff they make hay out of, I guess, except for alfalfa, because they name that separately.
Anyway, by hand-picked, I assumed it was pulled up by the roots, thus eliminating any worry about the "cut" conditions or drying out.
Hah - what do I know?