• Penn Veterinary Medicine’s page includes high-resolution photos showing Barbaro in therapy sessions and even his X-rays. The site features a message board for fans across the globe to sign and send encouraging thoughts.
• The United States Equestrian Federation set up an e-mail address for Barbaro’s trainer Michael Matz after receiving more than 4,000 messages in the first few days after the injury, during the Preakness race.
• In its coverage of the Triple Crown race, the Associated Press’s blog has been documenting the latest on Barbaro.
• The Derby’s web site lists top headlines about Barbaro and wishes him a successful recovery.

Heather Green of Business Week’s Blogspotting makes the case that Barbaro should have his own blog to “communicate with fans.” While you can imagine Barbaro pounding the keyboard, he probably doesn’t need to put any extra weight on that back right leg just now.

“But using blogs for emergency situations always seemed like a smart idea to me. And now here's one, where people are hungry for information about the colt,” Green said in her post. “And this is going to be an ongoing thing, since it will take months before they know if he is healing well.”

In this crisis, and in others I can imagine, a blog could fill the need for up-to-the-minute public information and would be a useful tool for answering questions and calming fears. For example, realizing the ease and convenience of today’s available technology, Hill and Knowlton used their company’s blogs to relay important information during the London bombings last year.