The Fourth

You may have noticed in my last post I mentioned having four horses. But wait..I thought I only owned three? There is Riesling, Czoltar, and newly acquired green bean Merlot. 

And then there was four. 

I want to say I briefly mentioned unicorn mare a few times in passing on my blog, but I'm also too lazy to go read back my posts. 

Back in early spring, Best Trainer CJ got bombarded with calls from an unknown number for days. Because her phone number is on the internet, she avoids calls from people she doesn't know and lets them leave her a voicemail if they want her to call them back. Normal. One day, CJ just couldn't take it anymore that this unknown person wouldn't stop calling so she answered. And who would it be? This mares old owner. She will be in my life a lot more so I will call her Horse Show Grandma (hey- she told me she wanted to be that to me!).

 

HSG got CJ's number from a friend and was contacting her to see if she wanted a horse. CJ had a history of getting horses that were injured and needed layup and rehab in the past. Well, HSG had this lovely young mare that had a suspensory injury, and despite having a 99% chance of full recovery and 4 months left of stall rest, decided that she herself was getting older and ultimately it was in the horses best interest to find a new home. 

HSG came to CJ's barn one day to check the facility out (and this is when I met her too!) and see if it would be an optimal home for the mare. You see, HSG had this mare custom made and didn't want money out of her, just really wanted to know she would have an amazing life. After some talk and HSG approving of CJ and her facilities, CJ would be receiving the mare for $1 and provide her a good home and also breed her (HSG didn't want to see her sit and do nothing so they both thought breeding her was a good alternative to her not being a riding horse right now). 

Magical mare came to CJ's  and I was instantly obsessed with her. This lady is drop dead gorgeous! Through CJ and HSG I learned more of her history. Her name is Meghan Leesha Moore. She is a 7 y/o Irish Draught mare that was bred in California for eventing. She did some YEH stuff and competed recognized Intro as well as schooling BN as a young mare. She got hurt while playing in pasture last year and HSG had done stem cell therapy, aqua therapy, and all sorts of other things to make sure she would have a full recovery. 

CJ told me that her plan was to sell her to me as my future forever horse next spring after she had her baby. The plan was perfect because Evita was to be bred at the same time and both of their babies would grow up together! 

But as luck would have it, neither of them took. At this point I was already leasing E so CJ wasn't super bummed that it didn't work out for a baby this year. But it left her with a mare just sitting around her farm and doing nothing. 

She spoke to HSG about her plans, and offered to have me buy Mae for a small price just so CJ would get some of the money back she put into her from shoeing, hay, ect. Of course I couldn't say no. But there was one condition. I wanted Mae to have another ultrasound confirming a full recovery of her suspensory and a vet's clear prognosis with no limitations or future soundness issues. 

Earlier in August I hauled her over to Idaho Equine Hospital where she was foot perfect in her manners from me taking her out of her stall to the ultrasound being performed. The vet I spoke with had studied her previous ultrasounds prior to our appointment and did a lameness evaluation first. 100% sound. Next he ultrasounded (because I don't care how cheap a horse is, I want to be damn sure I'm not getting a money pit) and showed me his findings. While the suspension wasn't "normal" per say, he told me it was 100% healed and having a normal suspensory didn't guarantee perfectly sound. He saw no evidence that there would be any future soundness issues caused by it down the road, and ultimately if she was slowly brought back into fitness, she had no limitations. 

I've paid for her and shes officially mine. Am I a little stupid to buy not only another horse but another horse that already had a major injury? Eh yeah..a little. But professional advice assured me she should be sound. So why not take a little risk? She could be my horse of a lifetime (I mean nothing comes above Riesy) or maybe shes just destined to be a broodmare. But I'd hate myself for not taking the time to find out.