by Kirk Gollwitzer

Evangeline LaMore and her husband, Terry, moved to Tryon eight years ago from Weston, Conn., a bedroom suburb of NYC.

Evangeline couldn’t wait to send her Appendix Quarter horse gelding ”Zorro” to the lovely green pastures of Polk County. Unfortunately, things did not work out as well as expected for Zorro. Recurring colic every April, along with a stall-rest suspensory ligament injury (following stem cell implants), made life very interesting to say the least.

LaMore couldn’t figure out why the gelding would colic every spring, although she did suspect it was something he was eating out there. Sure enough, one spring, Zorro needed colic surgery. While under anesthesia, Dr. Hay took a biopsy of his colon. It turned out to be an immune system deficiency, an allergic reaction to a pasture, particularly clover and spring perennials.

A horse allergic to a pasture?

“Yep,” said LaMore. “Three years later, Zorro is now sound and loves his life; he enjoys trail riding and stays in a dry lot, eating alfalfa four times a day!”

Then LaMore bought  “Poppy,” a tough little mare shortly after moving to Tryon. Not long after Zorro’s recovery from a suspensory ligament injury, six-months rehab and colic surgery and another six-months of rehab, little Poppy was cast in her stall overnight with a hind leg stuck in between the rungs of the stall partition.

Once Terry cut the leg out of the rungs with a reciprocating saw, Dr. Nunes arrived to assess the situation. Poppy was loaded up on the trailer where she would spend a long time recovering at Tryon Equine.

The poor mares head swelled up, and her third eyelid was damaged from lying on the stall floor, struggling to get up. Her hind leg was in a full bandage wrap for a long time. She has since recovered and is in good shape after six months of rehab, including Dr. Baker and her acupuncture. The story doesn’t end there.

Poppy was on stall rest once more for an injured lateral collateral ligament to her right foreleg,  some months after recuperating from being cast.  This was when Poppy learned that she loved swimming at Equine Hydro/Aquatred Therapy. Poppy is sound now, and enjoys dressage and some cross-country schooling. LaMore got through it all with the help of her trainer, Lydia Juenger, and did her own rehab riding for both horses.

“This sure teaches one a lot about patience; one has to truly love horses to get through the tough times.   It takes a lot of dedication and perseverance but it can be done,” LaMore said. “Having a great supportive spouse with every tool on the planet is good too!”

 

Editor’s note: Watch weekly on Thursdays for equestrian-themed articles from freelance writer Kirk Gollwitzer.