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Pleasure´s DreamCatcherFebruary 17th, 2004
He will be
3 years old in May, my little spotted TWH gelding aka Wolfie.
I imported
his dam, Bullet's Secret Affair in foal to Got Rox Wolfman almost 4
years ago, aiming for a spotted studcolt that I wanted to use as a
breedingstallion IF he was good enough
gaitwise without inheritable deseases, a good disposition and
without conformational flaws.... You can imagine how happy I was when we found a spotted studcolt nursing with his dam
on May 8th 2001.
Problems
started within 10 days after he was born. He was laim, the vet
couldn't figure out what was wrong. Wolfie probably made a wrong move or
something. To make a long story short, 3 weeks later we discovered in
the vetenarianclinic a small chip of his pelvis had broken of,
causing him pain. To avoid the pain he put his weight on his frontlegs resulting in short tendons. We had to strech the tendons by
using painkillers and lowering the heels of his hooves. (we didn't
cut the tendons!!) Wolfie was stalled for 12 weeks in total on a hard
survace (advised). Before he was even 4 months old he was gelded.
No more DreamCatching stallion in Belgium. Reason for gelding him was a
scrotum hernia which can be inheritable. This surgery put him
inside a stable for another 3 weeks.Of course I was dissapointed but I
had no choice. When promoting the breed, wanting to breed for
quality horses, you sometimes have to make hard decisions. At least I still had my
little Wolfie and my dream of galoping through the woods & accross
the fields on his back. A year went by without major problems (am
skipping the little 'things').
May 2003,
Wolfie just turned 2 and I started to do some groundwork with him in the
roundpen. Soon I discovered his left hock was swoolen, after consulting
the vet we had x-rays made. Conclusion: OCD in one leg (indicating an
injury and no inheritable factor), it was not 'just a bonechip' but the
biggest the experts had ever seen. Great, thanks!
I've cried
hours in a row. I was certain this time I would loose this little
annoying bugger during surgery or something. I was convinced it wasn't
meant to be, I would never ride Wolfie. I even decided where to burry
him in our pasture (under the Cherry tree) even though that is forbidden
in Europe. They told me if I was lucky, he might be rideable but his
leftleg would always be thicker, swoolen.
I insisted
on watching the surgery and even got the whole precedure on DVD. The bone chips are on the closet in our livingroom. 8 weeks stabling
24/7, followed by 4 weeks stabling with 10 minutes dogwalking on a leadline
per day
during the hot summertime (85-90ies). The specialists knew Wolfie was
special, a Tennessee Walking Horse, 1 of 7 in Belgium. They did
everything they could to keep him on his feet, without pain and happy on
the long term.
Last month
I slowly started riding Wolfie using a bosal and look how
he was performing today! He made it so far, alive and kicking, sound as
can be. Of course he has many years in front of him and I am sure he
will need to see the vet every now and then but my dream has been
fulfilled by riding Wolfie, starting him myself and I'm very proud
of his progress.
He's my
DreamCatcher after all......
Sandra Dreams are nothing unless you go out to make them happen... Februari 2004
April 2004
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