A New Partnership
In late 1997, Christina purchased a show jumper named Gospel Hour. She was making the move from hunters to jumpers, and her trainer felt this was just the horse to ease the transition. Perhaps not a horse for the long term, he said, but an ideal horse to show for a season and then sell at a prof- it. “He didn’t understand yet that the door into my barn is one way only,” she recounts with a laugh. “I’m not good at selling horses–they stay with me forever.”
At first, Christina didn’t even want the horse with the unusual name. “I didn’t think he had any per- sonality and I had seen him misbehave with another rider.” But she started to ride him anyway with her trainer’s encouragement, and the result was a relationship that came together so well those around them could practically hear them click. “His personality just blos- somed. I’d hear this deep ‘whuh huh huh huh huh’whenever I walked into the barn. When I walked into his stall, he’d use his head to pull me into his chest. It was his way of giving me a hug,” she remembers.
The two seemed to be off to a flying start. At their first outing, an “A”show at Brownland Farms in Franklin, Tennessee, the pair took third. “It was like a dream come true. He jumped four feet and it was just effortless. I just remember feeling his power. It was so amazing,” Christina says. “And we were just starting to learn together.”
Signs of Trouble
Unfortunately, what looked to be a promising competitive partnership was cut short. At the end of their first competitive season together, after just one more show together, the 17 hand warm- blood/thoroughbred cross developed lameness issues.
He was just slightly “off” in his hind end, but it was enough to worry his owner. Christina’s veterinarian suspected EPM (Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis, a disease of the central nerv- ous system.) When treated for this, Gospel Hour improved and went back into work, only to
develop a front-end lameness. Further investigation revealed an old injury, a bone chip that had migrated to the suspensory. Next came surgery at Lexington, Kentucky’s prestigious Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital to remove it. Sadly, during his recovery Gospel Hour developed a severe case of laminitis and their vet told Christina and her hus- band Dennis that is was time to let him go. He rec- ommended euthanasia.
Their vet told Christina and her husband Dennis that it
Christina and Dennis agonized over a decision that so many horse owners have struggled with regarding laminitis. “Gospel had this tremendous will to live. He just was not going to give up,” she remembers. “My vet said later that he’d never seen a horse with a heart so big.”When X-rays revealed the damage – the hoof side walls were literally caving in – their determination would soon be tested.
Initial Recovery
was time to let Gospel Hour go. He
recommended euthanasia.
Gospel’s laminitis was so unusual, that Christina’s veterinarian, Dr. Mark Wooten, along with her far- rier, Danny Dunson, together drove almost six hours just to seek advice from an equine podiatrist located in Kentucky. Their consul- tation was with Dr. Ric Redden, based in Versailles, Kentucky, who recommended a course of treat- ment. Upon returning from their trip, together they resectioned the hoof and provided corrective shoeing to support and protect it. Additionally, the tendon was cut surgically to provide additional relief. Gospel Hour would spend more than two months at Dr. Wooten’s local clinic before finally coming home just before
Thanksgiving in 1998. Staffers even threw him a going away party and cookout the day he left for home. By then, Gostpel was able to be gently hand walked and was recovering well.
Christina was now feeling confident that the care Gospel Hour received was paying off. His recovery seemed assured and she happily retired him to their newly purchased farm. He was comfortable and that was all she wanted. “I didn’t care about riding him,” she says. “I just loved him and wanted him with me.”
Her husband Dennis, she adds, had also fallen under
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