sport horse snippets
Under Lock and Key By Gigha Steinman
A rescued PMU gelding overcomes health challenges and makes his way into the hearts of owner and rider alike.
S
ebastian (now named “Keys To My Heart”) start- ed life facing an uncertain future. He is a by- product of the controversial PMU industry that
uses urine from pregnant mares to produce the drug Premarin. As a result, a myriad of unwanted foals are born with uncertain futures. Sebastian was one of the lucky ones; when the United Pegasus Foundation res- cued a load of youngsters from a Canadian PMU farm in 2006, Sebastian was one of them. Karen Douvillier, a registered nurse in California,
found Sebastian online on Craigslist in 2008. His original adopter was looking to “re-home” him and offered him to Karen for free. “He was already stunning because he was so big,”
Karen remembers. Although Karen is a trail rider, she decided to put Sebastian in dressage training to get him going well under saddle. “I didn’t plan to have a dressage horse but he started doing well,” she says. So Karen kept Sebastian in dressage training and also began trail riding him herself. “He kept getting fatter and fatter even though
he was in training,” Karen recalls. “Looking back now I know why, but then we all just wondered why he was so fat.” Sebastian began showing in recognized dressage competitions with trainer Amber Gabriel in 2011. He was earning scores in the upper 60s at Training Level but Karen and Amber continued to struggle with his weight. 2013 was a turning point for Sebastian. That
year he tripped and fell in the arena and injured his neck. In addition, he was eliminated for lameness while competing for the first time at First Level. He remained overweight and looked out of shape, even though he was being ridden regularly. “I can remem- ber sitting in his stall crying and asking myself ‘what am I going to do with you?’” Karen recalls. “People were telling me I should give up on him or I should put him to sleep, but he was so stunning. I didn’t want to give up on him.”
Photos courtesy Karen Douvillier
ABOVE: Young rider Shelby Ann Kearns warming up Sebastian at a show in 2014. OPPOSITE: Shelby and Sebastian win a First Level J/YR championship last year.
Karen set out to do whatever it took to figure
out what was wrong with her beloved Sebastian. She soon got answers. A thorough veterinary exam revealed a deep tissue injury in his neck, likely from the fall earlier that year. At a friend’s suggestion, she also had him tested for insulin resistance and he was “off the charts,” according to Karen. “I knew we’d won when we got the results of the blood test. Now that we knew what was wrong with him we could help him.” Sebastian was given six months off. He received
acupuncture and massages for his neck, and Karen cut all sugars, carbohydrates, and grains out of his diet. “Discovering he was insulin resistant saved his life and he lost 500 pounds the first year,” she recalls. Meanwhile Karen learned of a local teenager,
Shelby Ann Kearns, who was eager for a horse to ride. “She loved Sebastian and she was so happy to ride him that she would sit in his stall at night and talk to him,” says Karen.
Warmbloods Today 87
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