“I wanted a very talented rider who wanted to go places,”
Neil adds. “Christian works so hard.” The pair won their first Grand Prix together in late 2012.
Selena had just proven she was reliable and eager to jump the bigger courses at the national Grand Prix level. “She’s very calm in the stall and when grooming but she gets excited in the warm up ring. You have to watch her a little bit with noise and distractions,” Christian explains. “She has a distinct personality,” says Neil. “She’s a sweet-
heart now, but she loves to compete. When you see her in the chute before she goes in the ring, her little ears are forward and her eyes are glistening. She loves the jump-off. She’s the fastest thing on four legs.” Selena had a big year in 2013, winning several Grands
Prix in the Midwest. Neil recalls the time in July 2013 when she won the LEGIS Grand Prix of Los Angeles. “She knows when she wins. In the photo of us at that Grand Prix, she’s just smiling from ear to ear, covered in ribbons, in the spotlight.”
DISAPPOINTING INJURIES “One minute you’re at the top, the next minute you’re down,” Neil muses. Suddenly his top mare was laid up for all 2014 and half of 2015. Sadly, Serena was diagnosed and treated for not one, but two injuries. “She had a little cyst on her bone,” says Christian. “We did a little surgery on the cyst and filled it in. She also had a tear in a branch of the hind suspensory.” The diagnoses were serious, not giving much hope for
Selena to return to jumping 1.60-meter courses again. In any discipline, a torn suspensory ligament often means retirement. Neil recalls talking with the veterinarians. “They weren’t very optimistic when they initially told me about the [suspensory] injury,” he says. But both he and Christian felt that their tough mare would overcome the dismal prognosis.
WORKING ON HER COMEBACK “With suspensory injuries, it’s all about time and not rush- ing the horse back,” says Neil. He had the mare at two clin- ics in Texas, one in Sherman and also Selway Equine Therapy Center in Whitesboro. “If you or I were ill, we’d want those vets treating us! Whatever she needed, she got. They were very patient and had great facilities.” At Selway, Selena’s regimen included cold saltwater ther-
apy and exercising in an underwater treadmill. “The aqua therapy helped keep her in shape,” says Neil. “She went in that swimming trench. They were very patient with her and didn’t force her. Their motto was, ‘Take your time, lady.’” Selena went swimming every day and had cold saltwa-
ter baths where she stood in an equine spa that holds 530 gallons of saltwater at 35° F. The temperature reduces heat and inflammation. The water’s salt content and aeration aid the healing of leg injuries. Neil describes the spa as a giant bathtub. “They load the horse in the spa and then they flood
26 May/June 2016 Bred for the Grand Prix
NKH Selena was foaled in 2005 in Germany at the farm of well-known breeder Ludger Emke, of Cloppenburg (in Oldenburg). Her birth name was Chances R. Her sire Stakkato Gold (Stakkato x Werther) was named 2015 Hannoverian Stallion of the Year by the Hannoverian Verband. Both his
sire Stakkato and
damsire Werther also earned this honor in 2007 and 1992 respectively. The dam of NKH Selena was Cali- fornia Dream (Quattro B x Escudo I). Selena’s pedi- gree includes generations of top jumper sires: Servus, Wendekreis, Libero H, Galoubet, Espri and Calypso II.
Photo: NKH Selena and Christian Heineking at HITS Thermal Desert Circuit in 2016.
it. I told them, ‘You’re not going to get her in that.’” But his mare surprised him and was agreeable. To summarize, Neil explains their course of treatments.
“We did the operation, some stem cell treatment and then the water therapies. Next we decided to turn her out in a field.”
“She spent a good six months in the rehabilitation place, and then we turned her out for almost a year,” Christian adds. “She didn’t like that field,” says Neil. “We had an old pony in
there with her. I was there when they took her down, and she put that pony in its place in 30 or 40 seconds. That poor guy knew exactly who was wearing the pants, and it wasn’t him!” While Selena was “on the bench,” her owner and trainer
suspected she wanted to get back in the barn where she’d receive a lot of attention. “She likes to work,” says Christian.,
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