The Best View in the World: Between Neville's Ears
The last three weeks have obviously been a tough time, picking up the pieces and rebuilding from the tragedy of the barn fire on Memorial Day. With the surviving horses from the fire we have had good news and bad news.
I was elated to finally hop on Neville today for the first time; I took him for a 20minute walk. He’s been spending an hour a day in a hyperbaric chamber, breathing pure oxygenated air, at Fair Hill Therapy (link). He got a scope this morning by Dr. Keane, who was astounded at the improvement in his throat. The burns in his esophagus and wind pipe are healing and it’s great to be riding him again.
Caitlin Silliman’s Catch a Star has also been heading to the hyperbaric chamber every day and her burns are healing with every treatment. Her spirits are high and after a few colic symptom scares she looks to be solidly on the road to recovery.
Otis Barbotiere started tack walking a couple of days ago. He has a few tiny burns on his body and his scope looks fantastic. His future recovery looks promising.
Ambassador’s Rose was the least wounded in the fire; she competed at Plantation Field with Courtney Cooper of C Square Farm (link) and was subsequently sold last weekend.
Poor old Minotaure du Passoir has had the most disheartening recovery: late last week he had a violent attack of colic and was rushed back to New Bolton Center where he underwent a brutal colic surgery, which was very distressing since we thought he was through the danger of the trauma. He arrived back home yesterday and the vets are optimistic for his recovery.
I’d also like to take this opportunity to shout out a huge thank you to everyone who has helped Silva and me out through this tragedy. The support we have felt from this country has been amazing: it seems like every person we know has chipped in and helped out from financial aid to the local farmers donating a bit of hay to the blacksmith not charging on the last shoeing and even the local Amish men donating some time to help muck out some new stalls.
Everyone’s support immensely appreciated. It looks as if we lost about a hundred thousand dollars worth of equipment in the blaze, not including the horses, and the fundraising we’ve received is going toward that and the astronomical vet bills of the recovering horses. Every penny makes a difference; I truly don’t know how I would have got through this without the generosity of the individuals, companies, and generally the equestrian community who have given us the encouragement and ability to press on in our quest to continue with the horses.
-Boyd
The tears started flowing when I read the caption on this picture. It is such a wonderful thing to read after all that has happened. Everyone in the Martin/Dutton "family" continues to be in our thoughts and prayers here in No.VA......
ReplyDeleteThank you for keeping us updated. :)
Thanks for the update, glad most are definitely doing well (sorry for Min). It's really nice to see that in this world of selfishness and "me first" that the community has supported you all as much as it has. You are one of my favorite riders and glad to see things are looking up for the better. Glad to be a part of getting you back on your feet. Take care!
ReplyDeleteI want to Thank Boyd for an incredible experience had by all in his latest clinic. He has incredible resilience to put himself back in the teaching and riding arena so soon after the tragedy and with a game face. We all so appreciate him sharing his talent and insight with all of us at Humphrey's Point Farm and best wishes for his up coming event on QUINN!!!!!
ReplyDeleteSending well wishes & $$ from Texas! You and your team are an inspiration to us all Boyd!!
ReplyDeleteI grew up in hunter jumper land. Since the WEG i've been obsessed with 3-day.. When I was growing up, in the 80's, we had a farm in southern pines. Mike Plumb and Karen Stives brought their crew and stayed one winter. I was 13, or 14, and I was afraid of them. A) they were olympians, and B) while they were there, one of our dogs followed them to the jump field, by the road, and was hit by a car. So i decided 3-day people were really awful people who didn't know what they were doing.
ReplyDeleteIn the last five or six years, i've been watching, reading, and listening. Then the WEG happened, and I was done for. What I've scene is a dedication to their horses unmatched by any other discipline. I do know that people in the professional ranks of any discipline, have worked their butts off to be there!! But the H/J Amateurs leave something to be desired by the show ring. Somebody else grooms their horse, tacks it up, and rides it. When they ride it, if it doesn't work, its the horses fault and they throw it out and buy a new one.
What hooked me on 3-day. From juniors to pro's; Amateur to Olympian; is you go out of your way to understand your horse. And it's never their fault when they are having an off day. Time and time again I see in your blogs how you are always trying to get to the heart of the matter. Your level of commitment, humility, and compassion is unmatched in the horse world. When this horrible fire happened, I wasn't surprised at how this community unified itself into helping in any way possible. It renewed my faith in true horsemanship. Something that seems to be a lost art in other arenas. Thank You so much for that.
I'm truly heartbroken by what happened. But, each and everyone of you should be beyond proud of who you are, what you do, and how you do it. I think you could teach more than just horse people what it means to truly live. I know you've taught me so much already. In the words of my new favorite website Go Eventing!!!
It is so awful that those horses got injured! I am so glad that things are looking up. Thank you Boyd.horse insurance has great insurace for horses.
ReplyDelete