January
2008, Midwest Mustang Challenge competitor
Crossed the Rainbow Bridge
June 11, 2008, during colic surgery caused by massive
intestinal tumor/adhesions
Memorial
See below for info on Cheveyo's memorial &
final expense fundraising ($1700+)
BREED/AGE
3 yo gelding (late 2005 model), Mustang, approx
15hh, brought in from the
Maverick-Medicine herd in
Nevada
Cheveyo's
memorial fund
(Please tell us
whether the donation is for Cheveyo's med bills or his
memorial fund. If you prefer, you can mail or drop off a
check at our facility.)
Did Cheveyo or his story touch YOU? If it did, please consider
joining many of our supporters and sponsors in donating to the
Cheveyo Memorial Fund. The exact plans aren't finished yet,
but we intend to take the stall Cheveyo so loved to rest in,
build a door out the back, and put up a tall wooden fence
paddock -- a place where other wild mustangs in training, not
yet transitioned to wire fence, can be outside -- something
Cheveyo would've dearly loved. Will you help us with the costs
to complete this tribute to our darling boy who gave us so
much?
Others are donating toward Cheveyo's final medical
expenses, which totaled over $1,700 ($167 on-farm emergency
call; $1,559 hospital). We authorized everything
the vets could do to help him until we had to make a decision
based upon future quality of life. The vets said he had been
in enormous pain for a long time and nothing they could do
would relieve that immediately, and the odds of him having any
type of quality recovery, no matter what the costs were very
very slim. We made the only fair choice for him, and asked
them to lay him to rest directly from the surgery, and paid for an autopsy (necropsy) so that the university and
students can learn from his illness.
As of 7/8/08, we have raised $350
of Cheveyo's $1700 final expenses.
Rest in peace,
sweet prince
Cheveyo had gastric issues apparent
from his first days at CWER, but we had hoped they were
relating to his adjusting to the human world. A bad bout with
colic followed by 2 weeks of stall rest affected his fitness
for Wisconsin, but not his spirit.
Little did we know that the entire
time this darling boy was suffering from a massive tumor in his
abdomen, adhering huge segments of his intestine to the wall
and more. His pain must have been unbelievable, and the vets
are amazed that he thrived so well for so long after the first
bout we encountered.
In early June, Cheveyo was again off
his feed, resting more than usual, and just lackluster. We
began the recommended antibiotics, but the recovery was only
brief this time before he slid backward badly and fast. An
extreme episode of colic ensued, including expelling stomach
contents through his nostrils and mouth (remember horses
normally cannot vomit). An attempt at colic surgery found the
lesions, adhesions, tumor, and Cheveyo was allowed to remain
at rest, out of his misery at last.
This gallant little horse embodied
everything about the American west and the American spirit. He
gave his all for us at every step. We can only hope that he
knew how much he meant to us, and try to ease our own pain
with the knowledge that he suffers no more. Details of the
autopsy are below.
SUMMARY...
Mike Cross of CWER was selected as one of 50 trainers to
compete in the Midwest Mustang Challenge version of the
Extreme Mustang Makeover. On January 9, 2008, he picked up our
competitor, the horse we all now know and love as Cheveyo. The
next 100 days are covered in detail below, but briefly -- once
Cheveyo learned he could trust us, he was the easiest horse we
have ever trained, by far. He had no misconceptions and truly
was 'a clean slate'. He was eager, willing, and affectionate
at every turn.
Cheveyo was a great competitor at Madison and we could not
have been prouder. We believe they ended up 18th out of 53,
and we were the high bidders at the auction and adopted
Cheveyo from the BLM. He will stay with us during the one year
prior to getting his clear title, then he may remain as an
ambassador or we may adopt him out to a CWER approved adopter
through our normal procedures.
NAME THE MUSTANG
CONTEST:
As a fundraiser and to increase awareness and visibility of
this contest and the plight of America's mustangs, we held a "name the mustang" contest.
The winning name was....CHEVEYO!
Do you think
the work our rescue does is important? If so, please
consider donating to CWER:
What:
The Midwest Mustang Challenge is the midwest region's Extreme
Mustang Makeover competition, courtesy of the Mustang
Heritage Foundation.
Briefly,
50 trainers received 50 completely unhandled mustangs out of
the wild, and have 100 days to train each and prepare to
compete for a top prize of $10,000!
Why?
The goal of the competition is to showcase the trainability
and skills of the wild mustang. Significant prize money is
available for the top riders.
When?
The competition is at the Midwest Horse Fair, the largest
horse event of its kind in the region, on April 18th-20th,
2008.
Ridden
"trail class" obstacle course test plus 2 minutes
freestyle.
Saturday
5-630pm:
Purina
Coll.
Finals
-- 4 minute freestyle, props and music encouraged, top 10
horses compete for big prize money!
Saturday
7:30pm:
Purina
Colleseum.
winners
announced during evening show!
Sunday
1-4pm: Approved
adopters only may bid on Cheveyo and the other mustang
competitors.
More
info: You can purchase videos of the '07 Extreme
Mustang Makeover and find info on the other competitions in
this series on the foundation's
website.
4/18-20/2008 See the mustang
compete & bid to Adopt him!
The Midwest Mustang Challenge will be held at the MidWest Horse Fair
(MWHF) on April 18 thru 20, 2008 at Alliant
Energy Center in Madison, WI. The contest is multi-part, and
over multiple days.
The final day all mustangs will be
auctioned off to BLM approved adopters.
Summary:
Cheveyo arrived a truly feral, completely unhandled BLM captured
mustang out of the wild. CWER's top trainer, Mike Cross,
entered and was accepted into the Midwest Mustang Challenge,
and the Mustang Foundation provided CWER this Mustang to
train. He trained be with us for 100 days, then he and Mike
competed in 3 levels of competition at the Midwest Horse Fair.
Cheveyo competed fabulously, and we won the bid to return him
home with us after the contest was over.
History:
Intake
Notes:
We
know very little about this handsome fellow. We
understand that he came out of the wild in 2006, but has
been in a 2500 acre "wild setting", then was
briefly in a feedlot type scenario, unhandled other than
being tranquilized for gelding, shots, coggins tests,
branding.
He
arrived at CWER wearing a neck rope with his BLM ID# and
nothing more. He was loaded through cattle shoots and onto our trailer, and we
drove him home to CWER, then backed the trailer into our
indoor roundpen and let him loose into his new temporary
home. He obviously had no idea why these people suddenly
wanted to be near him, but was happy to be out of the
holding area, out of those tight shoots, and having a
little bit of room to move on his own.
Day 1(click to view video) notes: The mustang arrived safe and sound,
healthy and fit. He has no idea what grain is of any
type. While he started out obviously completely
unhandled and unexposed to human contact, he has already begun
to settle in, and is understanding the same body
language as the other mustang we've
trained. He has already allowed Mike to get within
inches of him, so long as he is cautious and slow about
moving his hands at all.
After several
requests, here is a short clip of the Mustang on Day 1,
being less cooperative. You won't see any
"hysterics" -- we have done our very best at
every point in his training to never do anything that
would cause him to feel scared or trapped. But it does
give the other side of how Cheveyo responded to human
attention at the end of his first full day at CWER.
Day 3
notes: Mike can now walk up to the mustang, and
Cheveyo will take hay out of mike's hand. He still doesn't
know what grain is for -- we poured a bit on top of his
hay, and he left every morsel, and pooped ontop of it
too! AnnMarie went in the round pen with him for the
first time tonight, and was able to get him to
take a few steps forward to reach her and take hay out
of her hand! He's making excellent progress!
Days
4 and 5 updates:
On
Day 4, Tory got to go in with Cheveyo, and start to
get to know him. In no time, our tentative boy was
literally eating out of her hand! Saturday evening, Mike
was able to halter him; a little later, Tory haltered
and unhaltered him as well. Day 4 video is now on
YouTube!
Sunday,
day 5,
huge progress was made again. Cheveyo nickered to
Tory when she entered the barn. He was polite and
respectful for Mike, but affectionate for Tory as she
ran her hands on him, haltered him, groomed him with a
curry comb, and even laid a saddle blanket over most of
his body! He also got to meet Pam, one of our volunteers
today -- and proved his confidence with Tory wasn't
simply about women, as he refused to eat hay from Pam's
hand, even with Tory at his side. Don't miss day 5 video
on YouTube!!
See
the videos, linked in the text...
Days
7 & 8 updates:
Mike and Cheveyo continue to make exceptional progress together!
On day
7, Cheveyo is now following Mike easily on a lead, even
places he's not very sure he wishes to go. He will give
his head to be haltered, and allows Mike to rub over
every inch of his body.
On day 8, Mustang
(it looks like his name will be Cheveyo, unless someone
weighs in with a lot more votes soon!) learned to lead
over ground rails, across a tarp, through the arena
gate. He leads easily down the 5' wide aisle to the
stalls, and enters and exits stalls like a gentleman!
Even the stalls without stall grates, he'll stand inside
and wait for Mike to come back for him, a little nervous
but more relaxed than most new horses on their first
days in OUR stalls who've been inside stalls all their
lives!
CHEVEYO LOADS!!! Today, he progressed from walking
in and out of the arena gate, to in and out of stalls,
to in and out of the horse trailer, to the horse trailer
OUTDOORS! We're so used to
retraining projects that have had bad trailer
experiences...but this boy doesn't have any reason to
think trailers are scary, and sees it as just another
stall. He easily loads on and off...and this evening
even did so OUT DOORS....his first trip outside of the
training barn.
What a joy to work with this young man is. He will
only eat grain if Mike is holding the bowl -- he sees it
as a treat, a reward from his companion and his
protector! He comes to the arena fence for hay, and has
now learned to eat horse treats. He's even starting to
understand how to give his feet to his
trainer-aka-farrier. Someone is going to get an amazing
horse out of the auction at Wisconsin. Amazing.
Photos courtesy of Steve Kaluf, THANKS STEVE!
Days
11 & 12 updates:
Day
11: It's been a busy few days, and we've not had
chance to shoot much video. We hope you enjoy today's
outdoor excursion! Day 8 was the first time Cheveyo'd been
out of the training shed at all (video above). He'd not
been out again until today, day 11. Today, Cheveyo got
to get lead all over the property excluding the
pastures, as well as having a light exercise session
inside the outdoor arena. He showed perfect manners
while our dominant geldings attempted to challenge him
over the fence, and walked in, out, around, and over
obstacles that would be totally foreign to him. We hope
you enjoy the video, which includes his 2nd time loading
on the horse trailer with it parked outside, not at the
end of his aisleway in his safe haven. (remember --
click the underlined "day 11" to view the
video clip!)
Day
12: Cheveyo continues to progress so nicely.
He's such a joy to work with! In today's video clip, you
can see Cheveyo having all 4 hooves cleaned while he
stands calm and relaxed; lead over small jumps, have a
saddle (no girth) on his back and lead, then a saddle on
his back and weight set onto the saddle. Since we've
gotten past his initial timidness, nothing seems to
scare Cheveyo. He trusts Mike amazingly - as the down
the bank photo shows, left! -- and adores Tory.
Days 13-15
updates:
Cheveyo is getting a few well deserved 'easy days'.
We're focusing on cementing the earlier lessons --
leading, cleaning hooves, walking over poles. And,
mostly, we're working on getting this thick mud gunk off
his belly! His hair is matted and stuck, and with sub
zero weather, getting it wet isn't even close to an
option. So, we're using a product called MTG, and a lot
of slow easy work at it, and finally got his girth line
completely clean and made sure he has no skin
irritation, sore spots or rubs along that line.
With his belly in reasonable condition, Mike was able
to put a driving surcingle on Cheveyo -- a soft padded
belt that wraps around where his saddle will go and has
rings on it to slide reins through -- and then he and
Cheveyo practiced ground driving. Cheveyo walked and
trotted with Mike behind him, to his left side and to
his right side, steering him and getting him used to
having instruction from a handler he cannot see and from
reins at his bit.
Did I mention Cheveyo rode today??? What a joy this
fellow is. Yesterday, 1/24, Mike was finally able to
tighten a girth on him without risk of irritating the
skin on his belly. Cheveyo was as nonchalant about
girthing as he's been about most things since the end of
his first week here. He looked at Mike with his 'mad
face' when Mike first tightened the girth, but then
relaxed and proceeded to lead all over the barn in his
saddle, seeming to walk proud along the way.
This afternoon, Mike and Cheveyo practiced the last
stage before riding...Mike straddled Cheveyo -- one foot
on the mounting block, the other on a round pen rail,
and set weight on and off his saddle repeatedly. One
Cheveyo backed out from underneath him, but with no fuss
and no excitement. Mike stepped down, lead him back in
place, and did it again. Cheveyo stood like a champ.
So, this evening, with the camera rolling(!), Mike
set his full weight into the saddle, and relaxed.
Cheveyo stood, ears up. Mike picked up his stirrups.
Cheveyo stood. He picked up Cheveyo's reins to make full
contact. Cheveyo stood. He shifted his weight aft in the
saddle, and asked, and Cheveyo backed away from the
mounting block, and stood. And stood. Despite Mike's
nudging, coaxing and working, Cheveyo would only back or
stand, no steps forward.
And Tory to the rescue! With her smiling face and a
handful of hay, she walked up to the boy, who was so
obviously happy to see her. With some love, a bit of
hay, and some coaxing, she soon had Cheveyo taking a
step...then two, then ten. In a few minutes, Cheveyo was
following her around the arena. Mike could stop and turn
him without Tory's guidance. A few times, Cheveyo chose
to stop on his own, and, with some encouragement, Mike
was able to get him forward again.
At no point did he act aggressive or make any effort
to buck, bolt, or fuss in any way. He just tried, and
gave his best. What a fantastic young man this is going
to be! (Enjoy the video!)
Day
17 update -- Andrew Kaluf rides Cheveyo! Andrew was
out visiting, and was Cheveyo's 2nd rider. There was no
fuss for mounting, and no fuss at moving forward with
Mike in the arena. Once Mike stepped out Cheveyo was
unsure for a while, but eventually moved forward for
Andrew. With Mike back in the arena, the boys even
trotted several short sessions! Enjoy the video.
Video coming soon!
Days 21-24
update: Cheveyo is really doing fabulously. A few
brief updates...(photos/video to follow soon, I
promise!)
Wednesday -- had his dental work, sheath cleaning, belly
scrubbing done, and did great. Took very little tranq,
handled things like a prince, didn't even blink at the
actual stick of the needle. Doc was so impressed with
our boy!!
Friday -- Cheveyo's had about 6 rides as of Friday
morning. Friday mid day he got to ride outdoors for the
first time. For those who don't know, we have an indoor
round pen/training space, and then a large (larger than
a competition dressage arena) outdoors as our 2 easy
riding spaces, then our 35 acre pasture for really
adventurous rides. He did exceptionally well riding
outside, esp when you realize he's only been outside of
our training shed maybe 10 times total. He walked and
did brief trots, stood for mounting and dismounting from
the ground, halted, and backed very, very well! He's
still obviously green (or greener than green!), but he's
making terrific progress.
Friday evening, I even got to ride him briefly indoors
-- his 3rd rider now. He was more tentative for me under
saddle than he is for Mike, but we had 3 or 4 very brief
jogging stints (3-5 strides roughly), and we did back
and also some pivots that were part turn on forehand,
part turn on haunches.
Saturday -- Cheveyo got to ride outside again today, in
our thick, deep snow, and seemed to have great fun
playing in it. He and mike worked outdoors for at least
20 minutes today, and were doing trotting figure 8s
(again, very very large), and even had several very
brief canters (all straight line, let Cheveyo move
forward when he chose, then halted shortly.) He's still
a bit steering challenged of course, and the concept of
trot to walk to halt is a challenging idea. He prefers
forward trot to dead stop head up in "looking for a
lion" pose!
What a blast we're having with this young man. It's
such a joy to see mike so involved, so engaged with this
horse. And Tory, too, continues to be interested and
active and, well, pretty much in love with this
strapping young fellow.
Day 26:
TORY RIDES CHEVEYO!
This evening, after work, I walked into the training
shed, and was treated to a pure delight. I watched
Cheveyo stand, tied, while Mike left the round pen to
get his tack, then was quite reasonable during saddling
(he's still nervous about being girthed up); Mike
unhooked his lead and walked him over near the arena
gate. 14-year old trainer-trainee Tory walked into the
arena, kissed the wild mustang on his nose (!), stepped
into his stirrup, and swung aboard with ease. She fussed
with her stirrups, teased her dad, and finally told him
to step back and walked forward on Cheveyo. For the next
10 minutes, together, they did figure 8s, halted,
stepped over to the rail and away off the line, and
generally did whatever she asked of him. Occasionally he
argued, and Tory simply, confidently, asked him to move
on, and he complied each time. She rode him across the
foot bridge, and backed him about 20 strides, including
backing down off the bridge without any sign of
nervousness on his part. She praised him, rubbed on him,
and dismounted like she'd been riding him for years.
This, by the way, was the first day they'd ridden
together, and their second ride.
For Mike, Cheveyo is trotting with ease, including
figure 8s, and had a few very brief canters during his
outdoor rides. He's not yet ready to canter in the more
confined indoor space. Together they are working on
relaxing, stretching toward the bit, transitions down
that aren't sudden stops, and more graceful turns, as
well as just overall balance for Cheveyo.
Day
30: Cheveyo in the big pasture for the first
time ever....under saddle! Mike and Cheveyo rode in the
35 acre pasture, while the rest of the herd watched from
the west bank. Cheveyo was certainly interested in the
others but, as you can see, remained respectful and
manageable for Mike. There are several canter clips in
this video as well as Mike dismounting, opening a gate,
and remounting with ease. ENJOY!
photo coming soon!
Day 32:
Feedback from our first offsite trip today, courtesy
of one of our adopters (we went to her riding
instructors' barn):
Hi
everybody! Wow, where to start…
Cheveyo is amazing!!! Mike & AM
brought him to the barn where I’m currently
taking lessons, so he could experience a
different place, different horses, etc. He
walked in, looked the other horses over a
little, and proceeded to act like he’d been
born there! There was even a 2 yr old
gelding making mean faces at him from his stall,
& Cheveyo just ignored him. Mike led
Cheveyo around the barn, had him jog, checked
out all the scary new stuff (barrels, cavaletti
poles, orange cones) then tacked him up &
away they went. Cheveyo wasn’t thrilled
with the girth, but after some minor fussing he
stood & got saddled like a champ. He
bridles better than my seasoned old horses do!
I really just can’t say enough about how
gentle and trusting he is. He allowed
everyone there to pet him, fuss with him,
anything that we wanted to do he was ok with.
I even got to ride him a little!!!! Well,
it was really just a pony ride, cause Mike was
leading him – but I was still in the saddle!!
J
But here’s the really amazing thing – and I
wish all of you could have been there to see it,
it gave me goosebumps!!
! – the barn owner’s husband has built this
platform-thingy for their horses. It’s a
round metal frame with a platform on the top –
it looks like the thing that elephants stand on
in the circus – about knee high, maybe 3 feet
across. Anyway, Cheveyo has never seen
anything like this before – Bill (barn
owner’s husband) rolls this thing out of the
corner into the arena…Mike RIDES not leads
Cheveyo over to it…Cheveyo is a little
cautious, but very curious…he walks close,
looks this strange thing over a little, walks
around it a little…Mike lets him take his time
checking it out…couple of steps closer, he
sniffs this strange thing, then puts his foot up
on it!! Then BOTH FRONT FEET – and
POSED!!!! It was just unreal… he had
absolutely no fear. Mike backed him away
from the platform and took him back to it
several times, & Cheveyo walked right up to
it & stepped right up on it like he’d been
doing this trick for years – he even wanted to
get on the platform with all 4 feet, but Mike
said no, not with a rider! Sooo, Mike gets
down, we move the platform to a better spot in
the arena and Mike leads Cheveyo back over to
it. Cheveyo steps up again, no problem
here! So Mike encourages him to get up
with all 4 feet, Cheveyo isn’t sure what Mike
wants – “why are you in front of me like
that?” – with a little more encouragement,
Cheveyo steps up with all 4 feet, and poses
again! Then he won’t get down!
Mike & Tori posed with him for pictures (I
really hope AM is able to post the pictures she
took!), he still won’t get down…so Mike
loosens the girth…still won’t get down.
Mike takes the saddle completely off…nope, not
ready to stop posing yet….we all walk up to
him & pet him…that’s fine…we all walk
away – he looks at us like “hey guys,
don’t you see me still posing over here?!”.
Finally Mike convinces him the show’s over,
& he steps down. Bill & Linda
(barn owners) were just standing there in awe.
Linda said she’s never seen anything like it
– they couldn’t believe that a little more
than 30 days ago Cheveyo was running with a wild
herd. I could go on all day about
everything Cheveyo did, and how wonderful he is,
but I’d bore you all! Suffice it to say
– Mike & AM…you guys are GREAT!!!
Keep up the good work!!
Day 39 --
Cheveyo rides in the pasture for the 2nd time...and was
nothing short of fantastic. Cantering toward the ridge
where he can see the rest of the herd, cantering back
toward the main gate and the road. Begging to come visit
AnnMarie (aka camera person), playing with the dogs, up
and down steep banks. What a joy this young man is. It
doesn't get any easier than he has been, once Mike won
his trust.
He has never so much as threatened to buck,
to rear, to bolt or panic under saddle.
Photos to follow.
Day 51: We
had a GRAND day with Cheveyo today! We took him to the
local lesson barn again, and played. What a great
way to celebrate the half way point for this gorgeous
guy.
AM rode Cheveyo bareback;
several of the barn's folks rode him as
well!
He did his first solid objects jump on a lead rope
over some empty barrels,
he rode indoors with 2 unfamiliar horses, all the
while respecting and listening to his rider.
Thanks so much for hosting us, again!! We had a grand
time!!
Sorry, no new photos. They rode to town
on their own, so no one to take pictures for us.
Day 58:
Cheveyo and Mike had a GREAT day today. They rode to
town! Yes, the 3-ish miles into our local little
community, complete with its library and grocery store,
local newspaper and post office. And, from what Mike
says, apparently most of the community came out to meet
the mustang! Cheveyo trotted along the red brick main
streets, visited with everyone, and tried to let himself
into the library!
This boy REALLY likes to go out exploring. He wants
to go see new things, go new places, figure things out.
He rides fine indoors and in the arena but, like his
trainer, his real pleasure comes from going off new
places -- preferably just the 2 of them -- and seeing
the world.
Someone is going to be VERY lucky at Wisconsin.
They're going to get one heck of a capable horse, with a
fantastic disposition, a great personality, the right
amount of curiosity, and tons of heart.
This
boy is going to be one GREAT trail horse for someone. He
LOVES to go, and will go about anywhere. Here, he's
trotting up the river in water up to his belly, happily
leading along while the experienced trail mare, Jackie,
lets him go and follows behind.
Day
70 update:
Cheveyo
continues to do fantastic. He is doing a lot of bareback
work, cantering regularly, and often riding outdoors, on
roads, around traffic, and in a variety of scenarios.
We're trying to keep Cheveyo as well rounded as
possible, so he appeals to all sorts of possible
adopters.
Day
72...
photos to
follow
Just
28 days to go....With just 28 days to go, Cheveyo got to
visit with and play with some great CWER supporters
today. Today, the Shaw family of Chicago came by to
visit...the nice folks who had provided Cheveyo the only
horse treats he would eat, who sponsor memphis belle,
and who otherwise have been great supporters of the work
we do. Young Miss Kate got to ride on Cheveyo, and
successfully had him trotting nice and forward on her
own (congrats!). Young Mr Alex got to ride on the four
wheeler and throw hay, and the whole family visited with
the entire CWER herd. Thanks, Shaw family, for your
continued kindness and support. Can't wait to see you in
4 weeks at the Midwest Horse Fair!
Day 89
Cheveyo
came down with a nasty flu, cold, infection, something
at day 75. He was off his feed and has a mild fever. Dr
King has put him onto a course of antibiotics, and he is
essentially on stall rest for about 2 weeks until he was
really well again. He lost A LOT of muscle during his
down time, especially top line muscle along his backbone
and the top of his rump. it's going to hurt him at
Madison score wise, but most of all we're just glad he's
healthy again.
Midwest
Mustang Challenge 2008 -- Madison Wisconsin -- event
report!
photos
and video to follow
BOY those last 3 weeks went fast! It's time to
compete....
We
arrived at Madison on Thursday mid afternoon, and
after a bit of confusion on the grounds, found our way
to the right barn, checked in and settled into our
stall. We'd had Cheveyo spend a lot of time stalled in
groups of days to get him used to how the event might
be, while letting him live in the training barn, then
in a small pasture with a mare in for training the
rest of the time, and he was comfortable in the
showgrounds stall. He hated it having a top door so he
couldn't hang his head out and visit all the guests!
We'd
done all we had access to for exposing him to new
things, loud noise and crowds, and it showed
immediately. He didn't mind any of what was going on
at the event, during practices or during competition.
Cheveyo
had a flu 4 week before the event, and was essentially
stall bound for 2 weeks, losing all of the top line
muscle he'd built over the 2 months previous. As a
result, he scored poorly on the fitness test, very
poorly. The judge understood about his illness but had
to judge him fairly compared to the others.
For
the in hand course, Cheveyo was terrific! In fact, he
posed for photos with a little baby girl just before
entering the arena, letting the girl love on his
entire face while everyone else was tensely watching
the ring. He entered, squared perfectly, trotted the
cones with ease. He did his front hooves easily but
when mike went for his left hind, mike shifted the
lead meaning to put it more easily in reach but
Cheveyo took it as instruction to come to him. Mike
tapped his side, and he stood again, and got his feet
done all the way around (they have to stand, mid arena
in front of roughly2500 people, with no one to help
hold the horse and no tie ring) like a gentleman, then
went to the trailer. Cheveyo put his front feet up and
hesitated. Mike tapped his crop on his boot, intending
to nudge Cheveyo forward but it startled him, and
Cheveyo hopped off. Mike loved on him, settled him,
and up he went like a gentleman. He backed the L
perfectly, trotted to the judged, and halted at the
mark with no lead pressure whatsoever. He earned extra
points from the judges for his halt to trot at the
entrance and trot to halt at the exit. We were now
23rd out of 53...in the top half.
Now
time to ride, Saturday morning. Cheveyo didn't sleep
Friday night and was a little off his hay, even with
probios, and seemed a little tired and edgy. We took
him for walks and visited with him, even covered his
stall door for him to nap. When it came time to ride
he entered and rode the known part of the course
perfectly! He received high marks on every move, hit
every lead, did his flying change without much
difficulty at all, even got extra points for how
beautifully he crossed the bridge. When it came time
for the 2 minute free, though, his tiredness and
irritation showed thru, just a little. He missed every
lead, and, when mike asked him to work reinless (at
home he works truly bridleless -- no neckrope -- which
always starts with a halt and pivot with his reins at
his neck to ensure he is listening), Cheveyo wasn't
eager to listen. Mike asked a second time, and again
Cheveyo slowed but didn't halt, so rather than risk a
problem, he just did a few pivots and finished his
time without riding bridleless as we'd hoped he would
get to do.
When
that portion of the day was over, we didn't make the
top 10 and didnt make the finals. Honestly, we were
relieved. Cheveyo was tired and we dont think he
would've given his best for the 4 minute free. We
didn't have fancy stunts to show like some of the
others (a few had things go quite badly), and weren't
likely to make the top 5 who got money anyway, and so
we were pleased to let him rest and just go enjoy the
rest of the show.
Sunday
morning was auction time. I should mention,
Cheveyo is a solid dark brown with dark brown mane and
tail and no markings whatsoever. He's 14.2 and not
overly stocky. He's exactly what they described in
advance and what we expected to come home with us.
Some of the others were more flashy, some less. One
was over 16 hh!! another was only 13.2, which made it
very hard for her trainer. So, come auction time, the
crowd and announcers tended to focus upon the event
winners and on the bigger or more flashy looking
horses. Cheveyo spent little time in the sale arena,
which was ok with us. We were able to bid and to bring
him home inexpensively. Now, we can take our time and
at our leisure determine if Cheveyo will fit in here
permanently as an ambassador and a part of our
permanent programs for special needs kids, etc, or if
we will work on finding him a forever home that WE
choose, rather than him going to the highest bidder
which, IMHO, is never an ideal way to place a horse.
We
had a great time at the event. I encourage everyone
who has an interest to consider competing in one of
these. It was really a blast, and we've never had so
much fun nor had such an EASY horse to train. once we
got through his fears and showed him he could trust
us, his trust was complete. He had no misconceptions,
preconceptions, bad habits or other issues. He learned
everything we asked, quickly and easily. A trailer was
just another stall to him; a tarp just another human
toy. Tractor trailers no more scary than a car or
4wheeler. He was a joy and we really had a grand time.
We hope to have time and resources to compete again
next year with another wild mustang.
June 11, 2008
goodbye, spirit warrior.
On June 11, Cheveyo colicked
horribly. The university vets came onsite to try to
ease his pain and prepared him to transport to U of I
for what was expected to be colic surgery. To our
heartbreak, the surgeons called to say he had a
massive tumor in his abdomen -- larger than his
stomach! -- and we made the only reasonable choice, to
lay him to rest.
The
autopsy is back. Cheveyo apparently had a case of
strangles at some time in his past, prior to coming to
CWER, possibly as long ago as at weaning or at time of
roundup. Approximately 20% of all strangles cases
metastasize and result in a 'bastard strangles' or
"carrier" situation, with a strep infection
elsewhere in the body. In Cheveyo's case, that
infection was in the gutteral pouch, outside his
intestines. Sometimes, that infection will create an
abscess and attempt to vent, just as strangles does
when it is in a lymph node -- the classic symptom. In
Cheveyo's case, due to the location, there was no way
to vent outside his body, and the abscess grew and
grew. Eventually, his body began to fight it and built
a fiberous, granular ball around the abscess,
attempting to stop its growth and spreading.
This
granular mass was an amazing 12" x 14" x
5" at time of autopsy -- roughly the size of a
horse's stomach. It has entangled blood vessels and
nerves and multiple loops of his intestine. The colic
was caused by the mass finally strangling a point of
intestine shut, creating a blockage just like a twist
would do.
The
mass obviously had been growing for months
upon months -- possibly years. There was nothing we
could've done to stop it or to reverse the damage. The
vets were amazed he lasted as long as he did, that he
was able to ride let alone work so admirably just
weeks before in Wisconsin.
In
addition to everything else Cheveyo has taught us, he
has changed the way we vaccinate. We have always only
vaccinated youngsters for Strangles, believing that
was the right approach and that strangles held little
threat to adult horses. We now understand the risk of
bastard strangles secondary to what can be a fairly
mild "strep throat' infection in an adult horse.
Every horse in our care will be vaccinated for
strangles every year.
