Hi everyone- I wanted to drop everyone a quick update note about Zayante. He had a major colic episode at mile 40 of the Eastern High Sierra Classic ride last weekend. One of Jackie’s international riders was riding him along with two of Zay’s buddies: Merri Melde and Gretchen Montgomery. They were riding slow near the back of the pack, he had perfect scores all day, and was acting like his normal, wonderful self, when he suddenly went down hard about five miles from the last vet check. Merri, Gretchen, and Hiromi did what it took to get him to the vet, Kevin Lazarcheff, who then treated him, and without any doubt saved his life. He was transported back to camp, where we put him in a trailer and drove him to the clinic in Gardnerville. They continued to treat him overnight, and were prepared to do surgery if needed, but the tough old bird pulled through. He spent the next 2 nights in the clinic being watched carefully. The initial diagnosis from Kevin was perhaps a slight twist, or distension, but the head surgeon at the clinic could not confirm this, and does not really know what happened. All we know was that out of the blue he crashed, and were it not for the efforts of some great people, we would have lost him.
We have him home with us now in
1- Hiromi was riding him, and did not do anything wrong. This horse is a machine, and has never had a minor metabolic issue in his 13,300 miles. He had perfect scores all day, and went down without any warning. She was instrumental in getting him to the vet check- she ran the 5 miles to the check on foot, behind him, helping push him along, and opening the gates. She spent every second with him, even at the clinic. I don’t want anyone even thinking that she should have been able to prevent it, or see it coming.
2- I heard some people second guessing about riding a horse this old in rides. (He’s probably somewhere between 22 and 24) I have been riding him for many years, and have said every day, at every ride, that we don’t know how long we will keep riding him, but as long as he is healthy, sound, and as happy as he is to go down the trail, we’ll keep him going until he tells us it’s time to stop. He just did. I have every intention of retiring him now, but he’s not my horse, so I’ll work with Jackie to come up with a plan to keep him healthy for the rest of his life. He’s done his job and has nothing else to prove.
I’d like to personally thank the people who helped saved this horse. Susan Peters, Cathy Chambless, and the other people I don’t know who helped keep him on his feet at the vet check. Kevin the vet, and the vet crew at the Great Basin Clinic in Gardnerville. Take your horses there. And the highest thanks go to Merri, Gretchen, and Hiromi, whose heroic efforts got the horse off the trail and to help. They had to pony him at a trot, to keep him moving, or he would go down immediately. Merri knew what to do, and did it. I feel like I owe her my life, but the neat thing about this sport is that it would not matter what horse it was, everyone would react exactly the same. The fact that it was Zay just made it so much harder for me. I thank all of you from the bottom of my heart.