Horse Tales from the LOPE Ranch

Mardi Gras Gets Adopted!

One of our recent arrivals here was Mardi Gras Dancer. A bay two-year-old gelding, Mardi Gras had the pedigree of a race champion. But he had the heart of a couch potato – Mardi Gras just wasn’t fast at all.

After ten races, he showed such little interest racing that his owner decided to donate him to LOPE – so he could find a home with less speedy requirements. Anna soon visited the ranch and fell in love with him.

As Anna walked around our pastures, meeting each of the horses, Mardi Gras was watching her. When she came to him, he dropped his head into hands and closed his eyes – a picture of peaceful contentment.

Of all the horses here, Anna chose Mardi Gras to be her riding horse and special pet. Here is a photo of Mardi Gras with his new friend, "Punkin" – as you can see, he is very happy with his new home!

Pogomeister and His Knee Chips

Pogomeister (aka "Pogo") was all set to win his first race. Even though he was only 2 years old, he'd shown great speed in his workouts. His sire was the champion Texas stallion Holzmeister, and his dam, Princess Pogo, had produced many promising racehorses too.

Pogo was a confident youngster, full of fire and ready to blaze down the homestretch ahead of all the other horses. Even though he was kind of small (15H) and not very flashy (plain chestnut), Pogo flew around the track, certain he was the best horse there.

But in spite of all that, Pogo didn't win his first race. Instead, he hurt his knee, chipping it badly enough to need surgery. The injury was serious enough that his breeder decided he should never race again, even if he had surgery.

So, she donated him to LOPE – coincidentally, right after Dr. Joyce and Austin Equine Associates told us they'd like to help us with chip removal surgeries.

Pogo will be the first LOPE horse to receive a sponsored knee chip surgery from Austin Equine Associates. After his chips are removed, he'll have a some stall rest in our barn – and then a nice long turnout in our pastures.

After a few months, he'll be ready to be a riding horse again, to do trail riding and flat work. With his "big horse" personality and his endearing habit of making faces for the camera, we think he'll have no trouble at all finding home when his knee is healed!