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!
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