The Jo Horse – the Joe was the all-star on track rehab. They called me and said they were going to euthanize Jo, Dan we understand that you do rehabs, if you want him you are welcome to have him. I said you bet. It took two years to get Jo sound again – He had Navicular and was too lame to compete. The veterinary told us that he was just a light duty trail horse when they brought him to us. Then it took me two more years to find someone that could ride him. He was a three-day eventing horse – they are the superstar athletes. They have to dressage, stadium jumping, cross country at speed over jumps and rough country.
After 4 years of rehabbing and looking for someone to ride this horse I found somebody that could ride him. I took Jo to this lady talked her into riding him for me so I could sell him. She started riding him and found that he was a very talented horse and really liked him a lot, so I gave him to her. She had him for a winter and rode him, after the next spring she was going to start showing him. She took him to a couple of beginner shows just to get started – he did really well. He then hurt his leg and was off all summer. He didn’t get back to competition until that September. There were only 5 big shows left in the big circuit here in the Colorado region 8 that takes place in 5 states – one of the more competitive regions in the country. So, Jo had to sit the summer out and go back to work that September. He went to 5 horse shows some of the big ones of the year. The last one was the end of the year big show. Jo went 5 first places but he had to participate in 6 shows in order to earn the points needed for the region 8 association so he didn’t get any points for the end of the year even though he did more than any other horse and his rider earned rider of the year…
Jo turned out to be a superstar that was thrown away by western medicine, yet he turned out to do really well through alternative rehab to get back to being sound.