St. Louis National Charity Horse Show

With today being “schooling day” for The Charity, biggest show of the year around here, I thought I would tell a story from the past. But first, today, Jane and I took Derry and Bart over to the NEC briefly to ride outdoors in the 90 degree heat in preparation for showing tomorrow. Bart was fresh and good – we just rode in the ring, no jumping. Derry had a flat ride with Kris, followed by a great jump school with Sarah Mechlin, who will show her tomorrow. Melissa arrived from Kirksville and had a good jumping school on Mia with Kris. We are excited for tomorrow, though dreading the heat…

So, here is the tale of Midnite Blue, who made his return from near death at The St. Louis National Charity Horse Show in 2005.

Apart from the horse, some names have been changed for this story, but the essence is true…

When I first saw him in 2003, I thought he was an ancient horse.  He was very thin, but had the proportions of a jumper.  At the time, we were boarding at a large stable while our own barn was under construction.  I asked Kim, who ran the barn, about the skinny dark bay gelding.  She said he was a starvation case, not at all old – a thoroughbred she had recently picked up for the owner, Dave, a guy who knew nothing about horses.

There are some unusual situations in the world of horses, and it’s a precarious existence indeed for many of them.  This horse had belonged to a man who played polo and had a large herd of former racehorses. The man died, and his family knew nothing about caring for the animals, thinking they were fine in the field.  Dave heard about the horses in a casual conversation.  “Hey, Dave – you want a horse?  You can go pick up one, or several, from my dad’s place.  They’re racehorses – here are papers…” 

Dave took Kim with him. He knew nothing about horses, but was an animal lover.  Kim was shocked at the emaciated condition of the horses.  She took two of them, to save them, and Dave picked out the one he called Midnite Blue. He picked him because he was the tallest.

I watched Midnite put on weight, and I liked him.  Kim mentioned that Dave would probably gladly sell the horse, since he didn’t ride and wasn’t really a horseman.  I was always looking for a prospect, so I asked if I could ride him for a month to see if I liked him.  Apparently, Dave, whom I had never met, was fine with that.  He let me teach the horse to jump, and Midnite was a quick study. I decided to vet him for purchase, and asked Kim to get me a copy of the papers, since the tattoo was unreadable, and I wasn’t sure of his age.  Yes, you can “tell a horse’s age by his teeth”, but that is only really accurate to about the age of 5, and this horse, purported to be “young, about 6” was over 5.

Papers were delivered and they described a 6 year old dark bay filly.  Definitely not this gelding’s papers!  Dave was surprised, but not unhappy.  After all, he had been a free horse, I was going to pay a fair, though still inexpensive price for him, and on we went to the vetting.

It did not go well. Midnite had hind ringbone, an arthritis that would make him flunk the vet, did not predict much chance for a jumping career, and would make profitable resale (my business model) impossible.  So, I sadly passed him by.

A few weeks later, Kim mentioned that Dave, who was very attached to Midnite, and visited him regularly, felt that Midnite’s behavior was better when I was working with him – that he seemed “happier” when he had a job.  Would I mind riding him just for fun?  Well, we lived near the boarding barn, and they had an indoor arena, while we had only a grass field to ride in at that time.  So, we routinely went over to the boarding stable to ride, and on Thursday evenings we had decided to have a “jumpfest” where we set up jumps and anyone could come by and play over them.  I began to ride Midnite in our jumpfests and he began to show more talent (and no lameness, of course).  One evening, Dave himself came to watch, and he loved seeing his “pet horse” become an athlete.

I told Dave that Midnite was quite special, and could go to a horse show, if he wanted him to, though it’s a pretty expensive sport.  Dave was a bachelor, with few obligations, and game for fun, so he was all for it.  We went to a little local horse show and did the “Novice Jumpers”.  Midnite won all three classes and was Champion, and Dave was hooked.  We moved on to recognized shows at the National Equestrian Center, schooling with Jane Schweiger and competing successfully at “real”horse shows through the winter of 2004 into 2005.

We were aiming for the Bridlespur Horse Show in June, and were looking forward to that, when, over Memorial Day weekend, something went wrong with Midnite.  Jane was boarding at the stable still, while her barn was being built, and, as luck would have it, Midnite was in the adjacent stall.  Jane called me (Kim was busy with trail rides) and I ran over.  The horse was in terrible shape.  His color was very pale and he was shockingly lethargic.  Dave’s vet was on another emergency call, so we called Mid Rivers. The vet there said that the description of Midnite’s condition sounded like a surgical colic, so just bring him to the clinic.  Jane got her trailer, and I called Dave to let him know.  He was desperate, and grateful, and told us to “do whatever it takes to save him”.

Now, Midnite had not been very good about loading in a horse trailer.  I had intended to work on it, and that day I learned why it’s such an important skill to instill in a horse.  When we tried to get him to walk up the ramp, he resisted, and the effort of refusing to walk up the ramp caused him to collapse on the gravel road.  It was so frightening!  He did get back up, staggering.  We repositioned the trailer so that there was no incline to the ramp, and got him into the trailer and on the way to help 20 minutes down the road.

As we turned the penultimate corner, I heard Midnite fall in the trailer, and I was pretty sure he was dead. We continued on.  When we opened the trailer, the horse was down on the floor of the trailer, but still alive.  The vets were amazing.  Dr. Baxter had been called in, since they were pretty sure surgery would be needed. He helped get the partition out of the trailer to give Midnite more room to get up.  But the horse just lay there, dying.  Dr. Baxter clamped his nostrils closed so that he couldn’t breathe, and Midnite panicked, finally scrambling up, and he staggered into the building.  He neighed piteously, and, again, I was sure he was going to die.  

Astoundingly, it wasn’t colic.  His abdomen was full of blood – he had a ruptured spleen.  Well, simple – just do a splenectomy!  Alas, that is a surgery that horses don’t tolerate.  Fluids helped to stabilize Midnite long enough for discussion.  It was decided to try a radical fix.  They gave him intravenous formaldehyde to stop the bleeding.  He stayed at the clinic in intensive care, receiving blood transfusions and round the clock attention.  Dave had arrived and was only concerned that Midnite be able to graze again and be his pet.  Whatever it took, he would do it.  But there wasn’t much for us to do, but hope (and, in Dave’s case, pray).  

Once Midnite was stable, they x rayed him and discovered that he had a broken rib, which had punctured his spleen.  The best guess was that he had maybe been kicked (though there were no marks on him) or had fallen hard in the pasture the night before Jane found him in distress.  There had been fireworks that night (holiday weekend) which may have contributed, but it was basically plain bad luck.  I was given some holy oil, which I applied over the fractured rib.  Couldn’t hurt, though I didn’t confess it to the vets. Ten days after Midnite was teetering on the edge of death, he walked out of the vet clinic and onto the trailer and went home to recover.  It was miraculous.

Even more miraculous was Midnite’s complete recovery.  The rib healed in six weeks, the blood in his abdomen was reabsorbed and acted like a tonic, putting plenty of iron back into his system.   By September, Midnite was well enough to attend the St. Louis National Charity Horse Show, his first really special outdoor show, where he acquitted himself well.  Dave loved being the owner of a show jumper.  Jane Schweiger stepped back in to school us.  She loved Midnite, and we were showed successfully in the Adult Jumpers. It was a great time.

A few weeks later, since I had an entry in the Queeny Park Event, having sold my own horse, Dave thought it would be fun for Midnite to try that sport.  Cross training!  Bear in mind, he had jumped easily around 3’6” at the St. Louis National Charity Show, and Novice Level Eventing is only 2’9”.  How difficult could it be!?  Haha! Midnite humbled me by running out of the first jump on cross country, a simple log, and taking me halfway back to the stalls (half a mile away).  I returned, we jumped it, and continued on, finishing with the worst score of any horse not eliminated.  The next day, he easily jumped clean around the show jumping course, and for the rest of his career, Midnite was strictly a jumper.

The next Spring, I was leading my young horse, Gage, home from Jane’s house after a successful outing. He saw a squirrel in the woods, spooked and landed on my foot, breaking it.  I was sidelined, and called Dave to tell him I couldn’t show Midnite the next week. He wondered whether Alice, a young girl at the stable, who had learned to jump in our jumpfests, could ride him. Absolutely, I said, great idea.

Alice was a good rider, and it turned out that Dave, as a bachelor, much preferred watching her ride his horse.  She was young and beautiful, had inherent talent, and was definitely better than I was at speed.

Together, Alice and Midnite had great successes.  It broke my heart every time I saw her riding him because she was so arrogant and sexy and talented, and I was, well, an old lady!  Eventually, she moved on to “better horses” and vanished from our world. Another, very nice girl, Katie, took over the ride, and Midnite performed well for her, too.  She actually asked me for some help, which soothed my wounded soul a bit.

And then, Katie went off to school and Dave asked me, after several years had gone by, if I would consider riding Midnite again.  I was thrilled to do so.  It was so good to reconnect with my old friend (and Dave).  Midnite even came to stay here with me during the winter of 2011 / 2012.  We picked up where we had left off with Jane Schweiger’s help, and had a great time.

In March of 2012, Midnite went back to Innsbrook, the boarding stable, after showing through the winter.  Early one morning, Kim called me in despair.  Midnite was dead in his stall.  Dave had visited him at 9 PM and fed him carrots, and at 5 AM he was dead in the stall.  There was no sign of distress, the bedding was undisturbed, it seemed Midnite had looked out his window, and keeled over.  We moved him to the indoor arena so that Dave could come and say his good byes, and then Midnite was buried near the pasture where he had enjoyed his best years. Seldom has a horse been so loved by so many.  I was incredibly fortunate to cross his path, and fate was generous to reunite us before he died.  Whenever I have ridden past his grave, it’s decorated and well kept, and I spare a thought for an unknown former racehorse who came from nowhere, and brought joy and friendship to many.  Gallop through, Midnite…