August, 2010
Sangria is on the injured reserve list and has been for the better part of the past year. What started our as an abscess in her hoof lead to an injury in the same foot that deteriorated into navicular disease.
It doesn’t seem to slow Sangria down at all, and she’s a very calm, sweet horse who has many friends.
As a young horse, Sangria came to us very angry and thin. She had a very painful life her first year with us and didn’t seem to fit into the herd, and she wouldn’t let us near her.
She colicked the first fall that she was with us and nearly died. It was tragic, but we brought her back into the city to be with us and finally were able to get our hands on her and love her.
When she developed the hoof problems, we had to care for her twice and day, and she had to learn to soak her foot in a bucket; so over a period of time, she turned into the sweetest, calmest horse.
Last summer Sangria was stabled at Lone Star Park, and we could take her out of her stall on nights when they had fireworks and stand in the pasture with an arm around her and watch the fireworks. She was simply phenomenal.
We ran into her previous owners at the track last summer when they came in to race some of their horses, and they couldn’t believe that Sangria turned out to be such a gorgeous, calm horse.
She is nothing like the horse that we brought home two years ago - a horse that had to be chased onto the trailer as a wild two year old.
Sangria is a gem of a horse, and we hope that her navicular disease heals well enough for her to be a light riding horse at some point.
White Bridle Society
P. O. Box 177643 Irving, TX 75017-7643 972.740.0900
April, 2011:
Sangria has navicular disease in her hind left hoof. It’s so rare for a horse to have a navicular problem in one of their hind limbs; but she does.
She’s been cleared for light riding, but we’re not ready to start any kind of riding program on her. She’s healing - which is fantastic; but we’re enjoying our time with her on the ground working on horsemanship skills. She’s now a special project horse for our kid volunteer, Savannah.
Sangria’s Story
November, 2011:
Sangria is finally healthy! A number of veterinarians told us that she’d probably be lame for the entirety of her life. It’s been three years since she went lame, and finally a year ago, her injury showed up on an x-ray. She has navicular disease. We put her on a supplement, and her coffin bone began rebuilding itself.
For two years, she had been lame without showing any signs on x-rays or through any diagnostic tests. And that’s why a number of veterinarians predicted that she’d be lame for the rest of her life.
The princess can now gallop without being lame the next day. She can put all of her weight of the foot without favoring it. We know that she’s finally comfortable. And that makes us very happy.
She’s completely bonded to Navarre, so we plan to keep them together for the rest of their lives. They’re both slated to our large horse therapy program.
