Hi Friends,
I’m reaching out to all of you on behalf of Spectacular Won, a gorgeous son of Thunder Gulch rescued from the slaughter pipeline by The Exceller Fund several years ago. A horse that needs your help to literally save his life one more time now.
Spectacular Won, now 16, has been in our care since 2006 as a retiree. Given his incredible good looks and fluid movement, it has been much to our dismay that he has not remained sound during any of his (several) evaluations throughout the years despite our best efforts. Regardless, we make a LIFETIME commitment to QUALITY care for EVERY horse that enters our program.
Recently, “Spec” has been diagnosed with a keratoma, a benign tumor that forms between the hoof wall and underlying tissue. This soft tissue mass, requires surgical removal, or it will continue to grow; something we simply cannot allow to happen as it is causing him severe pain. The keratoma presents itself as though it were a severe abscess or bruise with intermittent lameness and thus goes undiagnosed for several weeks until it becomes apparent that it is not resolving with standard treatment, and radiographs are taken.
The procedure, which will be performed at Hagyard Equine Medical Institute in Lexington, KY, requires them to not only go through the sole of the foot (all the way to the bone where the growth is), but also to possibly to resect part of the hoof wall. Therefore, as you can imagine, the aftercare involved with this is quite intense for a lengthy period of time.
Although stall rest won’t be required long term, it will be months before the wrapping will cease and possibly up to a year before his hoof is grown back out depending how much of it they need to remove. This may also involve some fancy footwear in order to keep everything properly balanced during this process. (Just imagine what his accessory closet is going to look like!)
All I can say is we are incredibly grateful to have such wonderful caretakers for our horses who are so dedicated to their wellbeing during these times! The endless hours they put into their care… well, for once, I have no words, only gratitude. I have the same admiration for all of our supporters. TEF would cease to exist, and thus not be able to help these amazing equine athletes, without all of you, so thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Please consider helping us provide Spectacular Won a continued Future Beyond the Finish Line. Any donation is greatly appreciated and needed now more than ever for this special boy!
Most Sincerely,
Nicole Smith
Executive Director
The Exceller Fund
Providing a Future Beyond the Finish Line
