Home / History / Stud Profile / Arabian Studs / Show Dates / Show Programs / Show Results / Lein Cooke had suggested Gail ring me as she knew I would like her, but mainly I would look after I did um and ah a bit, I also would need someone to help me for starters, so when Raymond and At 3 months Elle became separated from her mother and ended up running through a fence, taking Meanwhile, Elle and mother [I think] had been agisted at a Thoroughbred Stud; she was then The first job once home was to clean and redress her leg, with the long climb up Gail’s driveway Being old fashioned I am a firm believer in boiled salty water in a spray bottle, soft wide spray on The X-rays disclosed that Elle’s little leg had suffered 2 enormous blows to the cannon bone, By the start of May Elle was standing half asleep while we pushed and prodded. Raymond starting Then came the next problem! Because she was stabled with only a very short walk a couple of times a day and obviously Yep, you guessed it, they started to give way as well, and we ended up with her fetlock touching Meanwhile I was still massaging but now down to twice a day, I was winning but very slowly. On the 6th of August we had a party; Elle finally went out into the yard at the end of the That first week we had both hind legs caught under the proper gate, plus a knee like a cricket ball. Judy took the shoe off for good at Christmas time and still comes to trim her; we now have a heel Elle has now just turned 2yrs old, Our cute little baby who couldn’t reach the top of the Amy Francis.
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“CLINTANA EMELLE.”
Elle’s Story. 
Scroll Down For Pictures To this Story ( Warning They Are Graphic )
A friend of Gail’s had asked if she could use her stable to house an injured foal she
had been given. Gail of course said “Yes.” So consequently the foal arrived and even
before she was unloaded from the float, they could smell the rotting leg. The vet was called straight
away; the new owner took one look at it, told Gail she was the new owner, and then disappeared
into the sunset. Leaving her literally “Holding the Baby!” Gail did a fantastic job with the leg
but it needed 2 people to clean and redress it, which meant the vet was there nearly every day.
the foal properly. [A bit of jam on the bread always helps Doesn’t it?]
Amy arrived the next morning we discussed it. The long and short of it was the 3 of us would
take her on, so Amy and I went down to Gail’s with the float – just in case- once we saw her,
of course, home she came.
Having been bred by Anna & Clint Salisbury but Kareece was passed on to a new owner in foal.
the front out of her hind leg. She was man handled into a float and taken to the Vet clinic where
the owner wanted her put down. The vet refused to do that and the resulting agreement was
that she was given to one of the vet nurses. Who I believe had the leg healed up nicely.
weaned at 4 months. The Idiots- I’m being very polite here- turned her out into a paddock with
a yearling Colt, of all things, who chased her through the fence!! This time totally wrecking the
same leg. She severed both front Tendons and ripped the whole front out of the Cannon. The vet
nurse [who I think they said was pregnant] couldn’t face the prospect of even more hard work
so passed her on to someone else. Consequently arriving at Gail’s
Elle came home on 29th March 2006 making us her 5th owners in 2 & ½ months.
She is one of the sweetest natured horses I have ever met. At times I know how much we’ve had
to hurt her especially at first, but never has she retaliated.
to the float then the 2 & ½ hour trip home the bandages from hoof to above the hock looked like
they had been on for 6 months. First sight of the wound was horrific, I would have hated to
have seen what Gail first saw it looking like. Because of the tendon damage she was walking on
the front of the fetlock with the hoof turned back. The little bugger would put all her weight
on it too. I sat and thought about it then had Amy bandage a thick pad behind the pastern
but under the fetlock joint, to try and keep the hoof forward. Later that night I rang John
Dale our Chiropractor and had a good talk to him to make sure I was on the right track.
Our strappingmethod worked very well and within a few weeks she was walking with her
hoof forward. John also suggested we try honey straight from the hive on the wound, that turned
out to be the best advice I’ve ever been given.
some spots hard squirt on others. We would use 3 or 4 bottle’s full every time, then smother the
whole leg in honey and bandage it from hoof to above the hock. Amy would have honey
stuck on everything including us, I was concerned for starters the ants would get on her leg,
but they never did.
working in the Operating Theatre at the base hospital the time of the day would vary, could be
6am or 9pm, I would hold her while Amy cleaned and redressed [I said, it was giving her good
practice for work] we worked in the breezeway while Raymond cleaned and tidied her box.
We had quite a routine going in the finish
By the 3rd week the wound had closed up by half, but in doing so the new growth had pushed
up a slither of bone from the Cannon Bone. So on the 26th April she went over to the Vet Clinic in
Kyabram for X-rays & surgery. Cath Adams our vet was fantastic; she also could not believe
how quickly the honey had worked.
both biting into the bone. The bottom one had run up the bone carving everything off in its path.
Severing both Tendons as well. Henceforth the splinter, which meant opening up the wound again.
holding her while I did the leg, that at least let Amy off the hook so she could get back
to normal with her family.
feeling a lot better in her self, Elle decided she was a Ballet Dancer! It was nothing to see her
cavorting round her stable on her hind legs. “All the weight on her bad leg!” I spent
weeks trying different feeds, something – anything to give her the right balance but not heat her up!!
I worried continually about how much pressure the back tendons could carry.
the ground behind. Max our farrier, {who always likes a challenge} working closely with
Cath, devised a shoe to try and keep her hoof flat, as now her toe was pointing up towards her
stomach. The first 3 weeks Max had tried 4 or 5 different shapes till he found one that worked
but unfortunately the original damage had also wrecked her hoof which had become
shaly and wouldn’t hold all the nails in the shoe. With Elle performing ‘
basis she kept ripping the damn shoe off.
On the 16th May the decision was made to put Elle out into a tiny yard I had built for her out
of gates. I was hoping she would be more settled being able to see all the other horses, at the same
time Cath wanted us to start putting a lighter bandage on the leg, by then it was down to only
the cannon bone bandaged. Elle started with 2 hours out a day, it was fantastic seeing her
outside and in the sunshine, but she wouldn’t let us leave her alone, as soon as we walked
off she would have a panic attack. It took several days before we could just leave her, as
a retaliation she would rip the bandage off and chew her leg. She made a hell of a
mess of it as the new growth was so tender. So back to scratch again.
On the 6th of June I had noticed she was stepping stiffly and what we discovered was
Elle’s fetlock joint had locked up! So started stage 3! 6 times a day I would massage
her leg with Goanna Oil for 15 to 20 minutes then strap it with a woollen bandage.
After the first week I had no skin left on my hands also the smell of the oil was giving me
Asthma. so I changed it to Vicks vapour rub. I know you’re probably laughing at this but it really
did work. So here we were with Honey on the top half, Vicks on the bottom bit and still losing the
shoe. The whole time the little doll would stand patiently while I pummelled and flexed not even tied up.
By the 23rd of June Max said he had run out of ideas so I rang Dr Judy Mulholland who
is a Farriervet, but who I call an Orthopaedic Farriervet. As luck had it she was over this way
the next day and called in. Judy warned me she was going to cut the hoof to bits and she did!
Then designed and made a new light weight shoe, then nailed and stuck it on. Topping the whole
thing off with a sticky bandage. That kept the bloody thing on for 3 weeks!!
As it had rained a bit that week Judy wanted the hoof kept dry also Elle very restricted again, so we
moved her yard into the breezeway. That way she could still see and get the sunshine as well.
I went away for 4 days in July and left a friend holding the fort here with Amy coming into do
the girl, the little bugger chewed her leg again, twice. Made a hell of a mess, back to the drawing board again.
breezeway. All the wire was covered with gates as she was still having panic attacks and would
scream and just run, crashing into the fences, until she saw me and would rush at me to save her.
We have had several major injuries since then from Knee’s laid right open to fetlocks and
hocks split but Honey has fixed them all. Our girl doesn’t seem to be happy unless something is
bandaged and the ‘bad leg’ has to be sprayed first, always, even though it’s not hurt.
again. The leg has a scar and a lump, courtesy of her teeth, but she stands right up on her fetlock
properly most of the time. There still isn’t a lot of backward flexion when you lift it off the
ground, but it is hard to pick that up when she walks or runs. Elle still practices her Ballet everyday,
and still frightens everyone to death when she has a hicky attack. It’s hard to pick what sets
her off as most things you would think she would be frightened of, she isn’t! Things
like the water tanker riding the air brakes to manoeuvre into the house tank or the chaff
cutter running in the side of the breezeway. It makes a hell of a racket. She hangs over the
fence to watch. I think that because she was first locked up at 3 months and weaned at
4 months, she had never been able to learn any “horse things” from her mother.
Like how to avoid fences and trees etc. Even now she still thinks I’m her mother relies on
me to guide her, she will stay outside all day and night in the big stable yard, when I make
her, but is stabled at night when it’s cold. I will eventually get her out into a big paddock
like a real horse and have tried several of our oldies as ‘Grannies’ but it hasn’t worked
so far, as she becomes very frightened of them when she’s upset.
stable door when she arrived has grown into a beautiful tall 15hh Prima Donna, it’s been a lot
of work and money but Amy, Raymond and I think she’s been worth it. 
Ekala Arabians, Rushworth.
Marilynn. & Raymond.
St Thomas Man-nor Arabians. Rushworth.
THE LION HEARTED HORSE
"MEDE" on this 30th Birthday
This is a story about a little Purebred Arabian Stallion by the name of "MEDE "
( Aethon - Rizzie ) This beautiful amazing Stallion is owned by Mrs Dorothy Evans
of Sidonia Park Arabians Newbridge Victoria. Dot has had "Mede" since he was
6ys of age . He was show for many years as is a Multi Champion bothin hand &
under saddle , costume and also Did Endurance . He is also the sire of many Multi
supreme & Australian Champions in all disciplines of Arabian Riding Dot was
glancing out of the window into" Mede " paddock in March 1999 to Dot's horror
"Mede " was showing all the signs of colic , after quickly assessing "Mede's
" symptom's ,Dot rung her local Vet as Dot lived 40 Min's: from town it was
extremely difficult to keep "Mede"up and calm, finally the vet arrived .After
examining "Mede" the vet was terribly concerned as thiswasn't colic this
was cardiac arrest!!!!
Dot was told that "Mede" had a leaking heart valve and it was severe and
his prognosis wasn't good.
There were 3 options that Dot was given.
1. Put him down
2. Let nature take it course
3. Medication
Dot was told that the medication that may help "Mede" was a drug called Digoxin
it was very successful in dogs and cats it was terribly expensive. This little stallion
is a huge part ofthe Evans family, the cost was ofno concern to Dot, The only
problems the vet had was working out the right dosage, and not havinga huge
demandfor Digoxin and only a small amount in stock more
had to be ordered and this was going to take time.So in the mean time "Mede"
was kept heavily sedated , he was to stay as stress free as possible so it would
help to keep his heart rate down , and try and avoid another possibly
fatal heart attack .
Even though he was heavily sedated "Mede" did have another heart attack but
thankfully it wasn't fatal but by now this was the third day and "Mede" was looking
very ordinary.But luck was on Dots side , Dots vet had spent many hours searching
theInternet for information she needed to be able to start "Mede"on Digoxin so
now with the necessary information "Mede was able to start the medication.But
there were still no guaranties this would work.His dosage was 15 tablets twice a day
.this dosage was based around many factors "Mede" weight the severity of his
condition ,his age ect: ' You may wonder ' how Dot got "Mede" to have his tablets .
Well !! its been easy right from the start !! she crushes them adds some water then
puts it on a slice of bread ( White Of Course ) and he just loves it andhas never
refused to eat it .Being on such a high dosage "Mede" had to have blood tests
every six weeks to monitor the level of Digoxin in his blood.
As with humans to much Digoxin in the System can be fatal After three weeks on
the Digoxin "Mede " had improved if only just a little , he was
brighter not so lethargic. After six weeks "Mede's" improvement was noticeably
more his heart rate was slower and his energy level was greatly improved.
By now it was getting very expensive , so a Dot and a few friends put their heads
together to try and cut costs . Approaching Drug company's and quit a few local
Chemists finally one agreed tosupply "Mede" with his tablets but only with of
course aprescription from the Vet.
This cut the cost of the Medication by over half. Then to try and cut cost more we
thought we would approach so Pathology Laboratories and finally one agreed to do
"Mede's" ,blood this also cut the cost by well over half , "Mede"gets addressed to
him a bill in the mail everytime his blood is done , but he doesn't claim
Medicare !!! After twelve weeks on the Digoxin "Mede" improvement
was amazing !! He was nearly back tohis old self ,his heart rate was still a
little high but he was back talking to his girls again , with the occasional whoopee !!!
around the paddock.After the third blood test "Mede's" Digoxin levels were alittle
high so his tablets decreased to 13 twice a day
Its now been 7 years and at 31 years of age "Mede" is still going great , still talking
to the girls ,which is a fantasy !!! that stays a fantasy !!! he now has
8 tablets twice a day.