I don’t think any of us start out riding horses intending to learn life lessons. I started riding because I truly can’t remember a time when I didn’t want a horse. I personally think it is a recessive gene which programs in the desire—making it unavoidable.

I know when my daughters started riding life lessons were the last thing on my mind. The older daughter began riding but all it took was getting bucked off once and she was done. Those of us with the recessive gene know it takes a lot more than that to stop our horsey sickness.

I personally was run into numerous trees, fences, and other solid obstacles by my Shetland pony—ponies, while cute, should never be purchased for a child unless you really don’t like the child. As one of my very astute trainers says, “Most ponies are the only legal form of child abuse.”

When my second daughter started riding it was obvious she had inherited the gene. Unfortunately for her, I’m a breeder of said “legal forms of child abuse”—so my daughter was inevitably used as a test dummy for many of my ponies. There were some difficult ones but I truly believe it is the rank ones that make us a good riders—and Payton is!

Eventually on our limited budget we were able to find, with the help of my good friend Jessica Wisdom, a former eventing mare for Payton to ride in the jumper ring. The connection between the two was noticeable from the beginning. Payton loved this mare and Jinx would jump through fire—which helped my daughter’s confidence. It was a joy to watch the bond develop.

The mare’s behavior changes started slowly: more reluctant to move off the leg, a little nervous and anxious on turnout. Payton and Jinx continued to take lessons and progress but the behavior continued to deteriorate. In the end Payton was the only one Jinx would allow to handle or ride her without it being an ordeal. Eventually, even for Payton, it became dangerous. I suspected ulcers. I took Jinx to the vet, which was the beginning of one of the most difficult experiences I’ve had in 41 years of horse ownership.

Jinx had a stomach impaction that was on the verge of rupturing. I’de never dealt with a stomach impaction and, as I found out, neither had a lot of vets. The fact that my vet diagnosed it in time was amazing.

Unfortunately, unlike colon impactions, with stomach impactions the only way to tell if the horse is impacting again is to re-scope the stomach. Payton continued to groom, care for, and exercise Jinx throughout her recovery. After four months of being turned out, living on grass and no hay, we took her in for a re-scope. We were alarmed to find that Jinx had re-impacted and it was not looking good.

Our last hope was to remove hay and limit Jinx to soaked, pelleted feed only. After two months of this I was reasonably certain the mare was impacting again and would have to be put down. Payton and I discussed it, and with many tears, decided that Jinx’s quality of life was the most important issue at stake. With that in mind, we decided to euthanize Jinx if she was impacted. With a heavy heart and my daughter’s support for her horse, I hauled Jinx in for her gastroscopy.

This mare is a warrior! She not only was able to survive on pelleted feed, she is learning to thrive on it. I have never seen her look better!

As for Payton, she learned to care for and make incredibly difficult decisions for something she loved. She learned to weigh her priorities and that—even though things don’t go as planned—the road it takes you on can be an incredible journey. Ultimately, she learned that even with the risk of loss it is worth it to care.

As I said, life lessons were not my intention when I encouraged my daughter to ride—but have been an amazing end result. As Jinx turns the corner into a healthier future, we decided the nameno longer suited her. We renamed her Mighty Isis, in honor of the strength and resilience that brought her (and those who love her) through adversity.

Click here to read more about gastric impactions in horses.

Marla Eden is the owner/manager of Narnia Farms in Aurora, Oregon. She has been riding for over 40 years, focusing primarily on Hunter/Jumpers but also breeding and dressage. She has had the privilege of working with trainers Suzy Balenseifen, Sue McMullen, and Meg and Sandy Skafgaard. She currently studies with Philippa Fraser, Jim Dahlquist and Jessica Wisdom. She gives her heartfelt thanks to Karen Blake, DVM and Jennifer Saunders, DVM for using their knowledge and compassion to give this story a happy ‘ending.’