Wraini-Where Have The Years Gone?

DC Kobayashi Wrain

(Khemo Thunderr x Mandy)

Registered 3/4, grey arab mare, born July 2, 1991

As I was putting blankets on a couple of horses in anticipation of a major storm the other day, I realized that Wraini is now my oldie. That realization made me pause & wonder where the years have gone.

It was a rainy October day when I first saw Wraini. I had seen a flyer at the local store so decided I had nothing better to do than go look at horses in the rain. She was a wild, 4 month filly with a halter already growing into her face. It had been put on the day she was born & the owner hadn't been able to touch her since. She was cute, firey, & floated across the pasture, running from us with her dam. I wasn't really interested in a filly that couldn't be caught. I was really only a looky-loo that day. But as I chatted with the owner I gave her my number so we could get together for some trail riding.

A couple days later I got a phone call that said the mare & filly had finally been run into a stall & that if I wanted the filly, to come get her. How could I pass up that deal. It took some doing to get the filly caught, even in the 12 x 12. Because I knew we wouldn't get her into my two-horse trailer, we loaded her into the owner's stock trailer & she delivered her to me. I already knew I was calling her Wraini, spelled with a "W" because I wanted it spelled like Wraff's with a "W", because it was a rainy day when I saw her. The Kobayashi came from Star Trek, where the Kobayashi Maru was an un-winable test. I knew I had some work ahead of me in handling this wild filly. That first night I sat on a hay bale in her pen & watched her charge me with teeth bared. When she got her first vaccinations she came at my friend & I with front feet flying. Beware those hind feet because they were some of the fastest at kicking that I've ever seen. It really was a good thing she was only 4 months old when I got her. At least I was bigger than she.

When Wraini was 18 months I started taking her with me on trail rides. She loved running ahead, flying up hills, & crashing back down a la Snowy River. By the time she was 4 yrs she was being ponied on all manner of trail, including the cliff's edges along the American River. She was as sure footed as a mountain goat & very careful where she stepped. She was almost 5 yrs when I first rode her. You would never have known it was her first time. I rode her all over the 15 acre pasture, walking & trotting. Just a few rides later we were out on the trails out of Auburn, riding across No Hands Bridge. We went alone that day because no one wanted to ride. The bridge was being closed for an undetermined length of time & I wanted to go across the historical bridge on Wraini in case it never reopened (it was repaired & is open today). To this day we've never ridden in an arena.

Wraini is a little mare at 14.1 with fine bone. I really never saw myself riding her much because she's small & I like bigger horses. But what a ride she's been. When it came time to back off on endurance competition with my over 20 gelding, Wraff, I decided to give Wraini a try in between Wraff's rides. She was a natural & loved flying down the trail. She was so much fun because she never wanted to walk & would dog-trot up & down the trails. When she walked it was most often a running walk. She's the only horse I've ever had that gained weight over a 50 mile weekend. My promise to her was that she could eat all she wanted as long as she carried me down the trial. That first 50 miles saw her consume an entire bale of hay, 25lbs of bran, 25lbs of grain, 50lbs of carrots, & grass & more hay along the trail & at vet checks. She was & still is an eating machine. It's such a shame that non-riding injuries ended her endurance career before it really began.

As a 3 yr old Wraini got a leg caught between a fence post & the gate during a raging storm. I found her the next morning. Even the vet thought she was lost. At best she might live but never be sound. Her front leg was layed open from chestnut to fetlock, looking like everything had been scooped away. For 5 weeks I cleaned, doctored & re-wrapped her leg daily. Finally it started to heal. What I hadn't told anyone was that she wasn't lame at the walk. When the bandages were finally removed for the last time & she was turned back out on pasture, I held my breath to see her first trot. She trotted SOUND! On Christmas day when Wraini was 10, another mare kicked her left hind leg. The next morning the vet was out for x-rays & ultrasound. I knew it was going to be bad. The ligament was torn from the impact & as it tore, it pulled a chip off the top of the sesamoid bone. Added to that was a fracture through the center of the sesamoid. The vet said her prognosis at best would be maybe pasture sound. She was on stall rest for a month & then I could begin walking her the length of my driveway twice a day. Her 2nd round of x-rays & ultrasounds was amazing. The chip had seated back in place & appeared healed. The fracture was so faint it was hard to find. The tears in the ligaments were healing well. I continued hand walking. By April, just 4 months after the injury, the vet told me to start riding at a walk. He could only shake his head in amazement that Wraini was sound. 18 months after her injury I took her to an endurance ride. If I'd known how hard the ride was going to be, we would have stayed home. It was rocky, had massive climbs, little water, & many riders opted to pull. Wraini finished looking like she hadn't started.

The myth is that cats have 9 lives & horses are only suppose to have one. Wraini must have been a cat in a former life because she continued to beat the odds. When she was 13 she got the teeniest cut on a knee while riding in my aluminum trailer. I didn't think much about it & we went for a 10 mile ride. Later that day I remembered the cut & went to put Swat medication on it to keep the flies away. What I found was yellow ooze running down her leg. I knew it was joint fluid. For the next month Wraini was on & off antibiotics. She was sound & had no swelling when taking antibiotics, but would be lame & swell within 24 hours of going off them. I decided it was time to take her to UC Davis so made an appointment. When I got there the vet was confused because Wraini was sound & there was no outward sign of a problem. She said they thought I was bringing her in to be euthanized because no bone infection can go that long without going systemic. X-rays showed infection in the knee & at the top of the joint. The vets started discussing the possibility of surgery put weren't optomistic of the outcome. Next we went for ultrasounding. Everyone was shocked at what was found. It looked like a thread thin lightening bolt had entered the knee, piercing the joint. I have to say that by this point I was beyond crying, I was sobbing. The infection had traveled to the bottom edge of the forearm. By now there were 3 vets & a handful of students studying the x-rays & ultrasounds, all thinking Wraini was lost. They couldn't give any odds on survival even if she had surgery. Then in walked the emergency vet who said she thought maybe there was a chance if I was willing. She felt that since Wraini had maintained, & was sound, for a month on an antibiotic that normally has NO effect on bone infections, there was a chance that mega-antibiotics might work. I left her at UCD for the next 2 wks, where she underwent joint perfusions, IV antibiotics, & IM antibiotics. No one could believe Wraini's progress. I was allowed to bring her home on an antibiotic that comes with warnings of causing aplastic anemia. When the shipment arrived from the pharmacy it was only 1/2 the precription. I called & was told that because it was such an expensive drug, they only shipped at 1/2 because most horses didn't survive long enough for the complete prescription. I told them to ship the rest NOW! I can now look back & appreciate their not wanting people to buy expensive drugs that wouldn't be used. It was over $600 for 15 days. But I KNEW Wraini was going to be ok.

In the 5 yrs since the joint infection, I've elected not to ride Wraini any more. She's sound & no one would ever know she's had 3 injuries that should have taken her life. She's given me 2 wonderful fillies that I cherish. Before this year's filly was born I had already decided this would be her last foal. At 18 years old, I don't want to take any chances & risk losing Wraini. She's earned her life as my Pasture Puff.