From April through December of 2008 she won 1D money at nearly every barrel race I entered, including some of the biggest (BBR World Finals, NBHA Drysdales Super Show, Summer ShootOut, BFA 4D).  In June 2009 I began to notice that Tipper had a runny nose, which was not uncommon because she has always had some allergy issues.  However, after treating her a couple of different times with antibiotics it just wouldn’t go away.  In September 2009 I had her annual tooth check up in which my horse dentist discovered that Tipper had a broken top tooth.  Xrays showed that the root of the tooth was good, so the vet and dentist attempted to save the tooth; however, in doing so the sinus infection went crazy and came back worse than ever, and two more rounds of different, stronger antibiotics couldn’t even begin to decrease the infection .  The vet insisted that the tooth needed to be removed and that it would have to be done surgically because of its location.  At this point, Tipper had not missed a beat in the barrel pen…still clocking in the 1D against the toughest horses in Oklahoma (including winning the 1D saddle in the Central 4D Barrel Racing Association against competitors and horses such as Debbie Caywood and Tivoli Moon, Karla Oller and Ollers Scat Cat, Kelsey Deal and Dial A Rooster For Cash, Dana Askins and Shawne Punkin, Kurt Rose and Wrapit N Snapit DC, and Gretchen Hilton and Montoyas Playgirl).

Photo by HanPict Photography

Photo by HanPict Photography

During the second week of December 2009, Dr. Brent Hague at Oakridge Equine removed Tipper’s tooth by drilling a hole in her face just under her left eye.  What he found shocked even him…  her sinus cavity was packed with about two and a half cups of puss and feed that had been tunneling up through the broken tooth for months.  Tipper came home from the vet with an open hole in her face packed with gauze that had to be changed daily and yet MORE antibiotics.  One month after the first surgery, a second surgery was performed to once again flush out her sinus cavity in an attempt to get the infection under control…more antibiotics…  Another month went by and the infection returned once again.  A THIRD surgery was performed, and this time a second hole was drilled in her face.  This time the hole was in the top of her nose.  A tube was run into one hole and flushed through the second hole…and more antibiotics.  Several weeks later, I began to notice nasal discharge and “that smell” again.  I called Dr. Hague who said to me, “Andrea, she has had so many antibiotics in the last nine months that I’m afraid of damaging her kidneys and liver….she is either going to get better or she’s NOT…” This was the FIRST time I had to face the reality that she “MIGHT NOT” get better.  It was a COLD, DREARY, WET February day,  when I got off the phone  with Dr. Hague.  I went to Tipper’s pen, got on my knees in the mud and manure, wrapped my arms around her front legs, and right then and there I gave Tipper to God.  I told Him that I was completely helpless. I was emotionally and financially DRAINED at that point.  I begged Him to heal her, but if He was not going to heal her I begged Him to NOT LET HER SUFFER ANY LONGER.  At that point, she had lost a lot of weight even though she had NEVER quit eating (or fighting).  From that day forward, Tipper began to improve…God healed her with no more antibiotics.

Two months later I made another big financial decision.  I decided to take a huge chance and breed her with intentions of flushing her.  Anyone who had ever attempted this knows that there can be all kinds of difficulties and unexpected expenses even with healthy mares.  As sick as Tipper had been just weeks before, we(Bryel Mulligan) bred her one time (to Lions Share of Fame)…she settled…we took her to Hartman Reproduction Center and flushed ONE PERFECT EMBRYO out of her.  The recip mare settled perfectly as well.  As summer progressed, I started to get Tipper back in shape and she went right back to running in the 1D.  The spring of 2011 brought me a beautiful blessing in the form of a big, beautiful, perfect filly as a result of the embryo transfer.

A dear friend once told me that “horses are our teachers”, and that God uses each one to teach us something different.  Some teach us how to win, others how to lose.  Some teach us patience, others teach us to trust.  However, at the end of the day, it is up to us to learn to listen to God’s four-legged teachers, look deep into ourselves, and learn the lessons.  Little did I know that God and Tipper had MORE to teach me. That once again her heart and toughness would be tested, and this time more so than ever before…

In July of 2011 Tipper was back to 100%.  She was back in good shape and was once again that solid, consistent 1D horse that I had known.  One Saturday night, I made the decision to leave her at home from a jackpot due to some bigger upcoming barrel races that I wanted to run her.  I left her in her pen and shed…the SAFEST POSSIBLE LOCATION…  We didn’t get home until about 4 a.m. and as soon as I went past her pen I could tell something was wrong.  Even in the darkness, I could tell her first step was “off”.  Upon closer inspection, I found a one inch cut on the front side of her fetlock of her back left leg.  Due to the hour, I decided she would be OK until daylight.  The next morning, I cleaned it up and treated it with an antibiotic ointment and gave her a gram of bute.  For the next 48 hours things seemed fine.  She was walking normally and I even rode her; however, somewhere between 72 and 96 hours later, things got bad.  I woke  to find her not wanting to walk on her leg, but it was the fact that she refused to eat that told me it was SERIOUS!  I immediately loaded her up and rushed her to Equine Medical Associates in Edmond.  She had a fever and at that point was walking only on her toe.  The intern vet on call told me that it appeared that she had a septic joint.  The plan was to start her on antibiotics, and first thing the next morning the vet would check her out and call me.  The following morning, the news was terrible!  The white cell count inside Tipper’s fetlock joint was 80 thousand (2,000 is normal).  She had a fever and was not eating.  They immediately laid her down for the first surgical procedure of infusing her joint with antibiotics.  A couple of days went by and Tipper remained in serious condition.  A second surgical procedure to infuse her fetlock was performed again.  She wasn’t eating and things were not looking good.  For several days in a row, I made the hour and a half drive just to sit with her.  I took feed and hay from home and would just stay with her, brush her, take her out to get some sunshine and encourage her to graze, and pray…a lot.  Once again, I gave her to God. I put Tipper in His hands.  Once again, I begged Him to heal her.  Once again, I found myself begging Him that if He was not going to heal her that He would not let her suffer.

A third and final surgery was performed, this time with a scope to clean up fibrins and scar tissue and look for any joint damage.  Miraculously, there appeared to be NO JOINT DAMAGE as a result of the infection.  At the completion of this surgery, Dr. Stephen Hance coined the phrase “cautiously optimistic” which became words that I embraced.  At that point, he was “cautiously optimistic” that if she would start eating that she would live because the white cell count in her joint was beginning to improve.  God continued to show His love and mercy on us.  Within days, we had moved to being “cautiously optimistic” that she would, in fact, live and that she had a really good chance of being “broodmare sound”.  Within a week, we were “cautiously optimistic” that she would be ridable…

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Photo by PixelWorx

 

Seventeen days later, Tipper was released from EMA to come home.  It was like bringing home a baby for the first time.  I was SO HAPPY and SO AFRAID  The truth was I was bringing home a 3-legged horse, and as I led her to her pen, one tiny, painful step at a time, I realized just how far we still had to go. Dr. Hance had told me that “scar tissue was our worst enemy.”  Every day, I hand walked her for 30 minutes.  It was terribly painful for her.  Some days she literally groaned with each step, and her breathing would change due to the pain she was in.  I would  talk to her just like a coach talks to a player…I would tell her, “NO PAIN, NO GAIN, TIPPER.  YOU CAN DO IT.  WE CAN BEAT THIS!” Because she stood for so many days with her leg in the resting position the tendons on the back of her leg were very tight and her joint flexion was very limited.  I would back her many feet at a time, making her rock her weight back on her heel to stretch that joint.  Days went by and we progressed from walking to trotting…soon I started to ride her bareback…but again just walking.  She was so lame that trotting her was like driving a car with a flat tire.  Some days she looked great… other days I would just cry.  After a couple of months of recovery, Dr. Hance became “cautiously optimistic” that Tipper would return to some level of competition.  I decided to turn her out for the winter and let God complete her rehab.  In March of 2012, I took her for her final check up.  At which point, Dr. Hance said he was “cautiously optimistic” that she would again be a 1D horse…he was so pleased with her progress!  As we trotted her across the asphalt parking lot that day, we all knew we were witnessing the results of yet another miracle.  She trotted off perfectly sound.  There was NO EVIDENCE that anything had ever been wrong.  Dr. Hance simply hugged me, and I just watched and cried.  I was torn on whether or not to try to bring her back to running barrels, but the better she got to feeling, the more she would run and cry when the trailer left without her.  I put her back into a full exercise program, and by July 2012 (one year almost to the day after the injury) Miss EZ Rollin Jet returned to competition and ran 13th out of over 200 head at the Central 4D in Anadarko, OK!!

Photo by PixelWorx

Photo by PixelWorx

 

My girl is back, but only because of the love, grace, and mercy of God.  I cannot even begin to list the things that my little sorrel mare has taught my family and me.  Tipper is now 14 years old and to this day, I am still the ONLY PERSON who has ever run barrels on her.  She is feisty.  She is high-maintenance.  She is a mess to warm up, and she has more quirks than you can shake a stick at.  I can literally look across the pasture and tell how she feels.  She has been there for me through the best of times and the worst of times.  She has taught me how to win!  Most of all, God has used her to teach me to have faith in Him and to truly understand what it means to lay a problem at His feet and trust that whatever happens is His will.  She is so “human” it’s scary sometimes. I think she knows all that she has been through because she has developed a new habit since returning this time; just before we run, she will look around at me and wait for me to lean down and kiss her on the forehead.  I then say to her, “I LOVE YOU, TIPPER, NOW LET’S GO HAVE SOME FUN!!!” Every time the gate swings and our song comes on my little, fiesty sorrel mare gives me everything her body can give.  I know this ride won’t last forever…and while I may have nicer/faster horses in the future I will NEVER have another TIPPER!  I thank God for every day and every run that I get the blessing of making on her…

Jaelyn Moore and Tipper. Photo by PixelWorx

Jaelyn Moore and Tipper. Photo by PixelWorx

***Since the writing of this story, Tipper has continued her winning ways. With Andrea’s daughter Jaelyn in the saddle, she won both the Oklahoma NBHA Youth and NBHA OK 05 champion saddles, had the 76 fastest qualifying time at the BBR in 2014, and Sewell is currently leading the Oklahoma Central 4D 1D standings by about 70 points with Tipper and her other mount.

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