THE REDEMPTION OF BLUE DANUBE... Team Goddard's Big White Horse called "Bert", by Mark Harrison

The horseshoe nail on Bert's left hind shoe pierced cleanly through the tendon on his right hind leg. The Grand Prix champion jumper Blue Danube had literally kicked himself while getting new shoes. The farrier and groom at the farm in Colt's Neck, NJ, had never seen anything like it. Neither had Grand Prix rider Helen Goddard. That sparkling, sunny day in early May of 2009 had suddenly turned nightmarishly dark.

Blue Danube aka Bert had been purchased in March of 2008 by the Goddard-Harrison Group, an amalgam of family, friends, breeders and Helen, shortly after the horse had stunned 45 other competitors by winning the 2008 $100,000 DeLuca Toyota Grand Prix which was the finale of the Ocala winter season. Hopes were high for this strapping, 17.2 hand, 1500 plus pound, half thoroughbred/half Trakehner, who at five years old won the National Young Jumper championship. It appeared that the sky was the limit for this striking, white horse who was related to Kentucky Derby winner Spectacular Bid.

And then the sky fell in. A small hole was barely visible to the naked eye of veterinarian Paula Miller, who after doing an ultrasound which showed the full extent of the damage, immediately shipped Bert to world renowned vet Scott Palmer at the New Jersey Equine Clinic in Millstone, NJ. Dr. Palmer, whose clinic handled Smarty Jones before he won the Kentucky Derby and who was the first horse doc at Pimlico to attend to a seriously injured Barbaro in the Preakness Stakes, did an assessment.

He told Helen that the unsterile nail carried a risk of infection which by itself could cause the horse to die. The odds: 50/50. He told her that even if no infection occurred, there was a serious chance that Bert would never again be a competitive show jumper. He finally told her that even if Bert did become a competitive show jumper, his chance of returning to Grand Prix jumping form was mere speculation. Bert had become the first horse to perform a "split tendon surgery" on his right rear tendon by kicking himself with his opposite hind foot using an exposed shoe nail, and thus unwittingly practicing veterinary medicine without a license.

Then the real vet, Dr. Scott Palmer and his team at NJ Equine, took the reins of caring for the big, white nine-year old. He placed Bert in his hyperbaric chamber for several treatments and the highly oxygenated air helped to stop infection from setting in. Helen and the owners breathed a collective sigh of relief. It looked like Bert would live to fight a second round in the battle against his self-inflicted wound. Palmer sent Bert to Millstone's David Nunn whose farm specialized in rehabbing injured horses. Palmer had recommended that Bert receive stem cell injections and Dr. David Adam, Helen's regular vet, was called upon to perform this treatment. Dr. Adam drew tissue from the feisty, show jump champion and sent it off to a lab in California. The stem cells simply would not grow at first. More time passed and finally the stem cells became fruitful and multiplied. They were returned to David and injected into Bert's tendon followed by a series of shock wave treatments. Fingers were crossed. Prayers were said. Naturally, there were "lucky" horseshoes all over the Nunn barn but then lightning struck again. Despite daily walking by both Helen, David and his staff and constant vigilance, Blue Danube's already damaged right leg became engulfed with cellulitis. A regimen of antibiotics ensued. More crossed fingers, prayers and lucky horseshoes were called upon as the leg had become swollen. The drugs worked their magic (or was it the fingers, prayers and horseshoes?) and Bert slowly improved week by week, day by day, minute by minute. He was hand walked for what seemed to be an eternity. The cellulitis subsided, the swelling dissipated and Bert got the green light to return to the farm in Colts Neck.

Helen Goddard the Grand Prix rider went into Helen Goddard the Grand Prix horse trainer mode. The process was interminable. Week after week after week of simple, slow walking under saddle. The spirited gelding wanted to do more but Helen held fast. Then another endless exercise of daily walking and trotting. The weeks and weeks of trotting seemed to pass more slowly than a lead line class on a scorching, summer day. Bert graduated to cantering. Helen, her patience being tested, kept Bert in check as he cantered and cantered daily for weeks on end.

It was finally time to see if Bert could jump. Helen held her breath and Bert began jumping six inch barriers. A Grand Prix winning horse who had cleared five foot fences with ease, was relearning his craft. He moved to 12, 18 and 24 inch jumps. After many weeks of baby jumps, Helen held her breath again and entered Bert in a horse show on April 15, 2009. It was just over 11 months after Bert had "nailed" himself. The show was at Duncraven in Titusville, NJ. The fences were three foot but the Grand Prix rider Helen was nervous. Would Bert remember how to jump? She took Bert around the course carefully and slowly. "He did it!" Helen quietly exclaimed to herself. Her nerves calmed. Bert had faultlessly jumped a three foot round. He did not win a ribbon. It did not matter.

Gradually Helen entered Bert into higher classes adding three inches per event. Her goal: give Bert confidence and the big boy responded. As Bert gained confidence so did Helen's confidence in him. It was finally time for Bert to return to Grand Prix in early July, and the venue chosen was HITS Culpeper in Virginia. Bert jumped the course cleanly with only a solitary time fault but they still took home a ribbon. It wasn't blue or red or yellow. The color did not matter.

Then the Stillwell-Hanson Grand Prix at the East Freehold, NJ, showgrounds became Blue Danube's next test in August, 2010. There were over twenty horses entered. Helen was competing on her "home course" a mere five minutes from her farm. Her family, friends and students were in attendance to watch her and Bert. The competition was keen. Olympian Anne Kursinski, multiple Grand Prix winner Laura Chapot and young sensation Jessica Springsteen were some of the riders entered in the event. In the first round, Bert was clean along with seven or eight others setting up an exciting jump off. Helen and Bert led off the pack with another clean run. She was still hesitant to go all out and although she led briefly, Helen was overtaken by both Kursinski, who won, and Springsteen who grabbed the red ribbon. Bert took third place. He was getting there. The docs, training, meds, quality riding and a little bit of luck were meshing in a horse, which in a frightening moment in May, 2009, had nearly killed himself in a freak accident.

The Grand Prix season had wound down in the Northeast. Helen decided to take one last shot with Bert and entered him in a Grand Prix in Raleigh, NC. It was a long, eight to nine hour drive to the indoor facility in Raleigh from Colts Neck. Bert had not traveled that far since he had gone to Florida during the winter before the accident. It was late November, 2010, and while the physical journey down South may have been arduous, it paled in comparison to the journey Bert had taken from a punctured tendon in the barn to the Grand Prix ring. There were 22 entered in Raleigh including Tarco Van der Moude, the number two Grand Prix horse in the country, ridden by Tracey Magness. Bert, went 21st, was clean and under time in the opening round. So was Tarco. There were a total of eight clean horse rider combinations. When Helen entered the ring with her massive, white survivor of his own folly, Magness and Tarco held the time to beat in the jump off. Bert was simply brilliant. Not a rail went down or even rattled. Helen, had tactically taken the shorter route to an early jump, and it worked. Ridden masterfully by Helen, Blue Danube grabbed the lead with one remaining competitor. Megan Nusz on her horse Callipo 24 took to the course. Callipo 24 was just a little faster than Blue Danube as she approached the final jump. Bert's unlucky horseshoe incident from nearly 18 months ago had finally come full circle as Callipo 24 knocked down the final fence. Helen Goddard had guided her Bert to the Grand Prix winner's circle just as she and all of the vets, grooms, family, friends and scientists had guided Bert from the precipice of near-death to a complete and total recovery. The horse who had been a champion is again a champion. The nightmare of May, 2009, had a fairy tale ending. The eight to nine hour trip back to New JerseyÊseemed like a ride on a magic carpet.

We at Team Goddard are always on the lookout for talented performance horses for our customers.

In particular, we are interested in young horses (aged 4 - 11) with a good temperament, 3 nice gaits, and a talented jump.

If you have a horse with the potential to be an upper-level Hunter or Jumper, please contact Helen for a consultation. Team Goddard offers exceptional partnership arrangements with riders, clients and owners.