BB's Smokey Dun #388

Jorge has meet the crew... They are super wonderful folks who really do know their business about their horses. We would like to thank them for chatting up a storm with Jorge who as you know is the Scenic Lodge Gate Keeper (I am just the wife and I only do the paperwork - he gets to meet these wonderful people.... ) Milita of course being an ex working dog was all ears when their trailers came in - for goodness sake I want to live in the one they own - dang it's nice!! Read their story and you too will fall in love with Smokey. Be sure to Fan their Facebook page (read direction below - they really need our support and all you have to do is click "LIKE"

BB’s Smokey Dun #388 They have a Fan page on Facebook and what they really need is some Fans like you on their side. So click the link below and Fan their page and tell them Scenic Lodge Gate Keeper Jorge and his pets sent you over!! Click this link below...  https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/BBs-Smokey-Dun-Americas-Favorite-Trail-Horse/133339526741482?sk=wall  Smokey is a 15 year old Registered Blazer Gelding. The Blazers are bred for disposition, athletic ability, durability and heart. It’s because of that heart that Smokey is here today. When I got Smokey as an eleven year old in 2008 he did not have a job. Basically green broke with perhaps 100 total rides in his life. Most of those rides had been up in the hills with a couple ...mountain hunting trips thrown in. I started using him in parades, O-mok-see’s (speed games on horseback) and in the competitive/extreme trail events offered. It was through the trail challenges that Smokey’s and my partnership became complete. When I was on his back there was nothing we could not do together. Then everything changed in an instant during a flag/drill team performance. Smokey and I were involved in a horrible head on crash with another horse during the opening ceremonies of the Spokane Interstate Rodeo in September of 2010. The decision to put him down was made immediately – there was no question in my mind that he had broken his shoulder. To remove him from the public eye and make it easier to remove the body we decided to try and load him in a trailer. It was a long shot – the vet didn’t feel there was any way he would/could step into a trailer. When I got back with the trailer I remember the look in his eyes -- not crazed, scared, pain filled out of his mind look I expected but rather a huge soft ok mom whats next look of pure trust. Smokey hopped right in the trailer and that move saved his life. My vet standing watching swore Smokey raised/used that shoulder to get in the trailer. It was decided to take him home. Three hours later there was no swelling just a 3-legged horse and again Smokey’s eye was soft and calm with no sign of pain – we put off the decision till morning. It took about a week for all information, consultations, x-rays to come together with what they think really had happened. A horse’s scapula is attached not with bone but with muscles and ligaments. When we hit chest to chest with the larger horse it “peeled” Smokey’s scapula away from his body and tore/damaged the muscles, ligaments and nerves that surround it, hold it in place and are under it. Other muscles will take over for damaged ones but nerves do not heal. Smokey was put on a years stall rest with the known fact that he might still have to be put down at that time . Well nobody told Smokey that he might not have a future. He greeted you everyday with that huge soft trust in you look of his eyes. Every week showed improvement on how he used that leg. It did look horrible as the whole shoulder sunk in as the muscles died under the scapula. The vets said that the atrophy would never reverse – he would have a “sunken hole” in his shoulder for the rest of his life. Fast forward to New Years Day – for the first time since the accident I turned Smokey loose in the indoor arena. He ran and bucked and farted doing flying lead changes and rollbacks while I sat and cried. Fast forward to April ACTHA was doing auditions for America’s Favorite Trail horse. I had a Blazer gelding DJ that I signed up to ride. My audition location was Redmond Oregon – over 8 hours away. I called ACTHA to offer them Red Top Stables as an audition location since there were quite a few people in my area with the same long drive ahead. ACTHA said yes!! They were coming to me!! About this time I was telling my trainer that I really wasn’t happy with my audition horse DJ. We got talking about Smokey and just for the fun of it I got him out and trotted him around – he trotted sound!! After a long talk with my vets, chiropractor and trainer we saddled Smokey for the first time in 7 months just 8 days before the audition. Smokey did everything I asked like he’d never had a day off while again I just cried. So Smokey became my second audition horse with 7 days of 5 minutes twice a day riding to get back in shape after 7 months of rest after a almost life ending injury. If ACTHA had not come to me I would have never auditioned on Smokey!! Smokey has never looked back since that day in April when I saddled him again for the first. We drove the 2400 miles to Texas and filmed the show. He has not taken a lame step or given us any cause to worry. The shoulder is no longer sunk in. The specialists that have been there all alone are amazed at his recovery and we all believe it comes right back to that 800lbs of heart in his 900lbs of body! Check out the American Blazer Horse!! Durable, Athletic, Kind horses with TONS of heart. They are people horses that like to do things with their people!! www.blazerhorse.com See More
Gender	Male
Personal Information	In 2010 Smokey and I were involved in a head on collision during the Spokane Interstate Rodeo. Smokey separated his scapula from his body tearing all the muscles and nerves that hold the shoulder to the body. The vets didn't have much hope for recovery but Smokey's spirit was so positive each morning that we kept putting off putting him down. Every week he amazed us as he just kept getting better and better. Just 8 months later Smokey was riding sound for the America's Favorite Trail Horse auditions and off to Texas we went for the filming which will air in September 2011 on HR-TV. On this show America votes for their favorite horse!!