After nearly a year of back-and-forth with the state's veterinary medical board, Thoroughbred Daily News reports Dr. Jeff Blea will soon be back at work at the California Horse Racing Board.
Blea had been one subject of formal accusation documents filed by the California Veterinary Medical Board, alleging he prescribed and administered medications to racehorses without proper diagnostics, examination, or properly establishing a veterinary-client-patient relationship per the state's legal requirements. Not long after, Blea's license was suspended and he was placed on administrative leave by the CHRB.
According to the TDN, Blea has reached a settlement with the vet board and will return to work officially on Sept. 21. One of the conditions of the settlement is that Blea must undergo continuing education courses on proper record-keeping, which was at the crux of most of the board's complaints against him.
He will also be on probation for three years.
Blea hasn't practiced medicine on the racetrack since he took the CHRB equine medical director position last summer, and an active veterinary license is not required for the role.
His legacy is in his name: Steady Eddie. The 16.1 bay Thoroughbred gelding owned by Denise Lahey, Pierre Collin, and George Wintersteen has officially retired at 19 years old. But before we reminisce on his decorated record as an eventer, lets first remember and pay homage to his first career as a racehorse in Australia, where he raced under the name Big Jet.
From January 2007 to October 2009, the Steady Eddie we've come to love was doing exactly what we know him to do: galloping hard. Stamina is probably too soft a word to describe his heart and physical ability. And if we're really being honest, his athleticism is plain insulting.
“Yea, it's almost cruel, isn't it?” asks Boyd Martin, who met Steady Eddie under rather casual conditions in Queensland on holiday. “I'll never forget the day I tried Steady Eddie—I tried him in shorts and a pair of flip-flops.”
Despite having won seven races from 36 starts, Steady Eddie's lasting impression was in his jump, which meant a golden opportunity awaited him in the States with Martin.
“He just finished his racing career, and then to see the horse travel to America and work his way up the grades and compete at so many 5 Stars is a true triumph of where an off the track Thoroughbred could end up in his second career,” says Martin. “When you looked at his racing career in Australia, he raced hard. Towards the end of his racing career he had multiple races that were in consecutive days, like he'd race on a Saturday and then again on a Sunday—two different racetracks, six or seven hours apart.”
And his personality was in true fashion of a Thoroughbred: on his toes, always with energy. His was born a fierce competitor, being piloted by Martin in all corners of the world.
“I think his best performance for me was finishing in the top ten at Burghley. He was just born for Burghley. He was a fantastic galloper and, I mean, what an epic horse to then transition over to Michael and get Michael to the 4 Star and 5 Star level. Just goes to show what a champion animal he is,” says Martin.
The memories, like with any good horse, are right on the tip of Martin's tongue, segueing from one story to the next until one of humor strikes: “He'll always be remembered for me—I fell off him and broke my leg in half at Carolina International. I still have a rod down one of my legs from a fall I had on him. Steady Eddie will always be a part of me.”
Michael Pendleton became a working student for Martin in 2013 and later graduated to a full-time member of his staff and assistant rider at Windurra in Cochranville, Pennsylvania, where he rode and competed a ton of young horses. It was when Pendleton returned from a month-long stint in Germany, riding with Paul Schockemöhle—a trip Martin encouraged and helped navigate for Pendleton—that Martin quite literally handed over Steady Eddie's reins to Pendleton for him to get some mileage in at intermediate level. Together, the pair competed at 28 events from January 2019 through April of this year. Steady Eddie gave Pendleton three starts at the 5 Star level.
“You wonder where Steady Eddie's life would have—you know, he was from a really remote part of Australia called Rock Anthem, which is the end of the earth—what his life would have become if we didn't pick him out,” says Martin.
Good thing that's something that can be left to the imagination, Boyd. We're overjoyed to bear witness to his outstanding career and a dash gloomy to not see that white blaze tearing through cross-country at the next event.
Veterinarians at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital answer your questions about sales and healthcare of Thoroughbred auction yearlings, weanlings, 2-year-olds and breeding stock.
Question:Some horses can be really “stoic” when they're experiencing pain or illness. How can an owner pick up on subtle signs of pain in a stoic horse?
Dr. Jordan Kiviniemi-Moore, Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital: Stoicism has an evolutionary advantage for horses, as it helps them avoid being singled out by predators. As such, horses may conceal substantial levels of pain and carry on without dramatic symptoms, making it easy to miss subtle signs that reflect underlying discomfort. It is also important to recognize that certain common signs such as stiff movement or a squinty eye are in fact a reflection of pain, even if the horse is bright, eating, and otherwise behaving normally.
Knowing what is “normal” for a particular horse will help owners pick up on small cues that may indicate an issue. Horse owners may notice subtle changes in behavior such as decreased enthusiasm for feed, slower or reluctant movement, or uncharacteristic separation from the rest of the herd or group of horses. The horse may become “girthy” or fussy when being bridled, or very reactive under saddle. Such behavior alterations can also occur in the absence of physical discomfort, but ruling out underlying pain and physical causes should be among the first steps in investigating behavior changes or training issues.
Additional signs of generalized underlying pain include lethargy, low head carriage or abnormal posture, shifting weight, and bruxism or teeth grinding. The “horse grimace scale” was developed by researchers who correlated pain levels with changes in equine facial expressions such as squinting, stiffly backward ears, and strained mouth and nostrils. This is particularly helpful to assess discomfort following medical procedures or for horses suffering from ongoing issues such as chronic lameness.
Subtle signs of pain often correlate with the underlying issue and affected body system. In my practice I most commonly see horses dealing with musculoskeletal and hoof pain, gastrointestinal pain, and ocular pain. Dental pain is also quite common and can be difficult to recognize. Musculoskeletal pain often manifests as an altered gait (i.e., stiffness or limping), failure to keep up with the group of horses, and lying down excessively. Horses suffering from ocular pain may squint one or both eyes or have increased redness or discharge. Of course, the more severe manifestation of gastrointestinal pain is overt colic signs such rolling, pawing, sweating, and flank-watching, but more subtle signs include decreased appetite, lethargy, and grinding teeth. Horses suffering from dental pain may become fussy with the bit, drop feed, act reluctant to accept treats, or seem to chew predominately on one side of their mouth.
Horses have evolved to eat, watch for predators, run when needed, and keep up with their social group, and most will attempt to maintain and preserve these activities even in the face of discomfort. If you notice uncharacteristic behaviors or changes with your horse your veterinarian can help you assess comfort level and also examine for underlying painful conditions. Together you can construct a plan to evaluate problems and optimize performance and quality of life for your horse.
Dr. Jordan Kiviniemi-Moore
Dr. Kiviniemi-Moore grew up in Lexington, Ky., pleasure riding and dreaming of becoming a veterinarian. Living in central Kentucky presented Dr. Kiviniemi-Moore with wonderful opportunities from local veterinarians who fostered her desire to become one herself.
In 2010 she graduated from Transylvania University with a BA in Biology and earned her DVM from Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine in 2014. She completed a rotating equine internship which included internal medicine, surgery, and ambulatory rotations at the University Of Missouri College Of Veterinary Medicine in 2015. Her areas of interest include theriogenology and primary care.
Daniel Schmidt heard the siren behind his horse trailer, but he didn't stop. He knew he was speeding. He was rolling through the four-way stops on Iron Works Pike outside Lexington, Ky., craning his neck to peer in all directions and tapping his horn to warn any nearby vehicles that he was coming.
From inside the trailer, where she was standing over Love Not Lost, his partner Erin O'Keefe could hear it too, though she couldn't see the police car behind them. She just hoped Schmidt wouldn't slow down.
“When I heard the sirens I was trying to see if I could stick a hand out the back of the trailer or something to give the cop any indication what was going on, and ready to call Daniel to say keep driving if he slowed down,” she remembered. “Thankfully, he's a level head in non-equine emergencies and did the responsible thing, which was call the police to inform them why we weren't pulling over.”
“He called dispatch and said, I'm not stopping; you can give me the speeding ticket in the driveway of the clinic.”
As the truck barreled toward the entrance of Hagyard Equine Medical Institute, the police car cut its siren. It turned off its lights, and the officer let off the gas as Schmidt rushed into the clinic's driveway.
Love Not Lost (known as “Evangeline”) was a maiden mare, and had been the last one they had left to foal out at BTE Stables. Earlier that afternoon, Schmidt was doing some mowing at the farm, and O'Keefe had run out to grab some more milk test strips. Schmidt noticed the mare acting oddly in her paddock and brought her inside. It didn't take long before they realized something was amiss.
“I drove very fast, but I knew from having done this before that by the time I got back she probably would have foaled,” said O'Keefe. “As soon as I came in the barn and there were barely feet out, I knew it wasn't good.”
A difficult or stalled foaling is referred to as a dystocia, and it's a medical emergency. When a mare's water breaks, it's a sign the chorioallantoic membrane has ruptured, and labor is beginning in earnest. Once this part of the process begins, the mare is on a timer. She only has a limited amount of time to deliver the foal before its oxygen supply will be cut off.
Gumbo in the foreground. Photo courtesy Erin O'Keefe
It's something of an evolutionary marvel that the equine species has kept going as long as it has, when you consider the process required for a foal to enter the world. They spend most of pregnancy folded in half, nose and feet pointing toward the mare's nose. During the birthing process, the foal must turn around, twisting its body in an S as it turns first the front legs and shoulders, then the hind legs and hips to face the mare's tail. Then, ideally, the foal should present like a diver off a platform, with front feet preceding the nose and head, and the rest of the body strung out behind, leaping into life.
There are any number of ways the process can get dangerously stalled. If the foal doesn't turn all the way around; if one front leg is bent underneath the body and not pointing out the birth canal; if the front feet are pointing the right way but the foal's head remains bent downwards and stuck; if all four feet try to exit at the same time. That's to say nothing of the issues the mare encounter, like a cervix that won't relax or tissues that can be torn by a malpresented foal. Some issues can be corrected by an experienced broodmare manager or veterinarian who can reach in and reposition the foal. Mares will sometimes roll in an apparently instinctive attempt to fix something they know is wrong. But sometimes, the usual tactics don't work.
Managers at farms like BTE, located on the far side of Paris, Ky., from major equine clinics, know down to the minute how long they have before they need to see definitive progress in the foaling. If they don't, the mare needs to be loaded up and rushed to the hospital.
There, a small army of veterinarians will be waiting in case they need to run anesthesia and take the mare to surgery for a cesarian section, necessitating a long recovery for her and usually a stint in the ICU for the foal.
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O'Keefe and Schmidt are not given to panic in situations like these. Although they opened BTE in 2019, they have considerable experience foaling other people's horses. O'Keefe has been a nurse at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital and run barns and sale operations at Taylor Made and Darby Dan; Schmidt was an assistant manager at Chamerolles Farm and a graduate of the Kentucky Equine Management Internship program before he shifted his focus to podiatry.
O'Keefe was familiar enough with the process in fact, that she documented the work of the Hagyard veterinarians – a choice that would prove useful later. Veterinarians decided to try pulling the foal out rather than putting the mare through the risks of surgery.
“I was thinking, I just hope we can save the mare. I had written off the foal,” she remembered. “In my experience with foaling, a lot of times if they're not moving, it's because it's a dead foal.”
The colt's head emerged and the process stalled again as he was shoulder-locked, then hip-locked leaving the birth canal.
“I literally watched his tongue turn blue,” she remembered. “His face was there but he was still stuck. I thought, 'I'm watching him die.' She went down, and then he moved his head. That wasn't what I was expecting.”
The reason for the dystocia became evident quickly. He was big, but he also had congenital flexural limb deformity in both his front legs, more commonly known as contracted tendons. The tendons that run down the backs of his legs were pulled taught, the way they might be if he were bending his knees while leaping into the air, except he couldn't straighten them. Contracted tendons exist as a gradient – in some cases, foals can stand and walk with just a slight hitch or oddity, which are easily corrected. Then there are cases like this one.
Schmidt works on Gumbo's special shoes as O'Keefe looks on. Photo courtesy Erin O'Keefe
“He had multiple issues,” said Dr. Arnaldo Monge, field care veterinarian for Hagyard. “He was a little project. A lot of people got involved with this horse, but we told Erin, 'Don't give up.' This is a nice baby. Structurally, he looks like a nice individual.
“I don't think anybody has pinpointed the exact reason why this [contracted tendons] happens. It's a little fight between the flexors and the extensors. If you see a video of an equine fetus, how they move their heads and move the legs, they're pretty active. If something happens that doesn't allow that natural process to develop, we get secondary problems.”
While many contracted tendon cases can be corrected with time, there's no magic bullet to speed the process. The foal had other things working against him, too – his hind end was also weak, and that combined with the perpetually folded front legs meant he couldn't stand on his own.
Then there was his mother.
“She had no interest in being near him,” said O'Keefe. “I used every trick I learned from the clinic to try to bond foals and mares. We couldn't sedate her, and needed her to move around to push the fluid [from a retained placenta] out.”
From her perspective, of course, it wasn't any wonder. She'd had a miserable afternoon, topped off by a quick trip to a foreign place with IVs and chains attached to the foal to physically pull him out, only to be stuck with this tiny thing that laid in the middle of the stall and couldn't interact with her. With no prior experience to draw on, she seemed to see him as a hindrance rather than a responsibility.
When Schmidt and O'Keefe returned to the hospital to pick up the mare and foal, they knew they had a long journey in front of all of them. The easiest and most cost-effective thing to do with such a severe case could have been to give up on the little bay colt. But the long road ahead didn't intimidate them. They gave him a nickname – “Gumbo” in honor of a Louisiana State graduate who helped him enter the world – and got to work.
They decided their best approach was a multi-faceted one, combining traditional and alternative treatments – therapeutic, customizable shoes, corrective splinting, physical therapy, and acupuncture.
Schmidt's podiatry history proved useful as they supervised the addition of splints created from bandages and casting material, with glue-on plastic shoes that helped Gumbo's hooves, drawn backward and angled as they were, reach the ground.
The traditional approach to a contracted horse is corrective casting. Veterinarians will pull a front leg gently and apply a cast to try to hold it as straight as possible. It's a fine line, encouraging the soft tissues to slowly stretch without overdoing it and causing a new injury. Gumbo had 36 hours in a cast, and 36 hours out to encourage improvement without overstressing the young tissues.
“Throughout 24 hours, the cast will relax a little bit, which is why you have to keep putting them on,” Schmidt explained. “There are things that can happen when you do it, but I don't know if there's a hard line on when you can stop making improvement on soft tissue. Because you're not actually lengthening the tendon, it's just muscle tightness. The majority of what you're doing is loosening that muscle tightness.”
Schmidt would hold Gumbo up, and help him balance and assist him in moving his legs as much as he reasonably could to help strengthen his muscles. He needed to strengthen his hind end while relaxing the muscles controlling the backs of his front legs. The special shoes helped, but required extra monitoring of his tiny feet.
“Toe extensions are a little bit of a gamble because you're putting a lot of stress on the laminae, so you're worried about laminitis,” said Schmidt. “In this case in particular, we had to figure it out or he wasn't going to make it anyway.
“Usually, doing the physical therapy, you'll eventually get the result you want but the question is whether they're going to make it that far.”
Monge brought alternative therapy to the mix with electroacupuncture, which he had begun using successfully on other foals with contracted flexor tendons.
“One day I got to thinking, what if [this problem is] a primary weakness of the extensors? And what if I could use acupuncture to help with that?” said Monge. “To my surprise, they responded extremely quickly. In less than a week, some of them were 50% better or more. Some of these horses, when we did it early enough, in a matter of three or five treatments, they were close to normal.”
They dragged the air mattress into the center aisle of their foaling barn. They constructed a crib out of straw bales and blankets where the colt could lie in between treatments and feedings. And, for 12 days, they became his constant companions. They would listen for sounds of his shuffling in the straw and lift him up so he could move, then help him lie down when he was tired. Every two hours, they turned him over to prevent sores and lung problems. They created a schedule for his many IV medications. They coordinated treatments for casting and bandaging, shoe adjustments, and acupuncture treatments.
It's safe to say Gumbo has worked his way into his owners' hearts. Photo courtesy Erin O'Keefe
Professional horsemen find a way to separate their emotions from their work. It's the only way to manage, especially with horses who aren't your own, particularly when decisions are inextricably linked to the large and long-running investments in those horses. Gumbo was different.
“Once he came home, he was by no means out of the woods, but I don't think there was any way to stay detached with the level of care he needed,” O'Keefe said. “Ultimately, it was a love of Thoroughbreds that led me to a career in this industry. I have always invested everything I can into the horses in my care, whatever that might look like. Rather than trying to stay detached because things go wrong, I do everything in my power to make sure that when things do go wrong, I know that there is nothing I (or anyone else) could have done differently to achieve a better outcome.”
Horses are not designed to lie down for long stretches, especially in their first days of life. Staying on one side reduces the lungs' ability to inflate, increasing the risk of pneumonia. The pressure of lying down can cause bed sores. If those sores got infected, a foal can go septic. The gastrointestinal tract doesn't stay motile when a horse's body isn't moving regularly. There were all kinds of risks.
The magic of the very young is they are blissfully unaware and unafraid of risk.
Gumbo grew slowly more independent. At a week into life, he couldn't stand on his own, but slowly became able to walk once someone picked him up. At two weeks old, Schmidt and O'Keefe found him a nurse mare (who was hormonally-induced to lactate, so there was no nurse mare foal) and sent Evangeline out with other mares. He spent early summer afternoons snuggling with O'Keefe on a blanket underneath a makeshift awning so he could rest without fear of overheating in the bright sun. They were bottle feeding him, milking off the nurse mare, supplementing his diet, medicating him and applying creams to his sores.
“The body automatically finds the set point of what normal is supposed to be,” said Monge. “The body knows. You just have to help the body heal itself. The body has some innate knowledge of how to heal. You just have to stimulate that process.”
“We both had a moment where his legs weren't straight yet but I thought, 'Okay. He can exist like this. If they never get any better, he can live and be a healthy, happy horse.' I didn't think he could be a racehorse yet, but he could survive and be happy in a field.”
His shoes came off, and he began standing up on his own. At Day 81 of life, he finished his last dose of medication for a lingering umbilical infection. And although O'Keefe and Schmidt are keeping their expectations low, they have hope that this story will turn out to be a fairy tale.
“We still could have ramifications that could show up from this that could make soundness for racing a concern. I can say confidently I think he could be a dressage horse,” said O'Keefe. “He could have a job. Whether that's racing yet, I don't know. He has not walked 100% normal … because there's still strengthening happening. But conformationally, if you saw him from the side, if you wouldn't know.”
They also have no data to go on telling them whether contracted foals end up as successful racehorses.
“Part of it too, is so many people are so hush hush when this does happen and the horse goes on to be a racehorse, that I don't know,” said Schmidt. “I've been told by vets that they know of some that have gone on to be racehorses.”
Even if he never makes it to the Derby (or even the starting gates) though, Gumbo is slowly gaining his own type of fame. O'Keefe made him a TikTok account to share his journey with the many horse lovers on that platform.
“Rather than spam people on my Facebook with pictures of him every day I thought I'll just put it on TikTok, and if they don't like it, they don't have to follow it,” she said. “Obviously, I'm quite attached to him now, as his TikTok can attest to.”
So far, Gumbo's account has picked up 28,000 likes on TikTok, after one video of him lying down for a nap went viral with 163,000 views. If he does nothing else in life, he will warm the hearts of people who never fed him from a bottle or napped with him in the sun. He can teach people in far-off places about podiatry and orthopedics. But perhaps most crucially, his story can demonstrate the one thing the Thoroughbred industry most desperately needs to convey to the broader world – love.
