Your Turn: The story of Lynn’s Vision, part I

Melanie Eberhardt had owned Lynn’s Vision (“Bubba”) for two years when her beloved horse seriously injured his eye. This is part I of his story.

From Melanie:

FORTUNE SMILES ON ME

I fell in love with his photo posted on a website. As a 15.1-hand brown OTTB with no markings, he was easy to overlook in his plainness, but there was something about his eyes–beautiful, brown and thoughtful, I couldn’t stop looking at them. I bought him two days later.

At four years old, Lynn’s Vision (a.k.a. Bubba) had already been racing nearly half his life. He was raced heavily in the lower level claiming races. While he seldom won, he nearly always placed in the money so his winnings were impressive. Impressive too was the generosity of his owner, who donated all of Lynn’s Vision’s winnings to his non-profit that funded treatments for eye cancer for children. Lynn’s Vision was named appropriately for his owner’s secretary, Lynn, who had the vision for establishing the fund. Bubba’s winnings contributed significantly to the non-profit and helped many children recover their sight.

Unfortunately, Bubba’s owner passed away unexpectedly and his family was not interested in horses. Bubba’s trainer was told to “get rid of him.” The trainer often worked with Bits & Bytes Farm to place horses that were no longer racing. And that’s how I crossed paths with this wonderful horse.

HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM

If I had a list of 10 ideal characteristics for a perfect horse, I could check off each one in Bubba. He is smart, kindly willful and opinionated. He is honest to ride and enjoys people. He will do anything I ask of him. His motivation is to please. Bubba isn’t perfect. He cribs voraciously and is really lazy in the morning. But every single day I appreciate my good fortune in finding my lovely horse. (We all feel this way about our horses, don’t we?)

I was two years into ownership when tragedy struck. One morning at work I received a call from the barn: Bubba’s eye was swollen and runny. They were treating it, but I should come by the barn after work. Two hours later, a second call: Bubba’s eye was worse. The vet was on his way. Come to the barn right now.

As I raced to the barn, I could never have imagined what the next 10 weeks would bring.

Stay tuned for part II of Melanie’s story tomorrow.

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