Two of the five horses who were rescued from Boyd Martin’s burning barn at True Prospect Farm in the early morning of May 31 are scheduled to be released from veterinary care today, June 7.

Martin’s syndicated 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games mount Neville Bardos and CCI* winner Minotaure du Passoir, owned by Amy Lindgren, are set to be discharged from the George D. Widener Hospital for Large Animals at the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center in Kennett Square, Pa.

“The veterinarians at New Bolton are astounded with Neville’s recovery,” Martin said. “They say he’s a freak of nature and that he shouldn’t be healing as well as he’s been healing.”

Otis Barbotiere, the new advanced horse Martin also recently syndicated, was discharged from the hospital last week, as was Kristen Sparks’ Ambassador’s Rose. The only horse remaining at New Bolton is Caitlin Silliman’s Catch A Star.

“She’s got the worst burns, and she’s been showing intermittent signs of colic every other day,” Martin said. “So they want to keep her in a little bit longer to make sure once she leaves she doesn’t have to return.”

Martin praised New Bolton’s veterinary team, calling their work “outstanding” and acknowledging that these have been challenging cases for them.

“The hard thing for their staff is that there’s actually not that many cases of smoke inhalation and throat burns in horses,” he said. “So trying to get an accurate reading on when we’ll see these horses at a three-day event again is very hard. It’s not like a bowed tendon where they can compare it to other cases and give you a program on how to return to work.”

In fact, Ambassador’s Rose is the only horse who’s returned to work under saddle so far. Neville, Otis and Minotaure will be kept on stall rest for the next three to four weeks in the hopes that keeping their respiratory rates low will speed healing.

“But the majority of these horses are three-day fit, because they were set to go to [the Bromont CCI in Quebec this weekend],” Martin said. “So they’re bursting out of their skins ready to gallop. Even hand-walking them has sometimes been an ‘exciting’ process.”

Back In The Tack

Martin returned to competition over the weekend, riding four younger horses at the Waredaca Horse Trials (Md.), June 4-5.

“The first day was really hard,” he admitted. “Usually it’s fun and jokes in the warm-up, but now you’re riding around and people didn’t know whether to say hi. But it was interesting. All kinds of people I didn’t know, kids especially, were coming up and having a hug and giving me saddle blankets and bandages and brushes and hoofpicks. By the second day, I felt more comfortable there.”

Martin also found a surprise waiting for him at Waredaca. Just days before the fire, he’d told Bonnie Stedt, a member of his syndicates and the owner of Cagney Herself, one of the horses lost in the blaze, that he’d found an amazing 4-year-old at Phyllis Dawson’s Windchase Farm (Va.) and was looking to put a group together to buy him. But after the fire, Martin forgot all about the gray gelding, who’s by Brandenburg’s Windstar, the same sire as Allison Springer’s Arthur.

So when Martin spotted the horse with Dawson, whose barn was coincidentally destroyed by a fire in 2008, at Waredaca, he was more than a little confused.

“I gave it a pat, and Phyllis pulled it off the trailer and gave me the rope and said, ‘Here, this is a present from Bonnie,’ ” Martin said. “I burst into tears, but then I also thought, ‘Well, if someone’s prepared to believe in me so much as to present me with possibly a horse of a lifetime, it’s time for me to make a go of it and push on and not let this fire define me.”

Outpouring Of Support

The new horse, named Quinn Himself, is just one of the tangible examples of support Martin’s received in the past week. Show jumping legend Katie Prudent also sent one of her horses to train in his program for the next two months.

“I’ve had obviously hundreds of emails and calls and texts from around the world, but there have been a few that have especially moved me,” Martin said. “The great Jimmy Wofford was probably the most memorable phone call, the morning of the fire. He rang me up and basically said I could have anything of his I wanted.”

Bruce Davidson also visited the morning Martin was organizing his new barn, putting his hand on Martin’s shoulder and delivering encouraging words.

“When people of this stature reach out and tell you that it’s going to be all right, it’s quite a moving and inspiring thing,” Martin said. “They understand how long it’s going to take to get back and rebuild, but it’s humbling actually that they make the effort to tell you how they feel and push you to get back to where you were.

“I don’t have any family here in America,” Martin continued. “I don’t have my Mum or Dad or aunts or uncles. My family is the friends I’ve developed through this wonderful sport. And the majority of them were at Waredaca on the weekend, so it was a good thing to get out there and be amongst my ‘family.’ ”