Betty Oare’s devotion to her amateur-owner hunter partner has allowed a triumphant return to the show ring.

“Each day I get on her I pick up a trot and pray,” said Betty Oare. “And each day that she trots sound, I consider it a special gift.”

Oare, Warrenton, Va., has waited a long time to speak those words—2 1/2 years, to be exact. And after a lengthy recuperation and hiatus from the show ring, Estrella, one of the country’s most celebrated amateur-owner hunters, returned to action in April in Tampa, the second stop on the Winter Equestrian Festival circuit in Florida, where she and Oare tested the waters again.

And in a fitting scenario, Estrella finished the Tournament Of Champions with the adult amateur, 3’3″, division championship.

“I’m just so thrilled to have her back,” said Oare smiling. “She’s such a special horse to me. Even after all of these years, we just couldn’t give up on her.”

Many other people might have thrown in the towel because of the setbacks and disappointments the Oares endured during the diagnosis and recuperation, but there’s a bond between Betty and Ernie Oare and Estrella that helped them defy the odds.

Eventually, the Oares discovered that Estrella had torn her deep digital flexor tendon, but the prognosis for a full recovery was slim. Very slim.

(Not) Just Another Day
It was one September day in 2003 when Betty first noticed Estrella wasn’t quite right. She recalled it wasn’t an obvious lameness, but just something that nagged Oare as she hacked the mare. Another rider might not have even noticed the unevenness, but Betty and Estrella have such a close-knit relationship that she just knew something was amiss.

Betty and Estrella met in 2001 after her sister-in-law, Linda Reynolds, first noticed the bay Holsteiner-Dutch Warmblood (Cortez—Just For Luck) while judging a horse show out West. Because Betty was in the market for a new hunter, Linda called to tell her of the elegant mare with trainers Mary Gatti and Patrick Spanton.

Betty was intrigued. So her brother, Bucky Reynolds, immediately hopped on an airplane and managed to squeeze in a short trip between judging duties. After Bucky recommended Betty ride the mare, she followed suit between her own judging commitments, and the two passed in mid-air as Betty flew West and Bucky back East.

“I loved her immediately,” said Betty. “We bought her the third week of July. The poor thing arrived on a Saturday in Baltimore and on Monday she shipped to Blowing Rock [N.C.], where it was cold and foggy.”

But the change of climate didn’t affect Estrella’s performances. As a second year green horse, she was a star for the Oares and Reynolds.

Estrella and professional Sandy Ferrell earned tricolor honors that year at the Pennsylvania National and the Washington International (D.C.) horse shows. Betty and Estrella quickly forged a strong partnership too, and after earning the amateur-owner, 36 and over, championship at the Washington International their first year there in 2001, they were unstoppable in 2002.

Even after Betty was sidelined for more than two months after breaking her shoulder and ankle in a schooling ring accident in August, the pair earned the U.S. Equestrian Federation national championship. On the way, Estrella won her second consecutive championship at Washington and took the blue ribbon and the championship at the National Horse Show (Fla.) Junior/Amateur-Owner Classic to conclude the year.

In 2003, Estrella and Betty were well on their way toward another national championship until that fateful fall day.

“We called Dr. Tom Paisley, our home vet, and later Dr. Robert Barber, a good friend, stopped by on the way to Capital Challenge [Md.] and also checked her,” recalled Betty. “But we couldn’t really figure out what was wrong. We thought maybe it was a bruised heel.”

Sadly, Betty scratched Estrella from all of the fall indoor shows and rested the mare until January, with periodic checks from Dan Flynn, VMD, of Georgetown Equine Hospital in Charlottesville, Va.

Betty slowly brought Estrella back into work, under the watchful eye of Bucky, thinking the rest would have mended any bruising or slight soft-tissue injury. They shipped to the Winter Equestrian Festival circuit in Florida but didn’t plan on showing her right away.

“We took it very slowly,” added Betty. “I didn’t show her until mid-February, when I did one schooling class. Then she was very lame the next day. I knew something was really wrong.”

The Oares sent Estrella home to Virginia where Flynn resumed treating her.

“We thought it was something in the foot,” said Betty. “Unfortunately, the X-rays didn’t correlate. We couldn’t put our finger on it.”

“From the time of my early examinations of Estrella, there was occasional evidence of pain involving the posterior region of both front feet that was confirmed by diagnostic anesthesia,” said Flynn. “Although careful management and various treatment regimens prolonged her remarkable career, the lameness worsened over time, and it became increasingly evident that an unresponsive problem existed within the feet. MRI was not available to us at the time.”

While the Oares continued to travel to show their other horses, their Warrenton-based stable manager, Richard Martin, took Estrella under his wing. After stall rest, hand walking and light turnout, Estrella started walking under tack in late spring.

In July, the Oares shipped Estrella to Blowing Rock to hang out.

“Bucky still didn’t feel like her stride was right,” said Betty. “She was still short-strided, and she wasn’t as happy as she was. We decided she needed more time.”

So it was back to Virginia for Estrella. There, she evolved to turnout 24/7 in a big pasture in the rolling hills. Betty hoped somehow with more diagnostic testing they’d be able to figure out what was wrong. But when they pulled her out of the field again, she still wasn’t right.

That fall they took Estrella to Marion du Pont Scott Center at Morven Park in Leesburg, Va., where the clinic’s relatively new MRI machine was in use. It was then that Kent Allen, DVM, of Virginia Equine Imaging, who ordered the MRI, and Flynn discovered that Estrella had developed a deep digital flexor tendonitis of both left and right front feet; in addition, there was an injury to the suspensory ligament of the navicular bone in the right front.

“It’s now possible through MRI to find previously unrecognized lesions within the foot and, based upon this knowledge, to determine a prognosis and treatment plan,” said Flynn. “It appears, as with Estrella, that these deep-seated lesions may be secondary to a cascade of events beginning with an altered gait that is seen with everyday foot lameness in high performance horses.”

Finally, A Diagnosis
Now that the Oares knew the problem, they had to figure out a solution to help the mare mend properly. While rest had certainly helped Estrella, she was back to full-time confinement in her stall until a plan could be formulated.

So in January of 2005, the Oares discussed Estrella’s condition with Chris and Jenny Kappler who were training a jumper for them. They also met with Tim Ober, DVM, the Kappler’s regular veterinarian, in Wellington, Fla. Together they had a conference with Allen and read the MRI together.

“We discussed what we should or shouldn’t do,” said Betty. “This injury is one of the hardest to heal. The vets kept saying it was a 25 percent cure rate. I wanted Estrella to have the best possible chance at recovering, so we brought in many of our friends to help us.”

After brainstorming, the group agreed to give Estrella 24/7 turnout again. This time, she stayed out from January to October. “It was ‘Dr. Green’ as my husband calls it,” said Betty smiling.

Throughout her lay-up, Estrella was regularly monitored by her various veterinarians. She also received Adequan and Legend to help keep her comfortable, and the veterinarians implemented shockwave therapy to aid the healing process.

“In October, Dr. Allen evaluated her and we decided to start her back walking. We walked her only on good footing and increased the work gradually, following Dr. Allen’s prescribed increases to the letter.”

When the Oares took Estrella for a final evaluation that winter, everyone had been pleased with her progress. “But then they thought they saw something else,” said Betty. “We thought we would delve a little further. We’d come so far at this point, so thus we did a whole body scan at Drs. [Gareth and Shauna] Spurlock’s in Lovettsville [Va.]. The scan was encouraging, so we decided to put her into work and move forward. By this time she was moving well and seemed like she felt good.”

Flynn added, “A bone scan is a very sensitive technology in detecting focal areas of inflammation involving bones and joints. The long rest and encouraging bone scan report motivated Betty to try a slow comeback; this was a reasonable approach. An MRI is another option that can always be taken to evaluate progress.”

So now, after years of frustration, Betty found herself back on Estrella’s back.

Betty rode the mare for three weeks until she left for the WEF in January. Their Warrenton-based manager again monitored Estrella’s progress until she was ready for action.

Estrella shipped down to Florida in March to trainer Don Stewart Jr. Betty began hacking Estrella lightly, primarily in the big fields on Stewart’s Ocala farm. “She felt great,” said Betty. “We waited until the final week at Ocala before we jumped her.”

Then, it was on to Tampa, where they contested their first show, the Tampa Bay Classic. “We did a lot of slow walking to warm her up,” said Betty. “There’s no more longeing. We don’t do much jumping. She knows what the jumps are for.

“It felt like our first show all over again,” added Betty, who earned ribbons in the adult amateur division that first show back. “I had a grin on my face from ear to ear.”‘

The Oares plan to take one day at a time with Estrella. Although they’ll plan her showing schedule carefully, Betty does hope to move the mare back up to the amateur-owner division for the pleasure of rekindling their memorable partnership.

“Only time will tell what will happen,” said Betty. “We’re only going to keep her going as long as she’s happy. We’ll just hope that
things go well. We think we’ve got it healed and in good shape. We’re going on with a positive outlook.

“And there’s one person besides me who has gone the extra mile—Ernie has never given up on her. He’s a great supporter who never thought she wouldn’t come back. I’m so fortunate. We’ve had a great support team to help us every step of the way. We now have two horse shows under our belt now, and I hope to have many more.”