Festival News & Results

The Clovis Memorial Award YDF 2025

Bella Perkins & Royal Rhapsody

My horse Rhapsody suffers from Inflammatory Airway Disease, or Equine Asthma, which is a chronic respiratory condition characterized by inflammation and narrowing of the small airways in the lungs. It's primarily triggered by inhaled allergens, such as dust, mold, and pollen found in hay, straw, and bedding. When I first got him in 2021, we were aware that he had mild asthma, but the only management he needed at the time was plenty of airflow in his stall and lots of turnout. Over that first winter, he started having upper respiratory infections and he would cough and wheeze when trotting and cantering. After being diagnosed with IAD, we began soaking all of his hay to remove the allergens that were triggering him. This worked like magic for him and cut down on his problems by 90%. He also does best when he’s able to be out on grass, but in Upstate NY, that’s only possible for ½ of the year. He still has rare days where he struggles to breathe during exercise, mostly in extreme heat or cold, or when the pollen count is high. On those days, I either don’t work him, or just stick to walk work. If it lasts multiple days, we give him dexamethasone to reduce the inflammation, but we have not had to do that in quite a long time. 

Rhapsody also had an osteochondroma, which is a benign bone tumor, typically found near growth plates. They are cartilage-capped bony growths that can cause lameness and swelling, particularly in young, rapidly growing horses. Rhapsody’s was quite unique, because it was on the right side of his jaw. It started growing when he was around 2 years old. His previous owner never had it surgically removed because it didn’t seem to bother him. That was also my way of thinking for the first few years I had him. One vet that looked at it also thought that it could grow back bigger if we removed it. Last summer, we noticed it seemed to be growing. It got to the point that when he would roll, he hit it on the ground and had an open wound on the end of it. It wouldn’t heal quickly enough before the next time he would roll, so it kept getting worse. Aside from the risk of infection, I couldn’t ride him at this time because the rein would rub on it. We decided it was finally time to surgically remove it. Dr. Mike Ross at Pine Bush Equine did a fantastic job with the surgery and it was the largest osteochondroma he had seen. He believed that it would not grow back because the growth was from the cap on the end of it, not the base. Now, you can barely tell anything was there unless you’re very close up. Rhapsody seems much happier and more comfortable in many aspects of his life! It’s been over 8 months since the surgery, and it shows no indications of growing back.