OUR GELDERLANDERS

Page is under construction.  Please bear with us.

 Zorro:  Zorro is a 1982 light bay Gelderlander gelding.  16.3 hands.  Good manners/disposition.  Smart.  No vices.  Easy to handle on the ground and under saddle.
      Ziezo:   1980 light bay Gelderlander gelding.  16.2 hands.  Good manners/disposition.  No vices.  Smart.  Easy to handle on the ground and under saddle.  

    Walter:   1981 bay Gelderlander gelding.  16 hands.  Good manners/disposition.  A bit lazy under harness, but Victor keeps him in tow!  Easy to handle under saddle and on ground.

     Victor: 1980 bay Gelderlander gelding.   16 hands.   A bit of arthritis in hock, but still likes to work.  Most honest of the four about his job.  Good manners/disposition.  Good under saddle and on ground.

Zorro and Ziezo are brothers.  Along with Walter and Victor, they were driven extensively in Europe in endurance driving competitions, then exhibitions. They were also trained and shown in Dressage under Harness. 

Phillip Hofmann (then Chairman & C.E.O. of Johnson & Johnson) had purchased them in Holland.  Mr. Hofmann was very well known for being a promoter of carriage driving and coaching competitions in the 1960's and 1970's.  They were taken to Windsor Horse Show in England.  They were also used for various coaching events. 

Mr. Hofmann passed away in December of 1986 and the Kluges then purchased our boys in 1987.  There were paraded at Stratford Hall, and also taken to the Washington International Horse Show several times.  They were featured in an article about the Kluge's estate in Charlottesville in Town and Country  magazine. 

Mr. Kluge donated them to the Kentucky Horse Park in 1989 (I believe).  Their most recent work was to draw the carriage that carried the judges for the Rolex International held each year at the Kentucky Horse Park.  A painting of them by Valerie Hinz, a well known Canadian artist hangs in a private gallery in Toronto.  Several of her paintings of them hang in the International  Museum of The Horse at the Kentucky Horse Park. 

When harnessed, Walter and Victor were the lead horses, Zorro and Ziezo were the wheelers.  The photo shown of the four horse hitch is Walter and Victor in the front, Zorro and Ziezo in the rear.  The Kentucky Horse Park has generously donated all four of them to Bright Futures Farm.  Walter and Victor went to live with two of our friends, who are also members of our Board, Ed and Denise Conley.  Zorro and Ziezo stayed with me here at Bright Futures.

In early 2002, Victor experienced symptoms of tying up/arthritis in his hocks.  It was difficult to tell exactly what was happening, so we took him (and his sidekick, Walter) to Ohio State University where Dr. Werner immediately recognized the symptoms as that of Equine Polysaccharide Storage Myopathy (sometimes known as EPSM or PSSM).  She took a muscle biopsy of both Walter and Victor and confirmed her diagnosis.  You can link to information about EPSM on our page, Medical Links.  All four boys had a major diet change after this discovery and all sugars that we could remove from their diets were removed.   However, Victor passed away in November 2002 after succumbing to the atrophy associated with EPSM.  

Walter stayed with Ed and Denise through early 2007.  Unfortunately Walter developed some health issues and we lost him as well in January.  Both Walter and Victor had very exciting lives, and were well cared for throughout their long lives.  Victor lived to be 23, and Walter reached the ripe age of 27.

Zorro recently had several severe bouts of uveitis and we contacted both Ohio State University and New Bolton Center for advice on a course of action to take.  His age and size were factors to strongly consider since any surgery at this point would be a great risk to his life, but we had to do something.  While the Doctors at Ohio State University were just as helpful and just as wonderful to us as they always are (we have used OSU for many treatments and procedures that we needed a fully equipped surgery center for), we chose to work with Dr. Mary Lassaline of New Bolton Center for Zorro's uveitis.  She was compassionate, and understood all of my concerns about the options we had, and always took time to answer questions and stay in touch even before we'd scheduled the trip. 

These are photos of Zorro's eye during one of his more sever attacks of uveitis.  There were times it was more swollen and more irritated than it is in this photo.

By the time we got the appointment scheduled at New Bolton, I'd had Zorro on antioxidants and wearing the Guardian UV-Protection mask for about two weeks.  The day of his visit, his pupils were close to the same size and reactive, and his eye showed little swelling and no tearing or sign of irritation.

Dr. Lassaline opted to forego surgery at this time since it was apparent that he was doing well.  His evaluation and prognosis are detailed below.  While he was there he also received a complete physical exam, as did brother Ziezo, and he had a broken tooth pulled with a successful outcome.

He wears his new shades every day, continues to receive his antioxidants every day, and I've seen minimal tearing and very  little swelling since our visit to NBC in November (2006).

Both he and Ziezo are still in good health, and now that they've turned 25 and 26 respectively, I pray every day that they have many more good years left.  They are a tremendous joy to be around, and I am honored to have been asked to care for them in their semi-and retirement years. 

Thank you Tom Hamblen for asking me to take these four wonderful boys.

Thank you Dr. L for being so kind, considerate, and accommodating and for helping us with the cost of Zorro's medical needs

Thank you to New Bolton Center for your help, support and obvious love of what you do - you took great care of the boys and me while we were there, and we can't thank you enough.

And, finally, thank you to everyone who supported us financially and provided moral support during this very stressful time.  I hope that we can keep this condition from recurring and keep both Zorro and Ziezo healthy for many years to come.

________

Zorro's diagnosis and prognosis