The sound of hoof steps pounding in the dirt and the neighing of a horse is what senior Sarah Spore has heard almost everyday since she was ten years old. The day that Sarah first started to ride was one of the best days of her life. Then one day her horse Lady started to limp and not put pressure on her left leg. Sarah knew something was wrong.

Sarah got Lady in September of 2012, she has only had her for a year. Before Lady got hurt Sarah and Lady were doing really well in their competitions, Sarah and Lady together were moving their way up to much larger jumps. There was never really an accident that happened to Lady before, she didn’t get hurt or hurt herself. It was just normal wear and tear in her bones. The first time she noticed Lady limping was when she was at a competition.

The vet came out and said it was probably sore from jumping and landing too hard in the dirt. After a few more weeks, a more “intense” vet come out and looked at her, that’s when they had to go to Iowa state and get an MRI done. They finally determined it was her ligaments in her left front leg that were injured.

“It wasn’t a do or die type of problem, it was just going to put a damper on my plans because I was going to try and make the NCEA team (National Collegiate Equestrian Association) at K-State,” Spore said “I would be just like a normal athlete there, I would be treated just like them.”

For a while Sarah wasn’t able to ride at all. They worked their way up to a sort of physical therapy that Lady had to do. Lady has been in the stall for six months not able to get out and run in the pasture or the arena at all.

“I can’t imagine being stuck in a small closet for six months and not being able to get out and stretch,” said Spore.

“This is a common injury that can actually happen to a lot of horses,” said Vet Tech Sue Kramer “I had a horse with almost the exact same injury, even though it took almost two and a half years for him to get all the way back to normal he is one of my favorite horses that I have.”

Having had the dream to be able to ride in college and take her horse career to the next level Sarah was going to be crushed if her only chance was gone because Lady got injured. With everything that has happened to Lady, Sarah hasn’t had much time to think about her future and what she is going to do in college, whether she is going to ride or do something else.

“We were so heart broken,” said Sarah’s parents Laura and Ed Spore “We knew that Sarah’s future was was going to be up in the air because of this. She has been riding for so long and this was her dream, to ride in college and go all the way with it. Right now we just want her to know that we support her with all of her decisions for her future. We hope that she can make another team where she would be able to ride and have fun wherever she goes.”

When Lady started to heal, and put pressure on her leg Sarah has been able to ride a lot more. She has to walk thirty minutes, canter (very fast run) for fifteen, and then walk again for another twenty minutes. Sarah goes out to the barn six if not seven days a week.

“I have 15 horses and two of them have been hurt just like this,” said freshman Hailey Livingston “One had a broken leg and they had to put it down, another was hurt to the point where it couldn’t be ridden anymore.”

Even though all of this has happened and it has taken a long time for Lady to get back to being able to ride again, Sarah always keeps a positive outlook on life.

“Everything happens for a reason,” Spore said.