Two-minute mare turns into priceless treasure
by John Berry
This Mane Attraction began to take shape in mid-April of 2006.
Yes, it took this much time for the story to ripen, and, thankfully, it continues today and, hopefully, will do so for years to come.
On April 18 of that year, 19 years past, a filly came into this world with the same aspirations of becoming a world champion, or, more realistically, a local sensation, or, even more sensibly minded — even make it to the racetrack.
In this case, the question was whether she would even survive.
So many things can happen from that first draw of breath in the agonizing journey of making it to the starting gate.
Not all foals are perfect out of the womb and, in time, this filly would have mountains to climb.
Emma’s Pearl was found to be a “dummy foal,” a syndrome known as neonatal maladjustment disorder, characterized by a failure to exhibit normal behaviors like standing, sucking or, even, following mama around.
Oh, she also had a club foot.
One veterinarian said, “in today’s world of prop betting, she would have been at +10,000,000.”
Over time, things improved somewhat and the filly was introduced and broken to harness and placed in Florida’s FSBOA Sale where she found a new owner with the hammer price being $2,100.
Luanna Beeson became her owner/trainer, a long-time horsewoman on the Florida scene for years where she was successful with horses like Heart Felt and Safe From Terror.
But there were more hurdles to overcome with Emma’s Pearl down the road.
As Beeson said, “She trained down to 2:30 without breaking a sweat.”
And that was the problem.
Emma’s Pearl was diagnosed with anhidrosis, a condition where a horse’s ability to sweat is radically reduced or lost.
Beeson said, “It’s a very serious condition because a horse’s temperature can rise while training by as much as 10 degrees in just minutes.
“It can cause collapse, convulsions and even death, and horses that do survive can sustain brain damage from this experience.”
Veterinarians were advising that Emma’s Pearl be ‘wetted down’ broke training but Beeson accidentally found another possibility, one that was invented over 7,000 years ago.
BEER!
“We started giving her two beers a day for lunch; dark beer,” Beeson said. “And she responded very well and we got her back into training and she made it to the races.”
Her racing career was inauspicious, to say the least, as she did trot flawlessly throughout her first (non-betting) stakes start as a 2-year-old but was race-timed in 2:21.4, beaten 68 lengths.
The very next week, she improved to 2:21.1 — 77 lengths off the winner.
She also did a bit the next season earning $3,224 in 12 starts and was race-timed in 2:01.2 while competing in a nw2 trot where the winner went in 1:58.2.
Her crowning moment was achieved at age 4 when she trotted the fastest quarter of her life — 30 seconds — to win in 2:00 flat.
Emma’s Pearl did win twice more in her 4-year-old season but encountered more physical problems and a bone chip ended her racing career.
As the legendary newscaster Paul Harvey famously would say, “And now, the rest of the story.”
On Jan. 20, 1997, Monica Barranco gave birth to a son, Kelby.
Doctors noticed some abnormalities in the infant after birth and, after an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging), the diagnosis was microcephaly, a condition where the brain has developed abnormally with the consequences being intellectual disability, speech delay, seizures and abnormal muscle functionality.
Subsequent testing showed that Kelby had cerebral palsy with evidence that he had suffered a stroke during Monica’s pregnancy.
There is no cure for microcephaly, however, supportive care can prove to be very beneficial.
Over the ensuing years, with little progress shown, the theory of equine therapy was to be tried, as it has proven very successful in the past, especially with standardbred horses.
While riding was slowly building Kelby’s confidence — he even was able to walk a few steps — he, like everyone, had bouts of illness with one of those setbacks interrupting one of his therapy sessions.
With the session pre-paid, Monica was denied a refund and that propelled her to go out and find her own horse for Kelby.
The new boarder was claimed to be 15 years old, in good health and sound.
In truth, the mare, named Princess, was underweight, had serious foot issues with teeth in such bad shape they were cutting through her cheeks, and she was partially blind.
This new princess for Kelby was nursed back to health and Kelby had a new playmate and was now able to help in the stall cleaning, feeding and keeping the water buckets full.
The horse even helped Kelby to speak coherently, learn to ride a bicycle and keep his balance, and, along the way, Kelby and Princess won over 100 ribbons and numerous trophies in shows with his strength and coordination improving with every showing.
On July 16, 2011, Princess died right outside Kelby’s bedroom window, probably around the age of 35.
Kelby, of course, now 14-years-old, was devastated by the news, as was Monica.
But the development of events beyond a person’s control, regarded as determined by a supernatural power — known as fate — came into play here as one Joe White, a farrier, had mentioned that, as farrier for Princess, he also shod Emma’s Pearl for Beeson.
The trifecta of White, Beeson and Monica was arranged and, on Oct. 9, 2011, the 5-year-old Emma’s Pearl met the 14-year-old Kelby.
The bond was immediate.
Beeson volunteered to train Emma’s Pearl to ride under saddle and, in mere moments, Kelby was all-in on bathing her, stall clean-up, and feeding, according to Kelby, apples, bananas, carrots and other treats.
“They have become so close that they do everything together, with Kelby’s advancement so far along that doctors regard it as ‘highly unlikely’ and ‘improbable’ that this would or could ever happen,” Monica said.
So, the dummy foal — Emma’s Pearl, now 19 — has teamed up with Kelby — now 28 — to make each other’s life more valuable than money can buy.
“They are inseparable,” Monica said. “She’s a big part of our family.
“She might have been a $2,100 yearling, but no amount of money could take her away from us.”
And all this may have started with a dark beer.
MAY THE HORSE BE WITH YOU
