Elle a Coeur

Our featured Horse of the Week is a young 3/4 Thoroughbred, 1/4 Percheron filly named Elle a Coeur (she has a heart), registered with the American Part-Blooded Horse Registry. Her barn name is Lucy and at 18 months she stands 15.1 hh. She is bay with one white rear foot and a white star on her forehead. Lucy is owned by Karen Fraser of Bracebridge, Ontario, Canada.

Karen Fraser speaks of her horse:

"Lucy has always had a great temperament. When she was only six weeks of age, her mother refused to share grain with her, so Lucy was fed separately. As a result, Lucy would follow me everywhere, hoping she was going to get grain. Lucy was weaned at three and a half months, which sounds early, but she handled it well.

Lucy's short life took at terrifying turn for the worse in October of 2006, when she was attacked by coyotes. At only five months of age, both her rear legs were stripped of skin by these predators. Lucy spent a week at the University of Guelph's Ontario Veterinary College. When she came home we went through a daily ritual of cleaning and rebandaging her wounds until just after Christmas, when she was finally able to go without the bandages. Today, there are no obvious scars or marks on her except for a few white hairs. She is not afraid of dogs, nor seems to have any emotional after effects. Fortunately, although it took time for the skin to grow back over the wounds, there were no joint, bone, muscle or tendon damage.

Due to her early handling she is quite easy to work with. Lucy has learned to cross-tie, stand for the farrier, wear blankets and trailer load. She and been turned in and out by a 6 year old and is in general a very well tempered filly. She loves carrots, but dislikes mints and molasses. She doesn't have a discipline yet, but she will probably be taught dressage in the future.

What else can I say - she's great!"

Congratulations to Lucy for being our December 3^rd, 2007 Horse of the Week!