Diva...Tragedy to Triumph
There's always those once in a lifetime horses.
Diva is a calf horse that followed a young cowboy through his entire career. Starting in Jr High rodeo with her kid missing calves and falling on his face to a 2x State champion in High school. But her story doesn't end there...
Diva was on her way to college, following her cowboy again. She took him through his first year away from home, travelling a 5 state region and competing against now, much younger horses. Unfortunately, a trailer accident happen resulting in torn stifle ligaments. She was allowed to rest, recover, and helped her cowboy stay in the regional standings but something wasn't right...
Diva continued to have off and on lameness and her family decided to retire her gracefully. She was allowed to rest but was still taken to the barn when they roped because she couldn't stand to be left behind. When you have a horse that special, you can't just have one right? So the decision was made to breed her but due to her prior injury, embryo transfer was done. A challenging and precise procedure, the odds of a successful baby were only 50%. As Diva returned from the breeding facility, a possible baby on the way, a problem arose.
Her cowboy, now in his final year of college and qualified for the National College Finals Rodeo in WY, had injured the horse he competed on. After trying plans A through approximately P, everyone turned to the pasture and looked at Diva. "It wouldn't hurt to try" someone offered. After 2 years in retirement, and only a handful of rides in that time. Diva was taken back to the arena and saddle. Not to push the horse to her limits, she only roped 4 calves for practice, falling in easy rhythm with her old partner. All precautions were taken and the decision made to quit her if she showed any signs of soreness, and she was loaded on the trailer to WY. 1 week of competition, 3 rounds of competition, the somewhat retired horse took her cowboy to 16th in the nation. After everyone traveled back to ND, new came that her embryo had taken and Diva was going to have a baby!
We have a baby! This little filly was born on April 6th at about midnight!