FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
SIDELINES JULY 2013 43
Caitlin, assistant trainer-rider for Boyd Martin and one of the
most cheerful people on earth, caught in a very thoughtful
moment aboard Catch A Star during their show jumping round
on the fnal day of Rolex, which was also Caitlin’s 23rd birthday.
The duo had been through so much together, defying the odds to
continue their partnership and make their Rolex four-star debut.
Photo by Lauren R Giannini - laurengallops.zenfolio.com
“The top of her back, where you see the most scarring now,
wasn’t burned at the time, but about two weeks into her recovery,
her back blistered really badly and all the skin started sloughing
off – from heat damage,” said Caitlin. “I think that’s why she was
able to come back. If she had been burnt directly on the top of
her back, I don’t think I would have been able to ride her again.
Basically, she just had a terrible, terrible sunburn on the top of her
back.”
Caitlin nursed Hoku, applying Silver Sulfadiazine cream, used
on human burns, which healed everything. “When she’s tacked
up, you can hardly tell,” she said. “When she’s clipped you can
see the scars: the top of her back, from the base of her withers
down her spine to the back of saddle has light pink scarring.”
One major challenge, after the vets approved Hoku’s return to
work, involved fnding the right saddle pad. “I wanted a feece half
pad to put under the saddle pad, but most half pads do not have
feece all the way down the spine,” Caitlin explained. “I had an old
Fleeceworks pad, probably one of the frst sheepskin pads they
made and one of the frst pads I bought when I was 10 or 11. It
had sheepskin all the way down the spine. That Fleeceworks pad
was the only reason why I was able to ride her and bring her back
Caitlin and Catch A Star show their style during Stadium Jumping at Rolex.
Photo by Beth Grant - bethgrantphotography.com
Continued on page 45