40 SIDELINES FEBRUARY 2014
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
hoping to get to the top level and then to be cut short of that – the
disappointment was huge, not only to be cut off from your goal,
but to think that you might lose the horse that you love.”
It took Jeanne one year to get a 100 percent diagnosis of the
problem. Sirtaki was on stall rest much of the time. “He’s very high
strung and has a big dramatic personality – at times it was very
trying,” she admitted. “During rehab, he was allowed hand walking
at times, but not all the time. When his therapy started, putting him
on the treadmill helped a bit.”
After that first year of treatments didn’t resolve Sirtaki’s
lameness, Jeanne took him to New Bolton, crediting Dr. James
Orsini, Associate Professor of Surgery, and Dr. Elizabeth
Davidson, Associate Professor of Sports Medicine, with helping
her horse return to competition soundness. Part of his therapy
included glue-on shoes and corrective trimming by Pat Reilly,
Chief of Farrier Services at New Bolton. To this day, Sirtaki wears
glue-on shoes and is shod in Florida by Seth Parker. Silke
continues to oversee his training.
“We had already done one MRI, but in Sirtaki’s case a standing
MRI didn’t give us enough information,” explained Jeanne. “When
the vets at New Bolton did the MRI with Sirtaki under anesthesia,
they diagnosed him with an approximate 50 percent tear in the
deep digital flexor tendon at its attachment to the coffin bone in
his right front. They said it was 50-50 whether he could ever come
back and be sound. Not great odds and, in vet terms, a very poor
prognosis for return to competition.”
More determined than ever, Jeanne asked Drs. Orsini and
Davidson to keep trying. Prior to their definitive diagnosis, PRP
injections (stem cell therapy) didn’t do much. IRAP therapy
resulted in an inexplicable reaction after two injections, but after
a few weeks Sirtaki looked about 75 per cent sounder: too off
to ride, but more comfortable. “The vets did several injections
of hyaluronic acid, which helped to bring him back all the way,”
Jeanne said. “We started out very slowly with him walking on a
horse gym treadmill until I got the okay to get on.”
In spite of every precaution, in early 2012 Sirtaki blew a check
ligament in the same leg. After three months rehab, he started all
over again, making his stellar comeback in 2013. As a reward,
horse and rider recently took a few months to enjoy each other
without the pressures of competing.
“I might start playing with the grand prix again and see if there’s
a chance we can go on with it, but I don’t want to press him so
hard that I re-injure him,” said Jeanne. “I achieved so much with
Sirtaki in the past year – he doesn’t owe me anything. If I never
show him again, that’s fine. I’ll enjoy him on my own land and trail
ride him. He’s very good on the bridle paths.”
Sirtaki, during
convalescence,
being loved on by
Jeanne.
Photo by Kerry Hitt
Bitten by the Horse Bug
Jeanne earned her U.S. Dressage Federation bronze and silver
medals and competed through Intermediaire with her first upper
level horse, Finaal. Silke Rembecz, her trainer for 15 years, found
Sirtaki, an Oldenburg, in Germany. Jeanne bought the four-year-
old gelding about 10 years ago, around the time she married
Kerry Hitt, president/CEO of his own manufacturing company,
who “learned a lot and he doesn’t ride, but helps me every chance
he gets.” They have seven horses, six cats, and a dog and divide
their time between Pennsylvania and Florida.
“I became an absolute horse nut when I was about eight,”
recalled Jeanne. “I grew up on a large dairy farm in New Jersey
and the girl next door had this black and white pony that I fell in
love with. She brought it over to our farm one day and asked me if
I wanted to get on. I was absolutely bitten. I pestered my parents
for a pony and the Christmas when I was nine, there was a box of
feed under the tree with a note that said ‘Find me, Jeanne.’ I ran
around to all the barns until I found this little bay pony, Blaze. Ever
since I’ve had horses in my life.”
Jeanne took lessons, got into equitation and jumping in 4-H,
then moved to Pony Club. Her horse at the time wasn’t much
of a jumper, but he did well in dressage. “I was a teenager and
my horse had this particularly good extended trot – I’ve been
interested in dressage ever since,” admitted Jeanne, who was
a founding member along with Lazelle Knocke of the ESDCTA,
Eastern States Dressage & Combined Training Association.
“For me, it’s always been about the bond with the horse – to
be able to communicate with these huge, lovely creatures and
to learn to do that with riding captivated me,” explained Jeanne.
“Sometimes I call him Tick-Tock. He’s so sensitive that he can
feel like I’m riding a time bomb that could explode at any moment!
The cool thing is that I am his one ‘person’ and he trusts me more
than anyone else when I’m in the saddle. This makes our bond all
the more special.”
Whatever happens, Sirtaki had found his forever home with
Jeanne. After all, Finaal lived to be 28: his final resting place is
the Hitt’s front lawn at their farm near Harrisburg. But until the day
Sirtaki came out of his stall lame, Jeanne nurtured high hopes of
achieving the grand prix level with her seriously talented horse.
Reality Check
In 2009 Jeanne and Sirtaki were competing at FEI levels, Prix
St. Georges and Intermediare 1, and schooling grand prix. “Sirtaki
went from sound one day to totally lame coming out of his stall
the next,” recalled Jeanne. “It was summer, we were up north,
and it was devastating. The bond you create with these horses
over the years is phenomenal. For years you’ve been working and
Jeanne and
Sirtaki competing
at the U.S.
Dressage Finals
in Kentucky.
Photo by
SusanJStickle.com
