Odakota Emelwerth born of friendship

Piet & Hilly Binksma and Monica Groothuis of Emelwerth Stud won’t soon forget October 1, 2017. They lost several ponies in a traffic accident. Marjolein van den Bosch of Stoeterij du Bois didn’t hesitate for a moment and offered a free breeding to Cassanova du Bois. The Welsh Partbred mare Kacey Emelwerth was inseminated, and recently a beautiful fawn colt was born from this pairing. He bears the name Odakota Emelwerth, which means ‘friend’ in the Native American language.

Monica Groothuis recounts: “It was a year and a half ago, but to us it still feels like yesterday. That night, all the ponies escaped from the pasture. We still don’t know how this could have happened, but at the time we had other things on our minds. The ponies were wandering on the road that night, and a driver spotted the group too late. Fortunately, the occupants were unharmed, even though they hit several ponies.”

“One of the ponies was the palomino mare Romy (by Jarno). She died from her injuries fairly soon after the impact. Next to her lay a foal (by Dating AT) out of the mare Helene Emelwerth. He was still alive, but paralyzed from the hindquarters and was therefore also immediately euthanized. The herd had meanwhile run back to the pasture. Once there, all the ponies were examined by the veterinarian and taken to the nearest barn for a more thorough assessment. For a number of ponies, the injuries seemed less severe; they mainly had superficial wounds, which could be treated on the spot.”

Three ponies to the clinic

Three animals were taken to the veterinary clinic in Emmeloord for further examination. “Romy’s foal, a colt by Vigaro, was examined first, and unfortunately we had to make the decision to euthanize him. Next, Lunja Emelwerth (by Cyklon Texass) was examined; she had a large wound on her hock, and after taking an X-ray, it became clear that in addition to the wound, she also had a fissure (a crack in the bone), but fortunately, the bone was not broken. She was returned to a stall so we could examine the next pony.”

That was the pregnant mare Helene Emelwerth (by Power and Paint). “She had massive wounds on her hindquarters, and an X-ray revealed that she had broken her hind leg in five places. Unfortunately, we had to put her down as well.”

Lunja Emelwerth is doing well

“Fortunately, there was still hope that things would turn out okay for Lunja. We at 100% did everything we could to make that happen, and thankfully, she’s doing just fine now! She’ll be turning 3 this year, and you can’t even tell there was ever anything wrong with her leg.”

Thanks, Marjolein!

“When Marjolein, from Stal Du Bois, heard about the accident, she was deeply sympathetic and immediately offered us a free breeding to Cassanova du Bois, the stallion by whom Helene was in foal. We gratefully accepted this breeding last year, and this year a beautiful fawn-colored colt was born to the mare Kacey Emelwerth. We would like to thank Marjolein once again for this! We are very happy with the healthy foal.”

Source: Emelwerth Stud