watchman that evening was Alton Stone, but he was supposed to be off. He replaced a fellow named Cowboy Kipp. According to later court testimony, one of the two men was approached a day or so before by someone in a blue Crown Victoria. This person was unknown by either but he instructed whoever he talked to about the change in the night watchman. During the FBI’s investigation of the whole matter, they were told about this car but they never did find out who the mystery driver was. I should note this FBI investigation was several years later (and we will cover that in detail coming up).
As agreed, everyone met back at Calumet Farm the morning after the injured horse was discovered. I began my written minute-by-minute report to the London underwriters at 6:30 a.m. J.T. Lundy had stayed up all night as had Dr. Rhodes and Sandy Hatfield, providing Alydar with TLC along with pain medications. Lundy still appeared to be in a state of shock. I have told many people since that time that if he was faking his concern, he should get both the Academy Award and an Emmy the same night.
Upon arrival I found the horse on his feet, but wobbly from the combined meds and the fact he was three-legged lame. Just after 7:00 a.m., efforts began to move Alydar to the equine ambulance.
He was to be taken to the farm’s state-of-the art veterinary clinic just a few minutes away. Due to the configuration of the stallion barn entrance, it was impossible to back the van into the aisle way and load the horse.
The vehicle was backed to the barn’s entrance and a number of farm employees literally carried Alydar to the ramp and then, in a mighty struggle, were able to get him up and into the van. He unloaded with less effort but still required a lot of muscle, everyone realizing what might happen if the horse went down.
Alydar arrives at the Calumet Farm clinic for surgery radiographs were taken at the clinic and the mid-shaft transverse fracture of the cannon bone in the right rear leg was confirmed. This is another opportunity to mention one of the many conspiracy theories. Several years later, during the perjury trial of night watchman Stone in Houston, the government made a big deal out of the “missing” X-ray films from the file cabinet in the vet’s office. In fact, I had a number of photos showing the results of the X-rays. The original film was a part of my records and when the IRS demanded all my files years later, the files included the films. The government had the films all along, but just didn’t look closely for them in their own records. Months after my testimony in the perjury trial, I asked for the return of my files and basically got a runaround. I was told they were somewhere in a Houston warehouse, but nobody seemed able to locate them.
Before surgery began, veterinarians Bramlage, Baker, and Rhodes discussed the “what if’s.” It was agreed that the biggest problem might be infection and a loss of blood supply due to the open compound fracture. In a worst-case scenario, the foot could simply just fall off.
At 8:55 a.m. Alydar was placed under general anesthesia by another vet from Rood and Riddle and lifted onto the operating table. In order to stabilize the fracture, the vets installed a plate about six inches long and secured it with six surgical screws. During this procedure the horse was on his back with all four legs straight up in the air. To provide a “prop” for the right rear leg, Dr. Bramlage placed an ordinary heavy plastic basket between the two rear legs, bringing the injured leg to a level easy to reach by the surgeons. The two ends of the fracture were brought together by the plate, but there were small pieces missing around the fracture line itself. This space was filled in with bone marrow taken out of the left side of the hip.
During the surgery it was found the horse wasn’t pumping a lot of blood, meaning there was no flow getting to the ankle and foot area. This was not a good sign. At 11:00 a.m. five surgical pins were inserted through the cannon bone, coming out the other side. There were four pins above the fracture line and one below. The parts of the pins that protruded out the far side were cut off. By 11:40 a.m. a fiberglass cast had been placed around the entire leg, including just above the hock area. At that point Dr. Bramlage estimated the cast would remain on for four to six weeks. By 11:55 a.m. surgery was completed and Alydar was placed in a padded recovery room.
By 1:15 p.m., the horse had been placed in a sling as he would only come to a sternal position, making no effort to stand on his own, apparently because of the full heavy cast on his right rear leg. At 1:25 p.m., with the aid of the sling, Alydar stood for the first time, fighting the cast all the time. The stallion was obviously having difficulty trying to figure out where to place his front and rear legs. He lost his balance at least twice, suddenly lunging forward and striking the recovery room door. The first time I was standing right at the door window and it was quite frightening.
He simply did not like the sling. He looked like a dead bird just hanging from the sling, supported by a heavy-duty hoist. After two more up and down tries, by 2:30 p.m. he was able to adjust and was moved back to the recovery stall, now equipped with woodchip bedding for better footing.
I left the farm at 3:00 p.m. when all seemed to be going well, returning that night at 7:20 p.m. Alydar was bright and alert, eating hay and beginning to place some weight on the right rear leg. He was still pawing at the floor, indicating some pain, but otherwise seemed to be in good shape following his ordeal just 21 hours earlier.
Drs. Baker, Rhodes, and Bramlage all agreed along with J.T. Lundy and myself that euthanasia was called for. At 8:20 a.m. and responding to looks from all concerned, I simply said,
“Let’s do it.”
I returned to the farm at 7:30 a.m. the next day. Dr. Rhodes said the horse was still bright, alert, and fully weight bearing on the injured leg. Complete blood counts were being made often and she had also oiled the horse to keep his gut moving. She said he was having normal bowel movements but appeared to be tiring with the whole sling deal. I returned to my office and just as I arrived received a phone call letting me know there was an emergency at the farm and I should return immediately.
I was back at the barn by 8:15 a.m., meeting Dr. Baker at the door of the surgery barn. He and Dr. Bramlage had met between my visits and decided to remove the horse from the sling. He had been showing signs of colic which could have been due to many things — the restrictive movement, stress, medications, etc. Colic is one of the top killers of horses, and it had become a damned if you do or damned if you don’t situation.
When the sling was removed, Alydar shook like a dog coming out of the rain, took a couple of steps forward, lost his balance, fell backwards, and literally sat on his right rear leg, fracturing the femur bone. This is the main weight-bearing bone running from the knee to the hip. Everyone present reported hearing a cracking sound and that was the sound of the bone breaking and immediately protruding out of the skin. Drs. Baker, Rhodes, and
Bramlage all agreed along with J.T. Lundy and myself that euthanasia was called for. At 8:20 a.m. and responding to looks from all concerned, I simply said, “Let’s do it.” As resident vet, Dr. Rhodes provided an overdose of medication and the horse passed peacefully. As a final act as the adjuster on the scene, I pulled the horse’s lip and confirmed lip tattoo identification of E21991. The letter E indicated the year of birth (1975) with the numbers being unique to Alydar.
If there was any good news coming out of the surgery, it was the fact that the injury was not a shatter-type fracture. Months earlier, a horse had been killed for the insurance money by a character known as “The Sandman.” When he entered a horse’s stall, it “went to sleep.”
He was caught in a FBI sting and following his indictment turned informant on his
“employers,” who usually paid him 10 percent of the insurance proceeds. Thirty-five convictions followed and “The Sandman” received six months. I mention this because there were rampant rumors following Alydar’s injury that Lundy had fractured the horse’s leg using a baseball bat. This was the method used by the Sandman in just
