Innovative sling saves Bealeton horse’s life

As part of her daily routine, Traci Cantrell visits the “baby barn” at Picturesque Farm near Opal to check on young horses.

A week ago Monday, Cantrell, as always, did a head count and this time came up one short.

In searching the farm, she found Woody, a three-year-old Oldenberg/Thoroughbred cross behind the remnants of a round bale of hay on his side and unable to stand. Despite her urgings, Woody couldn’t get to his feet.

Immediately, Cantrell, a secretary at Picturesque Farm, used a cell phone to call her boss Kristy Willwerth for help.

With great effort, Willwerth, who owns Woody and the 36-acre farm, Cantrell and a “friendly” passerby rolled the 1,400-pound horse to his feet.

“If we had not found him, within an hour he would have been dead,” said Willwerth. “He was shivering and in shock.”

Because of the weight and location of their organs, horses “aren’t built to lay down more than an hour at a time,” Willwerth said. “They are genetically designed to sleep on their feet.”

X-rays indicated that Woody had fractured a vertebra in his neck, making it impossible for him to stand without help. Willwerth said a slip and fall may have caused the injury.

The challenge for Willwerth, 36, was to keep Woody on his feet in his stall in an easily managed way all night.

A traditional sling wouldn’t do because of a stall’s cramped quarters and the considerable manpower needed to place Woody in such a sling.

That led Willwerth and her vet, Steve White of Amissville, to the Internet. Using his iPhone at the barn last Friday, they searched “equine sling” and learned about an innovative sling designed and manufactured by Jerry Anderson of California.

Willwerth and White studied the photographs of the sling and that day spoke to Anderson by phone about the device.

Before the conversation ended, Willwerth had ordered an Anderson Equine Sling Model 2000 Rescue, which cost $4,300. Overnight FedEx delivery cost $672.

Willwerth described the Anderson sling as ingenious because a horse can wear it at all times, unlike others that must be removed when not in use, and because it’s designed and calibrated to balance the horse’s weight when relaxed.

“When he’s tired, he can buckle his knees and rest, or if he wants he can straighten up and stand,” she said. “It’s an engineering marvel for someone to be able to think of this and how it supports the horse.”

To her knowledge, it may be the only privately owned one of its kind in the state.

Made of thick synthetic material, the sling is attached to a horse with six easily secured straps.

The kit includes a steel rectangular-shaped rack that hangs from rigging in a stall.

Willwerth’s friend, Steve Strentz, a contractor from Orange County, built the wooden rigging with the guidance of two structural engineers on Saturday, the day the sling arrived.

He figures it took about 13 hours to build it.

“It was really fun to do something out of the ordinary like that,” Strentz said. “There was a level of anxiety and fun. And when it held up, it was really satisfying.”

He said he used a pyramid design for the overhead rigging to disperse the weight over the barn’s floor trusses. The structure includes a five-ton pulley, which he lent to Willwerth to hoist and support Woody.

The pulley is hooked to a steel rectangular-shaped rack, which is connected to the sling by a network of straps.

The system eliminates the need to manually lift Woody.

He remains attached to the rigging from about 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. throughout the week, Willwerth said.

It’s uncertain how long Woody will need the device, she said. It could be several weeks or months before the spine repairs itself, allowing Woody to stand on his own.

By all accounts, he’s adjusted well to the arrangement.

“It was amazing,” said Cantrell, whose farm duties extend far beyond her secretarial duties. “I was so taken aback by how calm the horse was when we put him in the harness.”

Roxanne Haddon of Warrenton boards two quarter horses at Picturesque Farm.

“He never showed any signs of worry or freaking out,” Haddon said. “He was very cooperative.”

Willwerth praised her vet and friends who came to the farm last week at all hours of the day, before the Anderson sling arrived, to help get Woody back on his feet.

Willwerth said about 20 people visited the farm on Saturday to help with the rigging project.

The Anderson sling represents a big investment. But Willwerth never really doubted she would buy it. “I’ve never had [a horse] fight so hard” to live, “to get up and say ‘I’m going to do this every time.’”