The healing power of the horse: CSU surgeons, alum save mini’s broken leg
For Lisa and Jess Arie, the decision was simple: Horses saved Lisa’s life, so the couple would do anything to save their miniature horse, Mango, when he fractured his leg.
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For Lisa and Jess Arie, the decision was simple: Horses saved Lisa’s life, so the couple would do anything to save their miniature horse, Mango, when he fractured his leg.
Just six months before his accident, the Aries had rescued 15-year-old Mango, a retired miniature stud horse, and adopted him into their herd of eight at their southern Colorado ranch and leadership development center, Vista Caballo. The Aries have such an appreciation for the sentient nature of horses that they built their lives around them. So when Mango fractured his leg they did not hesitate to save him.
“He fell in love with one of our mares – she’s a sweetheart. He would follow her around, and one of his favorite spots to hang out was right behind her,” said Lisa Arie. On the night of Oct. 13, 2024, when Jess was putting the horses to bed, “Mango was standing out there in our corral, not moving. I could tell right away his leg was broken.”
The mare had kicked him and shattered his left hind leg.
Due to their remote location and the time of night, they were unable to get veterinary care until the next morning. At first light, Jess and Mango headed to the nearest veterinarian, Dr. Carrie Galyean Townsend at San Miguel Veterinary Clinic, 90 minutes away in Norwood, Colorado. She radiographed the leg and consulted with three equine surgical centers. Two of the hospitals said repairing the fracture was outside their expertise, so when Dr. Laurie Goodrich, a Colorado State University professor of orthopedics, said “bring him,” Jess and Mango hit the road again.
“We were crying and praying that someone could help him. It was kind of a Hail Mary, so we just continued on up to CSU that same day,” Jess Arie said. He and Mango made the nine-hour drive from southwest Colorado to Fort Collins, where teams from nearly every service at the Johnson Family Equine Hospital – Equine Emergency and Critical Care, Equine Diagnostic Imaging, Equine Surgery, Equine Internal Medicine, and Equine Anesthesia and Pain Management – gathered to meet Mango and get started on the nine-hour operation.
All hands on deck
“It was a very complex fracture, one of the worst I’ve ever fixed. The fracture was unusual because not only was it comminuted (with multiple pieces of broken bone), but it had longitudinal fracture lines running up and down both major sections of bone,” said Goodrich, who secured the bone with many screws and two locking plates. “The tibia is a really challenging bone, it gets a lot of rotational and shear forces, so it’s one of the few bones we have a hard time stabilizing. What saved him was his size. Even though he’s a miniature, I was still very worried about the rotational forces on the tibia.”
“This was an all-hands-on-deck effort,” Goodrich said. “That’s something that CSU offers – teams of board-certified specialists in internal medicine, emergency and critical care, anesthesiology, surgery, radiology, and rehabilitation/sports medicine all under one roof as part of the Veterinary Health System. Plus, the most caring nurses and D.V.M. students you will ever find. It’s really one of the most comprehensive programs out there for horse health care.”
After a successful nine-hour surgery, Mango remained in the CSU hospital under the care of surgeons and internists at the CSU equine hospital for several weeks to recover. Because he needed to stay close to the hospital for several months, Goodrich referred him to Front Range Equine Performance, where Dr. Marianne Marshall-Gibson, 2014 CSU DVM alum and board-certified diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation, oversaw his recovery at her full-service rehabilitation facility in Berthoud, Colorado.
“I think it takes a village, especially in these types of situations. You have to have a great owner. You have to have a great veterinary team. You have to have a good patient,” Marshall-Gibson said. And Mango was certainly a good patient. “He was kind of our little mascot there for a while.”
Marshall-Gibson, veterinary assistant Devon Brown, and the staff at Front Range monitored Mango for infection with physical exams up to four times a day and therapy to keep the rest of his body in shape. “We did core strengthening exercises with him to make sure that his back stayed strong and could support his broken leg so that once he was able to bear weight, he could get back to functioning,” Marshall-Gibson said.
In March, just before he was ready to go home, Marshall-Gibson noticed a “blip, a very minor elevation in his temperature and we were able to get Laurie involved right away and figure out that one of the plates was infected,” she said. So Mango went back to CSU to have that plate and associated screws removed. The other plate remained.
“He was absolutely in the best hands possible. We have had extensive experience with CSU and have a great deal of confidence in them,” Lisa Arie said. “Front Range was really great. They sent us pictures and videos almost daily, which was so helpful. It was hair-raising being this far away, so their contact helped keep our cortisol levels in check. We still haven’t completely exhaled, and maybe we won’t until next year when he’s hopefully running free again.” (Read more about Mango’s journey on Vista Caballo’s Instagram.)
“We heal horses and they heal us”
Mango finally made the long trip home to Southern Colorado on May 30, back to the barn at Vista Caballo. “We call it the Miracle Barn because we’ve had incredible miracles happen there. Mango was in a tiny pen for nine years before God set it up for us to rescue him. Then, he arrived here at what has been called ‘Horse Heaven.’ And the unthinkable happened. His leg got broken,” Lisa Arie said. “It could have been game-over. But God stepped in once again. He took him to a place that healed him and then another where hands brushed him, loved him, braided his hair, and made sure every need was taken care of. It’s clear that God wants him alive and has a definite plan and path for this little one.”
The Aries are grateful for the outpouring of support from Mango’s “village.” People donated thousands of dollars to Mango’s GoFundMe account, 100X Equine donated bottles of Osteo-MAX Gut X, supplements to support bones and joints, and Cassandra Vinck from Equisitouch donated treatments with her Electro-Equiscope therapeutic instrument.
Goodrich credits the Aries for their dedication to Mango’s recovery. “Lisa and Jess really embrace what horses do for people. Lisa says ‘we heal them and they heal us,’” said Goodrich, who shares this belief in her dedication to their surgical care and well-being.
Lisa Arie has lived this principle for the past 20 years, after being diagnosed with a terminal disease. “Horses saved my life,” she said. “I was an executive in New York City and I was given a terminal disease diagnosis. In that moment, I realized that I had done a whole lot of achieving, but I hadn’t done a whole lot of living. After I got the diagnosis I cried all night, then God spoke to me and said ‘go to the horses,’ so I sold what I had and headed West.”
Along the way, she met her husband and they started Vista Caballo. “Vista Caballo means ‘from the perspective of the horse’ so to me it was all about a shift in perspective and seeing yourself through the lens of another species. I think horses are here for the human heart, to heal it,” she said.
“My sense about Mango is that his purpose is really special and is just beginning to unfold. Throughout this entire experience, he’s stepped up and in with bravery and courage,” Lisa Arie said. “Everyone at CSU and Front Range has taken phenomenal care of him. His surgical team brought him a stuffed dinosaur, so he wouldn’t be alone, as just one example. I’m not sure there’s another facility partnership like this where he would have gotten that level of care and attention.”
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