The Heart of a Lion, Part III

‘The Heart of a Lion’ is a four-part series about a brave horse, good people, and life lessons. This is the true story of Macho Little Lena…

As a three year old, Macho was preparing for the NCHA World Championship Futurity. The cutting world started to buzz about Rice's prospect of winning on the little bald-face stud. Rice was confident and pleased with the young horse, but his training style was extreme. "Ronnie pushed Macho past the limit, like a Marine drill sergeant," Wes said. But Macho took it all in stride. Amazingly, Rice didn't put Macho through anything the little horse couldn't handle. "He was one of the only sound horses of all of them. But that kind of thing takes it's toll," Wes said. Macho didn't win big like everyone thought he would. After his time with Rice, Cindy and Wes brought him home.

Macho's next stop was with Mike Mowery, another world champion trainer. Mike showed Macho and really liked him. Cindy started showing him in the Non-Pro division while Mowery showed him in the Open division. All through Macho's career, he made the finals almost every time. But it wasn't a win every time.

Cindy continued showing Macho, while the cutting world looked on. Macho became one of the most popular horses. "People would always ask about him and come and watch him," Cindy said. There was something about that little horse that people would always notice, something in his manner and in his eye. Cindy and Wes were sure that even if he didn't win everything, he would become a great sire. Macho's future was bright. He had even paid for himself in his five years of life, earning a total of $104, 599.06.

One morning before leaving for another show, Cindy took him down to the arena for a practice work. He was perfect, she'd never seen him so good. He was doing everything right, he was "just awesome". So she took him back to the barn and put him up, hooked up the trailer and went up to the house to get herself ready to leave. When she came back to get him, she could see something was wrong. The look he gave her was trying to let her know he wasn't doing good.

Cindy trusted her instincts. She checked for a fever, and sure enough, he had one. She called Warren Franklin, their veterinarian, who came within two hours. He diagnosed the problem as a severe colic, and told Cindy she'd better get Macho to a clinic. She and Wes loaded him up and took him to a vet clinic in El Paso. Surgery took place immediately. Macho spent 10 days in the clinic, and came home to recover. But something wasn't right. He got an infection in the incision, which cost some extra recovery time. But that was only the beginning of the end.

Weeks passed. Franklin came out to check him, and revealed to Cindy and Wes that Macho's kidneys were in bad shape. There wasn't much of a chance that Macho would live for another year. So they did their best with special feed and excellent care to get him healthy enough for breeding.

Macho hadn't seen a cow since that morning Cindy worked him, the day everything fell apart for the little cowpony. Cindy and Wes cancelled their show schedule. This was a big sacrifice, their other horses needed to be out showing. But for Macho, they couldn't risk not being there in case his condition worsened. There was a slim chance he would make it and his kidneys recover. They hoped and hung on. It wouldn't be right to give up now. They remembered what he was, what he promised to be. They just couldn't give up.

Look for Part IV.