Sheldon is back in the show ring after a long road to diagnosis and treatment of his kissing spines. | Photo: Sonya Weaver Photography, Courtesy Audrey Buoniconti

“How did my off-track Thoroughbred, who retired sound after a 51-race career, sustain a fracture while playing in the pasture on a random Friday afternoon?”

That was the question I asked as the veterinarian and I stood in the dark barn aisle, staring at the bone chip on the screen of the digital X-ray unit a few days after the swelling had gone down. Whatever had happened out in that pasture, it had left a nasty injury for us to manage.

My horse, It Happened Again, would need stall rest and, eventually, controlled exercise. And so began the arduous business of healing