Roaring Lion healing after colic surgeries

Roaring Lion, the Kentucky-bred who earned the 2018 Cartier Award as Europe’s Horse of the Year, has settled back in at Cambridge Stud in New Zealand as he continues his recovery from two colic surgeries in a 10-day span.

Roaring Lion, by leading sire Kitten’s Joy, stood his first breeding season at Tweenhills Stud in England, and completed the Northern Hemisphere season before traveling to Cambridge Stud for a planned Southern Hemisphere season. The stallion had just been released from mandatory post-travel quarantine on July 27 and, according to Cambridge, had been turned out in a paddock for a short time when colic symptoms were observed. The stallion was immediately sent to Cambridge Equine Hospital and underwent surgery. He then had to be taken back to surgery on Aug. 1 to repair adhesions which had formed in his small intestine.

Roaring Lion returned to the farm on Aug. 9, and the farm, in a release posted on its website, described the situation as “fragile” due to the horse’s two surgeries and resulting weight loss, but said the stallion was “clinically in good shape” with a good attitude and appetite.

“We have managed to save his life and he is on his way to a slow recovery,” Cambridge executive Henry Plumptre said in the release. “It has been a complex and challenging environment for everyone involved. . . . While he has a long road to travel, the beginnings of a recovery are complete and having him back at Cambridge signals the start of the next stage.”