“If Tracy Couldn’t Come to Her Horse, We’d Bring the Horse to Tracy”

By: Brittany Bevis

Earlier this week, many of our readers likely saw a video that’s been circulating on social media, showing a horse trailer pulling up into a cul-de-sac to surprise a very special lady with a visit from her horse. We thought there had to be a story behind this touching scene, so we reached out to Wilson Show Horses for a little background.

Anthony Wilson of Wilson Show Horses has been training and showing horses out of the northwest for 18 years. His operation primarily focuses on APHA and Pinto horses with a few AQHA thrown in. At any given time, he and his wife keep 15 horses in their small, family based operation in Battleground, Washington.

Tracy Shultz has been a customer of Anthony’s since the early days. Sadly, at the last horse show they attended together, in October of 2019, they saw the first signs that her health was failing.

“Tracy has been a customer of mine for as long as I can remember,” Anthony says. “She’s been with me longer than my wife has been with me! Last October, when we went to our last show of the year, Tracy got there and informed us that she had pneumonia. It was the last show, and we really wanted to make it happen for her, so we all buckled down to help.”

“About a week after the show, she was diagnosed with lung cancer. Within a week, she was admitted to the hospital with a collapsed lung and has been in and out of the hospital for several surgeries.”

During this time, Tracy has been missing her horse and all of her fellow barn mates. Before her health worsened, she’d come up to the barn just to sit on her horse and watch everyone riding around in the arena.

Two weeks ago, Tracy’s husband had planned to bring her to the barn. Sadly, Anthony couldn’t be there to meet Tracy, because he had a trip to the vet planned to breed several mares. So, he left a card with balloons and flowers behind. A little time later, Tracy’s husband called to let Anthony know that the trip wouldn’t happen, because Tracy wasn’t feeling up to it.

“A couple of days later, her heart stopped,” Anthony says. “Her husband and daughter had to do CPR until the paramedics got there and were able to get her heart beating again.”

Anthony lives about an hour away from Tracy, and he decided that if Tracy couldn’t come to her horse, then he’d bring the horse to Tracy. “We coordinated it as a surprise with her husband. I took the trailer down and parked it in their cul-de-sac and brought her carrots and apples to feed to her horse. She is super weak right now and was having a hard time standing up to feed her horse. She told me that we were ridiculous, but she was so very happy. Her husband let me know that it meant the world to her and really lifted her spirits. That’s all we were going for.”

The video has been shared numerous times on social media and views have skyrocketed, but that’s not necessarily something Anthony is very comfortable with.

“I’ve struggled with it a bit, truthfully,” he says. “It wasn’t done to get any recognition. She’s just a wonderful person, and I would like to think that anyone would do the same for me. It’s a hard time for everybody with COVID and the horse shows being cancelled. This was just done to share with her friends in the horse community as a way to update people and to encourage her to keep fighting. It’s just what you do for your people…”

The horse that Tracy was so happy to see is Up For A Good Time, aka “Sophie,” an APHA mare that Tracy bred and raised herself. When they were competing, they would show in Novice Amateur and Masters Amateur events with Pleasure Driving as a particular favorite.

Everyone in the barn is looking forward to the day when Tracy can get back to showing horses again. In fact, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, they made plans to help her compete at the Zone 2 APHA show in Las Vegas.

“Everybody in the barn has pitched in and paid for her board for an extended period of time. The farrier is shoeing her horse for free, and the vet is helping out too. We’d planned to pay to take her to one show this year, but it was the one that was just cancelled. She was a little bummed.”

Hopefully, the extra down time will help Tracy rest and recover, and she will be back in the show pen when events are able to resume.

Although this act of kindness wasn’t done with the intention of receiving accolades or kudos, by being shared with the general public, it has not only brought a smile to the face of Tracy and her family, it’s provided a helpful reminder to countless others that there is good during this difficult time.

Like Anthony says, “It’s just what you do for your people.”

If you have a great story for The Equine Chronicle, email B.Bevis@EquineChronicle.com.