Very sick horse makes miraculous recovery; will trick ride for the first time since his illness at the Mandan Rodeo
Mandan, N.D. (June, 2021) – A very special horse is making his comeback at the Mandan (N.D.) Rodeo.
When trick rider Madison MacDonald Thomas’ big buckskin gelding, named Number One, trick rides at the Mandan Rodeo July 2-4, it’ll be a miracle.
The horse barely made it through a terrible health scare last February.
While MacDonald was performing in Texas at a rodeo, the horse was at she and husband Keegan Thomas’ home in Helena, Montana, being looked after by a neighbor.
The horse came down with Potomac Horse Fever, an acute and potentially fatal illness in horses caused by an infection. Symptoms include fever and diarrhea, which, for the gelding, was causing him to become dehydrated.
A veterinarian was called, and the next day, MacDonald was on a plane home, to be near her horse.
Number One spent two weeks in the veterinarian hospital with MacDonald driving 90 miles one way to spend hours with him each day.
The horse is the one who got MacDonald started as a trick rider, as she grew up in Canada. “He was my second trick riding horse,” she said. “He’s pretty much the one who taught me everything. He let me learn the crazy tricks and gave me the confidence to learn the things that I do.”
MacDonald has entertained at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo nine times, six of those on Number One, but he’s carried other trick riders as well, including Grace Chambers at the 2015 NFR, and countless of MacDonald’s students at rodeos. “They use him all the time,” she said, “which is a miracle in itself, that you can have a horse that fits other riders.”
Veterinarians will never know for sure what caused Potomac Horse Fever in Number One; it was mostly likely his ingestion of a bug, or even a part of a bug. “Sometimes the insects come in the hay,” Madison said. The fever usually doesn’t occur in the winter, but for him, it did.
She and Number One have a special bond. “Me and that horse have a different connection, compared to my other horses,” she said. “We’ve been tight, through thick and thin. He’s one that, when he sees you, you’re his human. I don’t know how to put it in words.”
He knows when it’s show time, ready to trick ride at rodeos.
“When we get show ready, he knows, when the sparkles come out and he gets dressed up.”
The gelding also knows how to push MacDonald’s buttons.
“If he’s tied to the trailer and I go in to get changed, he will paw the ground and be the biggest pain in the butt,” MacDonald said. “As soon as I poke my head out, he’ll look at me, nicker and stop. He’s a stubborn headed old horse.”
MacDonald has slowly eased him back into training for trick riding, and he’ll be ready for the Mandan Rodeo.
Madison MacDonald and Magic in Motion, the name of her specialty act, will perform during each performance of the Mandan Rodeo July 2-4. Performances begin at 7:30 pm each night.
Tickets can be purchased online at MandanRodeo.com and at the gate. They range in price from $10 to $25.
For more information, visit the website or call 701.751.2983.
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Cutline: Trick rider Madison MacDonald trick rides on her big buckskin gelding named Number One at the Mandan Rodeo. The horse nearly died last winter of Potomac Equine Fever. Mandan is his first rodeo back after his illness. Photo by Jackie Jensen.