Israeli Army is a 4 year old, chonky, bay colt (now gelding) that came to us in partnership with Beyond the Wire in Maryland. This big guy is by Army Mule and out of a Dixie Union mare. He raced 7 times, never winning, but hitting the board a couple times.

While his last race was a while ago, he was in training during the summer of 2024 with his last registered work being on 9/4/24, at which point we suspect he injured the tendon. Israeli's tendon injury is one that will take a full year to heal. He's had a variety of therapies and thankfully has been a terrific patient, even when he's had to stand in ice boots for multiple hours a day.

Due to the nature of his injury, we could not castrate him until his tendon had healed enough for him to be turned out, so he was in our care as a stallion for nearly 6 months, much of which was stall rest with gradually more hand walking. Outside of being hangry first thing in the morning, and wanting to "walk himself" during walks (by trying to get the chain in his mouth), Israeli was remarkably well behaved. As soon as he'd had his morning grain, you could set him up in ice boots and stand him in front of his hay for hours of time, groom him, and do generally whatever you needed with him without much fuss.

Israeli was hand-walking mid-December through March. Our vet was very excited to see significant healing both in January and again in March ultrasounds, at which point she said he was ready for castration and turnout in a small paddock!

Israeli's castration and recovery has been textbook and he will be officially ready to adopt as early as April 9th. Right now he is turned out alone as he in a small paddock, but will soon go in a slightly large paddock with another gelding. He will need to be turned out in gradually larger spaces until October at minimum, when he should be rescanned/evaluated to go back to work.

During his castration recovery, Israeli has been very easy to catch and handle, great for having his castration site hosed off and has enjoyed extra grooming sessions. He's good for the farrier and vet and has no vices. Just needs time.

It would be ideal for him to be out with geldings only for a while, as his hormones settle. That said, he has been stabled near mares without issue so having a stall in a barn with mares should not be a concern.

This is one really cool gelding who is going to be a lot of fun for the right person! Our vet thinks he could do anything on the flat like dressage, trails or pleasure riding. We think he'd make a super cute dressage horse or even small hunter in flat classes. He's adorable.

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For those who want more information on his tendon injury:

His LF SDFT had a significant tear mid-body and was enlarged up into the carpal sheath. His DDFT was okay thankfully. There was some enlargement of the lateral check ligament, but no tear. As of 3/18/25 most of the tendon has healed/fibers have filled in with the 3A region being the last to do so but it is healing and progressing with each scan. Our vet recommended a full year from injury to starting back under saddle and he's in the phase now where he just needs time for Mother Nature to do her thing as it heals while he enjoys getting to be a horse in turnout with other horses.