After missing for three months, horse returns to be a world-class competitior

FORT WORTH, TEXAS — Heather Lott-Goodwin, a nurse at the only fully equipped hospital in New Orleans, has seen her share of miseries and miracles in her line of work, but few can surpass those in her personal life. Lott-Goodwin, her husband, and son are Hurricane Katrina survivors. They know first-hand what it is like to turn the living quarters of a horse trailer into a home, be without electricity for six weeks and lose all contact with the outside world.

In the midst of the tragedy last August, Lott-Goodwin’s 6-year-old American Paint Horse gelding, PBJ Decks Smokin Gun, turned up missing. Where Lott-Goodwin lives—along the Gulf Coast near Picayune, Miss.—miles of fencing were swept away by floodwaters. PBJ Decks Smokin Gun, as well as other horses and cattle Lott-Goodwin owned were lost in the flood and the resulting damage and chaos.

Three months after the storm hit, Lott-Goodwin had almost given up hope that her Paint gelding would be found. Then she received a call that the horse had been discovered nearly 100 miles away, in extremely poor condition. The gelding was dehydrated, starving, bruised and injured. He had lost permanent sight in one eye.

An implanted identification chip helped rescue workers identify the horse.

Although it was suggested that the horse be put down, Lott-Goodwin drove along washed-out roads and across storm ravaged terrain to get to her horse and bring him home. Then she used her talents as an emergency room nurse, along with the help of her mother and a local veterinarian, to bring PBJ Decks Smokin Gun back to health.

It was a long road to recovery, but the gelding was back in shape and ready to compete at the 2006 World Championship Paint Horse Show, held in Fort Worth, Texas, June 25- July 8. Lott-Goodwin has been an exhibitor at the World Show for 10 years, but she said the 2006 show was different.

“I always came to World Show chasing a title, but that’s not what it is about now,” Lott-Goodwin said after her arrival at the event this year. “I am doing it because I love the sport and I love my horse.”

Lott-Goodwin said she has a renewed outlook on life and her faith in God has been strengthened.

Many Americans displaced by the Category 5 storm that hit last summer are still rebuilding their homes and their lives. Luckily for Lott-Goodwin and her family, they are once again back in their home and have even rebuilt their barn. While many residences of the Gulf Coast shoreline are still destroyed, Heather said, “This is something that we have just gotten used to. We forget what it was like until we travel somewhere else.”

Lott-Goodwin described her excitement in coming to World Show this year as being equal to what she felt during the days she showed her pony in 4-H as a child.

Lott-Goodwin and PBJ Decks Smokin Gun competed in three events this year: Amateur Hunt Seat Equitation, Amateur Hunter Under Saddle and Amateur Showmanship. The duo placed in the top 15 in Amateur Showmanship.

With everything Lott-Goodwin has overcome, she is not consumed with winning. Instead, she is just thrilled that her Paint Horse is alive and well enough to compete again.

Any way you look at it, Lott-Goodwin and PBJ Decks Smokin Gun are true champions.

More about the American Paint Horse
Among the many qualities that make Paint Horses desirable are their sound conformation, versatile athletic ability, intelligence, calm temperament, willing disposition and beautiful coat color patterns. For more information about Paint Horses or the American Paint Horse Association and its many programs, visit apha.com or call (817) 834-2742.