“Kalamity d’Héripré is part of me”

Calamity d'Héripré entered Hélène Kurkdjian's life on October 23, 2023, thirteen days after the inauguration of her equine balneotherapy center, Cavall'eau, located in Montabard (in Orne), a site where she also breeds horses of sport (Organza breeding). One of the best fillies of her generation will stay there for 367 days. Found seriously injured in her paddock with a decaying wound in her right thigh on September 24, a week after her participation in the Critérium des 3 Ans, the daughter ofA Guy from Héripré spent a month at the Méheudin Equine Clinic. “Several layers had to be rebuilt as muscles were completely exploded and tornexplains Hélène Kurkdjian. She left the clinic with a major misengagement in her right posterior. She was very lame. The primary goal was to save her. The ideal is that she can resort to it one day. The stakes were therefore enormous for me, even more so with a mare of this quality. I admit I didn't sleep very well at first (laughs).”

“Rehabilitation is a journey of ups and downs”

A long rehabilitation then begins for the representative of Laurent Dugrosprez and Giovanni Iera, with different stages. “At the very beginning, we only did wound careexplains the 31-year-old young woman. Daily cleaning was required. But the scar broke in a central point, since there is a lot of pressure there. So it was necessary to drain and wash. Then, she was able to access a terrace from her box, which really boosted her morale, before starting the walk in hand. I did a lot of miles with it. At the same time, she was treated to the spa, she loved it. The spa allowed us to preserve his joint system during his recovery and pre-workout. At the beginning of January, she started aquatraining. Five minutes at the start, with water at mid-cannons, to improve propulsion and reduce its failure to engage. Rehabilitation is a journey of ups and downs. In March, we had doubts and we were in a stagnant, frustrating phase… His right posterior was “giving up”. We worked and changed things like the water height so that it passed this very difficult milestone of 20 minutes of aquatraining. Lunging sessions in addition to hand walking but above all 1,250 kilometers of aquatrainer in 250 sessions with step analysis allowed this extraordinary mare to regain her physical abilities. We really started to believe in a return to competition in June-July, from the moment we harnessed her. At the walk and trot, the lack of engagement was minimal and finally, we managed to restore all its flexibility so that it is now symmetrical on the locomotor examination.” On the trail of Bertrand Lefèvre, near Falaise in Calvados, Calamity d'Héripréwith Cécile Fossard on the sulky, therefore began the pre-training phase at the start of summer: “When we put her back on the track, I cried my eyes out, because seeing her with a sulky was crazy. She then started to trot, but on the 3' foot. In the end, we went down to 1'20'', with the aquatrainer in parallel to maintain and support the entire muscular system. A muscle returned, although his surgeon, Jean-Marc Betsch, thought it would not return. So it was important to finish developing it.”

“We put all our heart into it”

Hélène Kurkdjian has carried out considerable work (more than 500 hours) with Calamity d'Héripré and a unique story was created between them: “This mare is incredibly courageous and has impressive strength of character. When she arrived, she wasn't very friendly, then little by little, we became her center of the world. We put all our heart into making sure she was okay. Since we opened Cavall'eau, we have had around 170 horses in total. I think the one that left the biggest impression on us was “Calamities”. Today, what's great is that I can continue to see her, to work for her by interacting a lot with her owners and her trainer with the hope that she finds her level. This mare is part of me. My son, Téo, has also formed a strong bond with her and I thank my family for giving so much for “Mity”. It's pretty incredible. I won't let her go like that (laughs).” Hélène Kurkdjian has also made a very moving video (visible on Cavall'eau's social networks) about this extraordinary convalescence. Patience and resilience paid off. Calamity d'Héripré returned to Fabrice Souloy's training on October 23 and is stationed at Utah Beach (Manche), under the responsibility of Emma Souloy. The latter will be on her sulky for a highly anticipated return to competition, Tuesday in Mons for the Christmas Eve meeting, fifteen months after her trauma. Many will support her, from near or far, starting with the one who became her guardian angel…

Also read:

. Tuesday December 24, 2024 in Mons (Belgium): The big return to school for Kalamity d’Héripré

Laurent Dugrosprez: “A story of Beauty and Sébastien”

In the words of Helene Kurkdjian, “Her owners were ready to do anything to save her.” We are talking here about Laurent Dugrosprez and Giovanni Iera. “Our priority was indeed to save”Calamities”confides the first named. We wanted to give back to her what she gave us. She was operated on for almost 4 hours, the vital and sporting prognosis being reserved and depending on the postoperative evolution (dehiscence of the sutures, infection, etc.) under intensive monitoring for one month in the clinic. Before talking about convalescence, we already had to get out of this stage. At the Méheudin clinic, I asked if they knew of a small structure capable of providing care to the mare. I wanted someone who loved horses and was patient. What I want to highlight is the love story between Hélène and the mare. It’s a Beauty and Sebastian story. Time spent with “Calamities”, this is considerable. I would also like to thank all the people who worked for the mare: the Méheudin clinic with Doctors Jean-Marc Betsch, Antinéa Chabot and Elsa Autard for the follow-up, Dr Nathalie Spindler for the osteopathy part, Camille from CS Physiocare, who came two or three times a week for grip, Bertrand Lefèvre, for the loan of his track, and Cécile Fossard for rehabilitation on the track and pre-training, without forgetting Jérôme Petinato, farrier. Seeing her again on a racetrack is beyond our expectations.”