'I Always Believed in His Recovery': One Horse's Incredible Comeback from a Freak Accident

Briggs Surratt and Ultimate Victory at Chattahoochee Hills. 

On April 29th of this year, Rick Wallace and Briggs Surratt were faced with a horse owner's worst nightmare.

"Briggs and I were out doing gallops and we got a call and I knew something was wrong when I heard his voice. He said, 'Cody is hurt really bad,'" Rick said. 

Ultimate Victory or "Cody" as he's called in the barn is a 17-year-old Thoroughbred of the "been there done that" variety. Despite his experience, something spooked him while in the cross ties. The cross ties released against pressure and the clip unfortunately hit him directly in the eye. 

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"He had pulled back it was these old bungee cords, probably 10 years old. They were so stretched out that I didn’t think that much of it, but it had enough spring it in. The horse can be weird --  a piece of paper can fly and he’ll spook. He just happened to spook and pulled back. When he pulls back he gets panicked and it just popped right into his eye," Rick said. 

Cody was rushed to Peterson-Smith Equine Hospital in Ocala, Florida where he was seen by equine ophthalmologist Dennis Brooks, DVM, PhD, DACVO. 

"He looked at it and said, 'Rick I want to save it, but there’s no way to save it. The best thing to do is take it out.' I said absolutely take it out. Within two hours of the injury he had his eye taken out," Rick recalled. 

Rick and Cody after the accident. Photo courtesy of Rick Wallace. 

With that, Cody's left eye was removed and he returned home the next morning with the looming question, will he ever compete again? 

Cody and Rick, an upper level eventer, have a lengthly, intertwined relationship. The Thoroughbred was found by Rick's daughter, Elisa Wallace, a five-star eventer herself, as a 4-year-old. Rick says he "wasn't much to look at," but bought the horse anyway. 

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The climbed the levels together, finding success through the Advanced level as they developed a tight bond. Twice throughout the course of their relationship, Rick sold Cody, but in 2018 he found his way home for good.

"I took him back to Tallahassee and he was so changed over the course of a week. I called her up and said I have to buy him back. I’m never going to sell him again,"

When friend Gale Fox called and said she'd just bough this horse, Ultimate Victory, she asked Rick and Briggs to come take a look. "She said, 'can you come and see Cody? There’s just something missing.' They had him in his stall and I pulled up and I went and stuck my head in the stall and he came running to the front of the stall and remembered me immediately," Rick said. 

They took on Cody initially as a sales prospect, but within a matter of days Rick knew he couldn't say goodbye again. "I took him back to Tallahassee and he was so changed over the course of a week. I called her up and said I have to buy him back. I’m never going to sell him again," he said. 

Briggs Surratt and Ultimate Victory at Chattahoochee Hills. 

At this point, Rick decided it was time for Briggs to take over the ride as his own three-star horse was out with an injury. 

"Briggs had gotten stronger and more mature in his riding and more educated, so he was able to start taking the ride last fall," Rick said. "We experimented. Then, we decided to try Intermediate. They had to pull up on the cross country I think because of a partnership issue," he said. 

It was at this point, as Briggs and Cody were struggling to build their relationship, when the accident happened. Briggs was devastated, but never stopped believing in the quirky Thoroughbred. 

"I was devastated. Briggs was devastated. Walter, our barn manager, was devastated," Rick said, "We thought his career was over. I called Holly Jack Smithers who had a horse who lost an eye and had conversations with her. She was like, ‘Just treat him like a normal horse when he goes home.’

"From day one we had him in the paddock with his bandaging on. Then we hacked the next day. Then we put a bridle on and then a saddle on. He just didn’t miss a beat," Rick said. 

"He looks at me a little differently now. It’s good to feel. It feels like there’s a little more fight for both of us working together."

At such a pivotal moment in Cody's recovery, Rick and Briggs both decided it was best if Briggs kept the ride. 

"Cody’s development of being ridden without vision, I wanted him to develop that with Briggs because I felt like if they were going to ever compete again I felt like that was a relationship they needed to develop. And it was the right thing to do," Rick said.

Briggs Surratt and Ultimate Victory at Chattahoochee Hills. 

Less than two months later Briggs and Cody were competing again at the Preliminary level. Without the eye, something in their partnership finally "clicked."

"Maybe he felt my compassion toward him for what happened. He's a very emotional horse. He wants to please and he wants someone to believe in him and his ability." 

"Since I took the ride [last year] it’s always been building his trust toward me and how I ride. It took a little bit. Once I got to the Prelim and two-star level he was very confident, but when we went higher to Intermediate it felt like our partnership wasn’t there," Briggs said. "When I would ride him he would question what I was telling him. I didn't know if this is something he wanted to do for me. But then the accident happened.

"He looks at me a little differently now. It’s good to feel. It feels like there’s a little more fight for both of us working together," Briggs said. "I don’t know if it was because coming back, I really believed in his recovery. Maybe he felt my compassion toward him for what happened. He's a very emotional horse. He wants to please and he wants someone to believe in him and his ability." 

With this new, stronger relationship, nothing feels impossible. The two returned to the Intermediate level, and where there used to be uncertainty, now there is only trust. They finished inside the top ten at their first CCI3*-S together at Chattahoochee Hills in Fairburn, Georgia four months after the accident, and now, the sky's the limit. 

"He's never sad. His eye is always bright. He's kind of like Forrest Gump because he just had a great outlook on life," Briggs said. "He went through hard times but he's super happy to be where he is now and he knows he's at his forever home and he's loving what he does."

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Photos by Shelby Allen.