Alexa Briscoe said she had high hopes for Wildfeuer when she acquired the 4-year-old Bavarian Warmblood in 2000. Her plan was to someday compete in Grand Prix dressage with him. But when Wildfeuer was 10, he began to exhibit intermittent episodes of apparent lameness. These instances were so occasional that "we couldn’t figure out what was going on," Briscoe said.

Then, in 2005, while Briscoe was in Texas with Wildfeuer, he took a bad step and, as Briscoe described it, "went dead lame." Veterinary specialists in Texas used scintigraphy to diagnose Wildfeuer with a bone cyst in his shoulder underneath his biceps tendon. This was treated surgically with the arthroscope to remove the damaged cartilage and cyst contents in the bicipital bursa, where the biceps tendon moves over the front of the shoulder.

Because this disease was rare, and the treatment was new, the horse’s prognosis was uncertain. After about six months of stall rest, Briscoe took the next year or so to slowly get Wildfeuer moving again, first by hand-walking him and then having him trot.

At this point, Briscoe revisited her hopes of competing with Wildfeuer. "He seemed to be doing so much better," she said. "It looked like he could return to full work." And, the two actually participated in shows for about a half a season, until Wildfeuer again demonstrated indications of lameness