Spring Hollow Or Noir

Spring Hollow Or Noir (Nori) is a smoky black Morgan mare foaled on June 12, 2017. Like her cousin Marquesa, she comes from Spring Hollow Morgans in Hopewell, PA, and came to live at Cold Moon Farm in fall 2018.

nori-photo — A young Nori, before she arrived in New Hampshire.

Nori was purchased to be my next distance horse. After riding so many miles of trail alongside my friends’ wonderful, sturdy, good-natured Morgans, and knowing how wonderful Spring Hollow Marquesa is in the open, I decided I needed one of my own.

Unfortunately, fate had other plans for Nori and I. Despite following all of my usual training protocols, and even exploring many new ones, Nori’s progress got stuck. Although skilled in hand, on the longe, and in the long lines, she couldn’t seem to get to a place where she was comfortable, mentally, with being ridden. She is also deeply uncomfortable in the trailer.

After extensive diagnostic work ups, consultations, review of results, and other analysis, in fall 2024, Nori received a probable diagnosis of Equine Systemic Proteoglycan Accumulation (ESPA), a systemic, hereditary, connective tissue disease affecting ligaments, tendons, and other soft tissues throughout the body. It is still also known as Degenerative Suspensory Ligament Desmitis (DSLD), but this common symptom is now believed to be part of a broader, systemic disorder.

The diagnosis is “probable” because it can only be confirmed on necropsy.

As devastating as it was to receive this news, the diagnosis did explain the many challenges and setbacks Nori and I had experienced both in her training and her daily management.

The good news is that Nori and her stablemate, JEF Anna Rose, are the best of friends, and thoroughly enjoy each other’s company. At this time, Nori seems completely comfortable simply being a horse, and we have promised her that she has a safe sanctuary here for as long as that remains the case.