Generous bequest will provide future support for emergency foal care and research

When Gena Clifton began to ponder her legacy, she thought immediately of the Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center (EMC). 

After much discussion and thought about her legacy and the future needs of EMC, Clifton decided on a bequest to support emergency and critical care of foals and supportive research at the EMC, a Leesburg, Virginia-based 24-7 equine emergency center and teaching hospital of the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, based on the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg, Virginia.

A horse lover for as long as she can remember, she acquired a horse of her own when she was in third grade. Her mother, an avid rider in her own right, encouraged all her children to ride. 

Clifton grew up in central Alabama and met her husband Jim, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate and naval flight officer, as he briefly stopped to visit his parents. The first “person” that Clifton introduced him to was her American Quarter Horse Association mare, Spanish Barby, whom she had owned since the horse was 2 years old and on which she campaigned in halter and western pleasure.  

“The first question Jim asked was how long horses live for – my answer – not long enough!” Clifton recalled.

Obviously smitten, Clifton packed up her belongings and Spanish Barby and, by herself, boldly headed to Patuxent River, Maryland, to join Jim who at that time was attending Naval Test Pilot School. 

The Navy then sent them and Spanish Barby all the way across the country to Monterey, California, and then back to Patuxent River. While in Maryland for the second time, Clifton’s sister unexpectedly passed away, bequeathing her five thoroughbred horses. Keeping her sister’s senior broodmare, a hunter/jumper gelding, and her sister’s favorite mare, she managed to place the remaining horses in good homes.

Artemis, her sister’s favorite mare, contracted severe laminitis, and her veterinarian at the time, Carol Lundquist, who is now based at Singing Stones Animal Wellness Centre in Warrenton, Virginia, started holistic-centric treatment while also referring her to the EMC for regular X-rays and therapeutic shoeing adjustments by the legendary Paul Goodness of Goodness Farrier Associates.  

After the thoroughbreds had passed on, Clifton purchased two American Paint horses.

Clifton returned to the EMC in December 2016 after a diagnostic bone scan on her gelding Zippit in Time (Levi), a 14-year-old bay tobiano American paint, was completed at Virginia Equine Imaging (VEI), in Middleburg, Virginia. 

Kent Allen, DVM, from VEI, shared the unwelcome news with Clifton that Levi had significant soft tissue damage and kissing spines, when vertebrae are too close together. Allen referred Levi to the EMC, specifically to Norris Adams, clinical associate professor of equine surgery for surgical treatment. A bilateral neurectomy of the deep branch of the lateral plantar nerve was performed and Levi returned home. Three months later Clifton returned Levi to the EMC for additional treatment. 

Adams sat down with Clifton to review Levi’s diagnostic imaging, explaining that Levi’s back had probably the worst case of kissing spines he had ever encountered. Deciding to go ahead with the surgery, Clifton returned to Maryland knowing that it would be a couple of days before Levi could be released. 

Returning to collect Levi, she sat down with Adams again to review images taken during surgery to correct Levi’s kissing spine, Clifton was surprised and mildly horrified at the surgical process that Levi had gone through (eight affected dorsal spinous processes were resected). Presenting Clifton with fragments removed during surgery, Adams explained that the surgery had gone to plan, and that Levi should recover well.

Three weeks before moving to northwest Alabama in 2020, Levi, then 18, felt uncomfortable under saddle and Clifton immediately arranged for a visit to Allen. Levi ended up having an MRI at the EMC which confirmed that he had severe soft tissue damage and thickening of a ligament in a leg. After corrective shoeing, magnetic therapy, and an inflammatory-free diet he can be ridden for leisurely walks. 

Leaving their Foxwood Farm in Southern Maryland has made Clifton appreciate the broad spectrum of care available to horses in Maryland and Virginia. 

“I must haul my horses to a veterinarian, who is a 90-minute drive away, and I am fearful of one of my horses having a true emergency in the future,” Clifton said.

Finding a farrier that is experienced to offer therapeutic techniques to a horse with navicular has been even more challenging. Without his hooves being suitably balanced and kept at the optimum angle, Levi could easily become chronically lame. Rehabilitation services are also exceedingly rare with no equine acupuncturists or chiropractors available in the area and a rehabilitation specialist that can only offer laser treatments. 

A competitive trail rider throughout Maryland and Virginia, Clifton is not riding as much now but describes herself as a person that needs to “smell a horse every day to be happy” and loves hanging out with the horses and cleaning stalls.  

Jim, an engineer who retired from the Navy and the government, has always fully supported Clifton’s passion for horses and over the years has learned to read them a little better. “Whatever the horses need they get,” said Clifton, who feels blessed to have such a supportive husband.

When considering her bequest, Clifton remembered arriving at the EMC with Levi, feeling apprehensive and worried about his treatment and the possible outcome, and how they were both treated with kindness and compassion. She specifically remembered being greeted by Rosie Barwick, a veterinary technician, and appreciated the care and attention of Norris Adams, Levi’s surgeon who provided clear and precise information after his surgery. 

“EMC had a tremendous impact on the life of my horse and me,” Clifton said. “I am excited to create a future endowment that will continue their wonderful work.”