Chapter Twenty-Three

College Life

A/N – Well that was fun. I have always loved the trips to the Fishing Cabin and it was fun to renovate it in a more modern way for the growing family. Christmas is approaching but first Amy and Ty's long awaited guest lecture at the University of Calgary is here. Let's see what happens with the Borden's. Enjoy!

After the family's fun weekend at the Cabin, everyone had settled back into their routine at school, work and on the ranch. The girls shared all of the fun they had with friends and to the close ones retold the parent's stories of the first I love yous and the proposal. They were proud and happy with their parents. So many of their friend's parents weren't as close and several were divorced. The girls just couldn't imagine living in that type of situation. At lunch one day Lyndy was sitting with Wyatt and Maya talking about the story when her dad proposed to her mom. Maya was gushing while listening, "Your parents are so awesome Lyndy, you are so lucky, my parents can't stand each other which is why they got divorced. I hope I find someone like your dad. And he is hot and your mom is so beautiful." Lyndy looked at her with disgust, "Gross you can't say my dad is hot. That is weird." She huffed away and Wyatt spoke up blushing. "Well I do agree that your mom is beautiful, like you." He put his head down shyly. Lyndy giggled whispering to him, "Thanks and you are hot like my dad."

She noticed he looked sad and she immediately knew why. "Wyatt I am sorry gushing about my parents, I know you miss your parents. I bet they were pretty amazing." "Well," he whispered, "I don't really remember a lot but my grandma said they were perfect for each other, childhood sweethearts, and loved me very much. When we are with family and stories are told it always moves to them and their love story. From what I have been told it is kind of like your parents but like us they were a little younger. My uncle Bert said they starting hanging out when they were ten at school and were inseparable. My grandpa wasn't too happy because my dad's family was messed up. But grandma said she knew right away that they were destined for each other." Lyndy smiled saying, "That is amazing Wyatt, your grandma is so cool." Wyatt put his head done again shyly and whispered, "My grandma told me that we remind her of them. She says she sees it in how we act around each other and," he struggled, " and how I look at you. Lyndy blushed and squeezed his hand.

It was a couple of days away from Amy and Ty's presentation at the University of Calgary. Everything was ready and they had Georgie and Steven to assist them. The had 2.5 hours so they planned on each of them taking 30-45 minutes and the rest of the time for questions. There was so much interest, that the lecture was moved to the biggest auditorium on campus seating over 500 people. The Equine department decided to give extra credit for attendees since everyone wanted to come. The had 425 students, 50 faculty members and per their request 25 family and staff from the equine center. The girls wanted to come so Amy and Ty gave in. The teachers at their school were really excited and more than willing to let them go. Since they had done events like this before Amy and Ty were pretty comfortable but the sheer size of the event was daunting. And on top of that it was going to be videotaped and covered by local media. Their intention was to share what they did but they weren't naïve to not understand that this would be good for business. Lou was already putting the impact to their overall business and a growth plan.

The morning of the event Amy, Ty, Georgie and Steven went the auditorium to get set up. The department gave them four TAs to help as they also needed copies of some handouts and some general assistance. Lou, Jack and Lisa would bring Katie, the girls and JT. Scott, Caleb, Cass and several others from the business would come as well. It was going to be a packed house. The department head wanted to make sure that the attendees had a chance to meet their children, family members and staff at the end especially since they would be awarding both Ty and Amy with adjunct professorship positions and a plaque after the lecture. As the time drew near, the hall started filling up. Amy and Ty greeted people as they arrived and when the family and staff were seated off to the right, they went to see them. The girls were giddy with excitement and hugged their parents. JT got a special hug from both of his parents. The others hugged them and wish them the best. The hall settled done and the Dean of the university and the head of the Equine Studies Department came to the podium.

Dean Wortham spoke first, "Well I have to say I have had the privilege to be a part of hundreds of lectures in my career and attended many more. I have never seen this much excitement about a topic like we have today. Dr. and Mrs. Borden along with their family have built a group if extremely successful businesses that deal with the emotional and medical wellbeing of horses. The way they approach this endeavor is innovative and revolutionary. Individually they are accomplished in their fields and recognized as leaders by their fellow professionals. Here at the U of C, we've seen this firsthand with Dr. Borden and Dr. Cardinal's innovative surgical procedures and Mrs. Borden's approach to herbal remedies and as I am told, listening to the horse." A chuckle came from the hall as Amy and Ty blushed. "I am excited for them to be here with us and I hope you welcome them and listen attentively. I expect you will all walk away with something new. Thank you Dr. And Mrs. Borden" He turned around and shook both of their hands.

The head of the department Dr. Molder came up next. "Well there isn't much more I can say except to thank Amy and Ty for being here today and also thank Olympic Champion Georgie Fleming Morris and her fiancé and U of C Student Steven Weber for assisting them today. A round of applause for them was heard especially when they realized an actual Olympic Champion and Coach was in the hall. So without further delay, I introduce Amy Borden, The Miracle Girl and Dr. Ty Borden, renowned equine surgeon and alumni of this university. Amy and Ty approached the podium and just as Amy was about to start, they heard a yell from the right of the stage. "Momma, Dadda Hi!" The place erupted when JT decided he wanted to greet his parents. He broke free from Lou and waddled up to them. Amy scooped him up for a big kiss and handed him off to Ty. "Well" she blushed, "You have now met our little man Jackson Tyler Borden, or JT as we call him. He is our baby, soon to be 1 and has 4 older sisters, who as you can imagine spoil him rotten." All of a sudden, a student on the front yelled, "You have 5 Kids, oh my god!"

Everyone laughed as Ty stepped up with an excited JT. "Well this can be lesson #1. Life brings you all sorts of challenges, and we are confident that our success is a combination of what we can do and the strong support of a loving and happy family. As you see this is a happy little guy and Amy and I are confident that we have achieved everything because of the family and close friends we have." He pointed to the right of the stage. Ty handed JT to Georgie as Amy continued and put her arm around her husband. "So the lesson is, no matter what adversity comes your way family will always be there for you. So each of you have to be there for your family and friends when they need you and in the long run it will make you happy and successful." This guy next to me is my best friend and I would never be where I am without him." As she kissed his cheek a chorus of awes, hoots and hollers were heard throughout the room. And of course the twins fake gagging.

When things settled, Amy and Ty stepped up again as Steven started the presentation. Amy started, "The Marion Fleming Equestrian Center was our dream when we were young and just getting started. Our motivations were my mother, Marion Fleming and my horse Spartan, both pictured above. My mother was a well-known, "Horse Whisperer" a skill that she passed down to me. And Spartan was the horse we rescued the night she was killed in an accident. He became my mission and along with my Grandpa and Ty's support, I saved him." As she started to break up Ty took over. "After a long and happy life we lost Spartan a few months back. As Amy said these two were our inspiration. My story is a little different, I was a brought up and a rough home and was in and out of jail. Marion Fleming brought me to Heartland as a part of my probation and I met this horsey girl and decided to stick around. Our business and the rest of the family's businesses are a result of this woman and this horse. Even my mentor, Dr. Cardinal was brought to Heartland as well by Marion to be saved like I was. She was good at saving the "boys in the loft." But I have to say Scott went to school at the University of Manitoba, but we won't hold that against him" Scott belted out "Go Gophers!" to a round of laughs and boos. Dean Wortham stood up and told Dr, Molder, "we need to get him a U of C sweatshirt.

After the audience and Amy settled, she began to go through her slides. She talked through several horses that she had worked with over the years, Gallant Prince, Buddy and Bear as well as well know racehorses Lighting Dexter and Cisco, all of whom were known by many in the audience. We also have the privilege at the Equine Center to support Fairfield Stables, owned by Lisa Stillman who is my Grandpa's wife and my grandmother. Just recently we worked with one of her horses who participated in the Triple Crown placing in the money all three times. I can tell you with confidence that the difference between what we do and what larger more prolific centers is that Georgie, who also has my mother's skills as well and I remember almost all of the horses we worked on along with their owners. That is what we offer" Amy held up one of her journals and took a breath before she continued. Ty put his hand on her shoulder for support. "This is just one of the hundreds of journals we have that have notes and diagrams that my mom and I have logged. These guide us and inspire us to help each horse that comes our way. I still remember the night Ty gave me my first one and told me, you should write down things like your mom did. Well I did and we now have reference information on almost anything you can imagine. Observations, remedies, surgical procedures, really anything you can think of."

Ty and Amy had said early on that if there were questions to ask so from the middle of the room a hand was raised, she recognized him and motioned for him to ask his question. "Is this information that can be shared or is it proprietary?" Before she answered, Dr Molder stood and walked to the podium. "Well I can say that we have approached the Borden's about that exact thing and I believe they are considering it." Ty spoke, "Amy and I don't feel a need to hide or keep our secrets. Her mom shared everything she did with anyone who needed help, even her competition. So yes, I believe, when time allows Amy and Georgie will begin formally documenting the information. Trust me I have seen it and it is amazing" Amy stood back up as Ty put his hand on her lower back and squeezed it in support. More than one person saw it. The folks on the stage and those who could see were amazed at the bond these two people had. It was obvious they were happy and very close and the result of that relationship was the reason they were successful.

Amy spent the next bit of time talking through the herbal remedies she utilized with examples of how it worked with a specific horses. Her examples were very real and the audience was mesmerized. The girls looked at their mom as she talked and saw the commitment and love she had for all the horses she had worked with. Lyndy leaned over to Katie and said, "She is amazing, and I love her so much." Katie smiled and leaned into her shoulder as JT jumped into their lap. Many questions came up and Amy answered them thoroughly with confidence. You could sense in the room that what she did was the real deal, even though it was more than what medical textbooks said. One specific question was when she mentioned the horse at Fairfield that was acting up and jumping fences, even throwing his owner and breaking her arm. Amy and Ty realized the horse was ingesting Loco weed and it was affecting him mentally. The question was, "How in the world did you figure that out, it is uncanny." Amy smiled went to the back table and brought out a specific journal. She made sure she had all the relevant journals with her. "Well, we looked through the field and notice this flowering plant that looked familiar. When Ty and I were in the office trying to figure it out, I was looking through this journal and saw the exact same plant that my mom drew. Then Ty said, wait I just saw that." She held up the page for everyone to see. The crowd was so impressed they clapped and smiled. They just saw an example of her approach that blew them all away.

Amy continued to give specific examples of the herbal approaches she took. Pain relief, clearing infection, calming a nervous horse even examples of changing a horses' attitude. She mentioned that the remedies are one part of healing, you have to listen to the horse and decide what the horse needs. Immediately a question was raised, "Listening to them, I don't understand." Amy responded, "Well by listening of course I don't mean they actually talk to me, although my family will tell you that Spartan talked to me," she hesitated fighting back tears. Ty stood next to her and with an arm on her shoulder he continued. "What I have witnessed is the she listens to the horses moods, noises and body language. I have seen her more times than I can count determine the issue when everyone else is clueless." Amy took over, "A good example I can share is about a horse Alcatraz Run. He was an abused racehorse who was forced to be a part of an illegal racing circuit. He was beaten and injected with stimulants to continue to race even though his suspensory ligaments were damaged.

Our good friend, Caleb O'Dell and I went to look for two horses that were reported to be in a coolie abandoned. When we got there one was so bad that Caleb had to put him down on the spot and the other wasn't much better, scarred and beaten. We got him back to Heartland, Ty and my Grandpa were not at all happy that I was going to try to help him. Even Scott, our vet recommended that we put him down. I refused even after my grandpa told me directly not to. The next morning I looked in on him and made a big mistake. I entered his stall to try to sooth him and he lunged at me, pushing me against the stall door and almost broke my shoulder. I barely got out of his stall. Ty came to my room to talk about him and saw the very bad bruise. After expressing his concern he decided to help and what I found was that he was scared of people because they had abused him. I looked through my mom's journals and found a mixture to lavender, eucalyptus and tarragon. It was meant to calm a horse. I applied it to his feed and within a couple of days he had settled down so I could work with him. He recovered and went to work with a wounded veteran friend of ours who works with others like him as a therapy horse. Even my grandpa was proud of me. And girls this also works on husbands," she giggled and Ty gave a thumbs up smiling. The crowd erupted in laughter.

Amy finished up her part, about 15 minutes longer than expected. She didn't mind because they had some extra time built in. She reminded the group here would be a chance for questions at the end of the lecture and that her and Ty would hang around as well after it concluded. She also reminded them to pick up all the handouts when they leave and that contact information was there as well.

Ty took the podium to go start his part. "Well it will be difficult to outshine the Miracle Girl but I will do my best." Amy rolled her eyes and kissed him on the cheek. Addie was beside herself putting her head in her hands and acting like she was throwing up. "Just to let you know our daughter Addie doesn't like our open affection, gagging every time we do it so pardon her noises from the family section." The crowd laughed especially when Maddie yelled out giving Addie a shove, "Keep doing it mommy and daddy, I love it." Amy and Ty responded by holding each other closely. Ty attempted to reign the group back in. "Ok back to the lecture, I am going to take some time talking through some of the innovative surgical procedures that Dr. Cardinal, Dr Cassandra O'Dell and I have developed and shred with the university along with how we combine what we do with what Amy does. Just to let you know Casandra is back running the Hudson Vet Clinic so she couldn't attend. And yes, she is married to Caleb O'Dell a long-time family friend and the Equine Centers' Operations Manager. He runs the place operationally so we can do our thing. Caleb and Cass are not just people we know and work with, along with Scott, they are family.

Ty began going through the presentation and referred to the handout everyone had received allowing them to follow along. He know that the detail may be a little beyond the reach of the younger students but saw the ones further along in the program and the professors nodding as he moved along. He had Scott join Amy and him as well in case he could provide insight on some of the surgical procedures he discussed. "Let's go ahead and look at the 3rd case study,' he directed. "In this case we had a barrel racing horse that had fractured her fetlock joint rather severely. The horse was owned by a friend of ours and she was devastated. After Amy evaluated Roxie, we determined that if we could repair the joint, she was confident that with controlled rehab she could return to barrel racing. The concern was that the fracture was located in a hard-to-reach location. Along with Scott we looked at the options and decided a brace, pinned externally into the repaired joint would help it heal better. If successful we could take it off, reexamine the injury and decide next steps. The owner was open minded and understood that right after the surgery constant care would be needed. She worked with a few friends and Amy and set up around the clock coverage for her horse." He looked over at Amy with a smile because he remembered it was difficult for her because he briefly went out with Kit.

"So about 10 days after the surgery, Amy noticed that Roxie was beginning to put a little pressure on her injured leg. We had her in a body harness to limit use of the leg. She call Scott and I in and we tested the leg even more. It seemed to all of us that the leg seemed to be healing well enough for her to put more weight." He took a breath looking at Amy and Scott. "We watched Amy look into Roxie's eyes soothing her as we did the test. I am not making this up but the horses' ears relaxed and she let out a soft whinny. Amy was listening to the horse and we experience the true link between what each of us do." Scott stepped up to give Ty a break as he stood next to his wife holding her at the waist. "Well even though I went to the wrong university it seems, I have had the opportunity to see some amazing things during my career. But this was a first. I was well aware of Amy and her mother's special skills as I had witnessed it when I first came to Heartland."

"This was a definite example of how those skills work with the medical side of this issue. It was remarkable." Ty resumed, "Well we documented the procedure including Amy's part of the process and sent it to the U of C and the Alberta Equine Association. We met with both and decided that moving forward we would be in affiliation with this university on all innovative surgical procedures. The procedure we did was shared in all of Canada and the US as it was the first time it had ever been done. And to let you know Roxie went on to complete for many years after that and was a champion in her field until Kit retired her. She still lives with Kit's family in Alberte a happy retiree. Ther were a number of medical based questions that Scott and Ty answered but then surprisingly Maddie raised her hand. Amy recognized and told the group, well it seems my daughter has a question is that ok with everyone. Everyone smiled in agreement and Maddie spoke up with sincerity. "Mommy what Roxie tell you?" Amy stepped back as her eyes misted at her daughter's sincerity. She brought her up and stood next to her as she answered. The crowd was in stunned silence. "Well honey, when I looked into his eyes, I saw that she was scared and in pain relying on us to help her. But I felt something else, I felt that she was proud of what she could do and wanted to keep doing it. I whispered to her and said, 'You want to race again don't you girl?' When is said that her ears relaxed, she whinnied and gave me a determine look. I had my answer." After some awkward silence the crowd broke out into a respectful applause and Maddie hugged her mom with all of her mite.

Ty had a couple of more things to share especially the last case study which talked about an injury to Spartan's left rear pastern bone and how after surgery, Amy was the only person to get him to calm down. Scott jumped in, "We were very concerned about the injury because of Spartan's competitive nature as a champion jumper. But with a lot of attention and loving care, Spartan was able to fully recover. The Miracle Girl had done it again." He beamed as Amy hugged him tightly. They took some final medical questions and spent almost 30 more minutes answering general questions from the group. They wrapped up thanking the group for the time and a resounding standing ovation followed. Dean Wortham and Dr. Molder approached the podium and signaled for the entire group of family and friends to join them in the stage. Amy and Ty were a little confused but followed along with it. JT immediately jumped into Amy's arms and whispered, "Love you Momma and Dadda." The girls came to join next to their parents as well. As they approached the podium a covered easel and some other items were brought out. Dean Wortham began to speak.

"Well as I said my job has allowed me to see some amazing things but I have to say this is definitely at the top of the list. I want to thank you both on behalf of the University, The Equine Department and the entire staff for spending time with us today. I am confident that the people in this room are not only overwhelmed and amazed but have marveled at your accomplishments and what you have brought to the Equine community. You are true leaders in the field and have shown all of us that with the power of family and friends you have developed this formidable business. We thank you for your time and I am going to turn it over to Dr. Molder. As he took over some of the TAs position themselves by the easel and the Dean picked up some items from the podium. Thank you, Dean Wortham, for your kind words and I would like to just join in thanking. Dr. and Mrs. Borden along with Dr. Cardinal for their time. And I would be remiss to not recognize Maddie Borden for the best question of the day and JT Borden for just being cute. Amy and Ty hugged them both as Maddie blushed and JT laughed.

Amy and Ty, we would like to formally recognize you for what you do for this University and most importantly for the Equine community. As the TA pulled the sheet off the easel he read:

To Amy And Dr. Tyler Borden

On This Day We Would Like To Award You

Provisional Adjunct Professorships

In The Field Of

Equine Medical And Therapeutic Services

For The University Of Calgary Equine Department

We Are Proud And Honored

To Have You As Members Of Our Team

Everyone inf the hall erupted in applause and Dean Wortham handed two plaques to them, "Dr. Amy Borden and Dr. Ty Borden these are official proclamations recognizing you as our newest staff members. As you will see it is dated with today's date and has been signed the two of us, the President of the University and the President to the Alberta Equine Association." He pulled a third plaque and said to Scott, "Dr Cardinal we would also like to offer you an adjunct professor role as well, as long as the U of M is ok with it." Scott smiled and thanked them for the honor saying, "So where is my sweatshirt." Applause and laughter were heard through the hall. The family was beside themselves as pictures were taken and hugs and kisses abounded. As the dust settled, Dr Molder invited everyone to the common area outside the hall for a reception with drinks and food where everyone would have a chance to meet this amazing family in person. As Amy and Ty walked out arm in arm, as she whispered into his ear, "I love you so much Dr. Borden." He responded, "I love you too Dr. Borden." They kissed and giggled as they walked out of the hall with their kids, family and friends. As Addie watched them, she decided not to give them trouble but smiled at them as she had never been happier to be in this family.