KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — For a foal born on the 7th of May, his mom’s seventh baby, his owner’s seventh foal of the year, on the seventh anniversary of his mom winning a show called ‘The Lucky Seven,’ there was only one name for him: “Seven.”
But Seven was also born seven weeks early, which is several weeks past viability in horses. His owner and many veterinarians thought his chances of survival were slim. He was born so early that many of his bones hadn’t even formed yet–they were just cartilage. But thanks to incredible care at the University of Tennessee Center for Veterinary Medicine, as well as his feisty personality, Seven is now ten months old.
His owner, Katie Van Slyke, thought she must have had his mom’s breeding date wrong when she found out he’d been born…