The Chronicle Connection August 2011 : Page 20
profile WENDy LEICh FurLONG This Cambridge-educated mother of two is an avid foxhunter, an eventing breeder and competitor, and a passionate advocate for common-sense horsemanship— when she’s not busy working at the veterinary forefront of international horse sport. “Our goal is to breed horses that, even if they don’t succeed at the upper levels of competition, have enough of a brain that they can be amateur horses,” said wendy leich furlong, who breeds, trains, events and foxhunts her own line of pinto horses. Is A ThOrOuGhLy mODErN CLAssIC I By MEGHAN BLACKBURN and JESSICA LEFROY t’s often said that behind every good man is a great woman. For Brendan Furlong, the founder and principal veterinarian at B.W. Furlong and Associates and a U.S. Equestrian Federation veterinar-ian for the U.S. eventing team, this rings especially true. Because Wendy Leich Furlong, Brendan’s wife of 28 years, is a classic horsewoman in her own right. At home, she juggles the demands of motherhood, breeding and training event horses. And in her day job, Wendy acts as B.W. Furlong and Associates’ in-house veterinary acupunctur-ist, as well as providing extensive support in her husband’s work with the USEF. In fact, U.S. rid-ers and horses benefited from her expertise at the 2000, 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games, the 2002 World Equestrian Games in Spain and the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games (Ky.). “Wendy’s work complements our practice, and she’s been an unbelievable help when I accompany the [U.S. team] to competitions,” said Brendan, 58, who started the Oldwick, N.J., based practice in 1980 and is now one of North America’s foremost experts on diagnostic lame-ness. “I often get the accolades when she plays an integral role in the success of it all.” Wendy, 51, isn’t one to seek out the spotlight, but she set out to create a niche for herself behind the scenes in the FEI-level eventing community in the United States more than a decade ago. As Fédération Equestre Internation-ale drug rules evolved in the 1990s, veterinarians were beginning to look to integrate therapies with alternatives to medication. Seeing the writing on the wall, Wendy knew she needed to expand her schooling. “Brendan was the team vet, and we were hav-ing to come up with a whole different system of treating the horses,” said Wendy, who gained certification as a veterinary acupuncturist and a practitioner of a technique called veterinary Orthopedic Manipulation in 2000. At the Sydney Olympics that year, Wendy’s practices really caught on. Brendan noted that her work played a huge role in keeping the U.S. horses, who went on to earn team bronze and an individual gold, happy and sound. “At that time, I had never done acupuncture before, and she was the first one who really con-vinced me,” said David O’Connor, who scored the individual gold there in Sydney and who’s known and worked with Wendy for more than 15 years. “When I got on [my horses after she 20 AU G UST 2011 Th e ch ron icle c on n ecTion priSCillA K. miller phoToGrAphy phoTo
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