Eca

Sire: Xarope

Damsire: Nostradamus do Top

Eca is a Lusitano gelding born in 2009. He moved to Finland from Portugal as a five-year-old and came to my place in November 2016. In his first winter living outdoors in a herd in loose housing and barefoot, he still needed rugs to keep him warm. Now, he gets as woolly as my other horses and manages the winters fine. He loves being part of the bachelor gang and is always the one ready to play. When he came to me, he was very locked in his body and moved with short, quick strides. However, with hard work and patience, he has now started moving through his whole body with much bigger movements. In the summer of 2022, he got a really bad case of colic and had to have surgery. After six months of rehabilitation—with a lot of in-hand work in the beginning—he returned to full work and, in 2024, debuted at Grand Prix. Then, in the late summer of 2025, he had a freak accident in the field where he fell at full speed and fractured his fourth cervical vertebra. When it happened, the vets could not give a prognosis; we basically took it one day at a time and hoped that he would not develop neurological issues. Following four months of box rest and slow rehab with lots of in-hand work, we are now, 11 months after the accident, almost back to where he was before. This horse is a true unicorn miracle who has shown me how incredible the connection with a horse can be. With just a neck rope, I can enjoy riding all the GP movements, jumping some small jumps, or just enjoying a lovely forest ride. He has also proven to me how much horses enjoy working with humans. When he was finally allowed to start working after his long period of box rest, the pure happiness on his face after our session was unmistakable.