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SUMMARY:Woman's Best Friend
DESCRIPTION:Vanderbilt research fellow Annie Blobaum has spent the last 18 years – nearly two-thirds of her life – caring for a mixed-breed horse named Tex that she met at the age of 12.\nTex\, a horse who had been through seven different owners in his 11 years and who at one point had been abused\, was the ultimate challenge.\n“Tex did not like people anymore\,” Blobaum said. “He wouldn’t let you into the stall to feed him\; nobody could brush him and get him cleaned up\, let alone ride him.\n“For whatever reason – I don’t know if Tex wasn’t feeling well that day\, or if it was just meant to be – I was the only student who didn’t get thrown\,” Blobaum said. She was assigned to work with Tex on a regular basis\, and he gradually permitted her to feed and groom him.\nSome eight months later\, Tex’s owner made arrangements to sell him.  At $500\, Tex would cost Blobaum “my life savings at the time.” Tex also would cost $100 each month in boarding fees – a fact Blobaum kept from her parents until the purchase was final – which she covered by babysitting and saving every spare penny\, as well as through I-O-Us to her parents\, paid back in full when she got her first job. “I learned financial responsibility very early on\,” she said.\nOver the years\, Blobaum has devoted a significant portion of her income to Tex’s care. “In college when I would go through some financial crisis and couldn’t afford my rent\, the horse came first. My parents could not understand why I would take a third job when I was already working two\, all to keep the horse.\n“Only recently have they come to realize just how long I’ve had him and what that means\:  Tex has been around longer than some of my relatives and friends.  He’s outlasted boyfriends and relationships.\nBlobaum took Tex with her to Ann Arbor\, Mich.\, when she pursued her Ph.D. When she began searching for a professional position\, she originally thought she could not be limited to where Tex could go. Blobaum interviewed in California\, Texas\, Pennsylvania and Tennessee\, knowing the climate of the former two would be too drastically different for Tex\, as an older horse\, to adapt.\n“My priority list before I interviewed was different than after I interviewed\,” she said. “Having made the trips to Texas and California\, I realized moving to either place would not be complete without Tex in my life.”\nBlobaum is now a research fellow in the lab of biochemistry professor Larry Marnett\, where she designs novel anti-inflammatory drugs\, such as cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitors. “It’s just amazing work\,” she said. “Research is my way of contributing to a field that I’ve always wanted to be involved in – medicine.\n“It turned out that Vanderbilt was such a good fit for me in terms of the research I wanted to do\, and on top of that it reminded me of West Virginia\, of home\, and I knew Tex would love it.”\nBlobaum says she is so willing to accommodate Tex’s needs in part because of something he provides for her.\n“Everywhere I go\, Tex is a social outlet\,” she said. “Horse people are pretty phenomenal\, I think.” Blobaum considers her “horse” friends in each place she’s lived to be among her very best.\nTex currently resides at the Jeff King Stables in Arrington\, Tenn.\, south of Nashville\, where Blobaum spends most Saturdays and Sundays trail riding with him and other friends.  “I know that he looks forward to it. When he hears my car drive up\, he’ll come running from the field.”   \nTo this day\, Blobaum is the only person that Tex will allow to ride him\, though she’s encouraged other riders over the years to try. At 30\, he is pushing the limit of the average horse’s life expectancy\, though he behaves like a mere colt.\n“Last weekend\, I was on my 30-year-old horse next to 5-year-old horses that should have been acting up\, but Tex was the one all fired up and prancing and acting juvenile\,” Blobaum said.\nBlobaum describes her relationship with Tex as “reciprocal. … I need him as much as he needs me.”\n“I have always been on the move\, very independent\, and Tex has been the constant in my life. He’s always been there.”\nFor now\, their journey isn’t over. “The vets have basically told me that as long as he wants to go\, keep riding him\,” Blobaum said. “That’s what I plan to do.” \nContact\: Kara Furlong\, (615)343-3787\nkara.furlong@vanderbilt.edu [mailto\:kara.furlong@vanderbilt.edu]
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CREATED;TZID=US-Central:20070928T150850
LAST-MODIFIED;TZID=US-Central:20071004T095701
DTSTART;TZID=US-Central:20070928T150500
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