Heart check at the horse trials: How an ECG during a cross country gallop kept Cruz in the game
New university findings highlight potential implications for equine, animal health, and veterinary practice.
What happened next was something Berdell hadn't anticipated: the team didn't just examine Cruz in the hospital.
Jennifer Berdell had a problem most eventers would recognize: A horse she loved, a season she'd planned for, and a question she couldn't answer on her own.
Moonlight Crush, known at home as Cruz, is a 19-year-old Belgian warmblood gelding who previously competed at the four-star level in eventing, and was still working hard in the novice division under Berdell's lease.
A murmur had turned up incidentally earlier in the year during a routine exam, and it was still present when Cruz received his spring vaccinations.
Woodside Equine Clinic in Ashland, Virginia, referred Cruz to the Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center in Leesburg, Virginia — one of three animal healthcare facilities and teaching hospitals of the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine — for a full cardiac evaluation.
They followed her to the showground.
Cruz arrived at the Equine Medical Center on April 15, bright and alert, and moving without lameness.
His vital signs were normal; he was in great body condition, well-muscled, with a smooth coat appropriate for the season.
The cardiac examination found two murmurs: a grade 3/6 holosystolic and a grade 3/6 diastolic, both audible from either side of his chest and loudest on the left.
Krista Estell , clinical associate professor of equine medicine, led the evaluation with medicine resident Patrick McFadden assisting.
The echocardiogram revealed moderate aortic regurgitation, which is a common age-related finding in horses, along with mild mitral and tricuspid regurgitation.
The report adds to ongoing university-led research relevant to veterinary medicine, animal health, and clinical decision-making.
Source university website: Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine
https://news.vt.edu/articles/2026/06/vetmed-emc-success-story-cruz.html
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