Growing up in a small town of Rockville, Indiana, Kelsey Tumey, has been involved in the AQHA industry from showing as a youth, amateur and now as a trainer.

Recently, Kelsey has been known more for her breeding program. Some of you may know the babies she has bred and raised, which have made huge strides in the industry, a couple of them being Its A Pretty Thing and Sweet Southern Susie.

In 2018, she decided to cross Pine Ventures, the dam of the two mares listed, to No Doubt Im Lazy, which results in her 2019 filly, NoDoubtImPrettySweet “Ariel.”

From day one, Tumey believed Ariel was special and destined to be a great one.

“From her great disposition to her effortless stride she has everything to follow in her siblings footsteps,” Tumey said.

On March 17, 2020, normal life for Ariel drastically changed due to her being unable to get up, stand or even walk without a struggle. She was immediately put on steroids, high dosage of antibiotics via IV catheter, lots of fluids, and DMSO/fluid bags. Blood work came back with through the roof white blood cell count, low calcium, and high liver enzyme count which is a typical reading for leukemia. Without a bone marrow test leukemia cannot be diagnosed, so the research went deeper.

With the help of a fellow equine friend from Australia, Tumey learned of a newer quarter horse genetic disease, IMM (Immune Mediated Myotisis), which seemed to explain everything Ariel was going through. A hair sample was immediately sent to the Animal Genetics Lab in Tallahassee Florida. All the results came back negative.

Meanwhile, a hoist and harness have been custom made for Ariel to help support her in getting up and standing. With the consistent steroids and antibiotics her white blood cell count has begun to come down and getting closer to normal range.

With a long road ahead, the hope of getting all her counts back to normal, getting her stronger with physical therapy, and doing all the care and treatment herself Kelsey’s vet bill for Ariel has become more than anyone can fathom during the times our Nation is facing right now. Neither Kelsey nor Ariel are willing to give up.

“With the cut back on income due to cancelled horse shows we hope to help raise enough money to help Ariel’s medical/vet expenses,” Tumey said. “I would like to thank The West Central Vet Clinic for all the help they have given me at this terrible time and Dr. Amber Fowler has also been tremendous in all her help with Ariel.”

You can follow Ariel’s progress on Facebook at www.facebook.com/NoDoubtImPrettySweet. Or donate to help with her vet bills at www.gofundme.com/NoDoubtImPrettySweet.