Dixie WRF is preparing for her Grand Prix debut in November. The rising dressage star’s rider, Melissa Taylor, thinks that may explain the hock sores that plague the 12-year-old KWPN mare. “I think she is practicing her tests at night,” says Melissa. “I think she is piaffing in her sleep. Either that or she has restless leg syndrome!”

A reserve rider for the 2007 Pan Am Games U.S. Team, Melissa is based at Legacy Farms in Wellington, Florida. She and her husband, Danish Olympian Lars Peterson, have oodles of horse sense and experience, yet none of it helped get rid of Dixie’s hock sores. “I was doing everything,” Melissa relays. “More bedding, big flakes, little flakes, shavings mixed with straw, hock shields, hock boots, compression wraps and laser treatments.” The latter accelerated healing but didn’t prevent recurrence. Boots and wraps offered good protection, but Dixie didn’t like wearing them and caused more problems trying to get them off.