By Natalie Pompilio

 

 From the very beginning, there was something special about Coco Chanel 23.

And it wasn’t just that the filly was born with a 45-degree twist to her muzzle.

Foaled in May, the Standardbred newborn had a vibrant energy – a sweetness and a strength.

While her facial deviation – clinically known as Wry nose – made it difficult for her to nurse no matter how many times she tried, she kept trying.

With one nostril completely closed, she struggled to breathe but still found it within herself to nuzzle her dam, Coco, and to cheerfully greet the humans who’d assisted in her birth.

It was clear the filly could not live a comfortable life without major medical intervention.

And even if that went well, it was extremely unlikely that she would be able live up to her potential as an equine athlete.

But that didn’t matter to her owner, Matt Morrison of Morrison Racing.

Shortly after her arrival into the world, the veterinarian who assisted in Coco Chanel 23’s foaling contacted Morrison to alert him to the filly’s extreme deformity.

 

EVEN WITH possible surgical intervention, it was unclear if she’d ever live a comfortable life.

The foal’s future was in Morrison’s hands, and he knew what the general response was for this type of condition in such a young horse: “’They’d say, ‘The best thing is to put ‘em down,’” Morrison says.

But Morrison didn’t want to euthanize the filly.

His teenage daughter agreed, saying they had to at least give the foal a chance.

“There was a fight in her. She didn’t know she was abnormal. She just knew she needed to feed and was persistent,” he says. “Without that fighting spirit, she probably wouldn’t have survived that first weekend.”

Fittingly, the Morrisons gave the filly a different nickname: Wry Not.

“There wasn’t a lot of room for error,” Garcia-Lopez said. “There was a lot of measuring and careful cutting.”

Three hours would pass before the filly’s life-changing and life-saving operation was finally completed.

Post-surgery, Wry Not’s care team was delighted to find the filly “bright,” and able to nurse normally from Coco as well as nibble hay.

“A case like Wry Not’s is very much a team effort,” Ortved said. “There’s everyone from the NICU that admitted her and kept her alive, the anesthesiologist who handled this difficult case, the radiologist, the equine dentist, and many other specialists.When there’s an intense case like this, there’s a huge care team, including nurses, staff, residents, interns and vet students.”

While the filly will now have an otherwise happy and healthy life, her nose will never be perfectly straight.

Ortved says the team fondly jokes that because of Wry Not’s one-of-a-kind look, she’s “a foal only a mother could love.”

“And a surgeon,” Garcia-Lopez said.

“And me and my daughter,”said Morrison.