06/12/2026
A couple of days before tag-in, Emma Cooley called me with terrible news. Honey had broken his leg. It wasn’t just a simple break either, it was a compound fracture in the hind leg. Honey was Emma’s only show goat for this year. She took him to the vet and they patched him up and gave him a 50% chance. 50% y'all.
A couple of weeks later, I took off work and hauled Emma and Honey (in the back of my car) to the last tag in of the season. It was a long drive and he was still heavily bandaged, but he was in good spirits. We had no idea what was going on under the bandage or if he would ever make it to a show, but Emma wanted to try. A few days after that, Emma got a look at what was going on under the bandage. It was still pretty gnarly.
Flash forward to today. The bandage is gone, the hair is GROWING and Honey is doing so much better than 50%. We hope to get him to a show in the next week or two – depending on when the vet says it’s ok. Emma hasn’t started bracing him yet and to be honest, that may never happen, but what did happen was Emma never gave up on him. When she said "Honey broke his leg", I just knew the next words were going to be that he had to be put down, but instead she said couldn’t put him down without trying.
Whether in the show ring or in life, with every loss there is a lesson. Don’t ever give up. So proud of you Emma! If I’ve learned anything about Joint Custody in the last year, it is that he also never gives up and apparently he passes that on to his kids. We have plenty of show season left and I feel like Honey and Emma have already won the biggest prize.
