Through the Eyes of Leroy

When their new horse started displaying strange behavior, owners Mike and Kris Stevens made it their mission to get to the bottom of the mystery. Now, the sorrel gelding rides in style with a pair of goggles that allow him to see the world without pain.

- DEVIN CONLEY

There’s a scene in the famous movie Seabiscuit where trainer Tom Smith is tending to an injured horse, and says, “You don’t throw away a whole life, just because he’s banged up a little.” When Looking Rey, aka ‘Leroy,’ entered the lives of Mike and Kris Stevens they didn’t know what lay in store. As Leroy’s journey started to unfold, his owners and team embodied the meaning of that quote, doing everything in their power to give Leroy what he needed, and let the horse see through a lens of his own. Literally.

Welcome Home

Standing 15.1 hands, Leroy is a stout, handsome horse. The 9-year-old Quarter Horse gelding was purchased by Mike and Kris as a late 5-year-old. The Stevens have been in the sport of cutting for decades and know a talented horse when they see one. Leroy was no exception.

The gelding was already trained and competing, and when he joined Mike and Kris at their home, they knew he would need time to settle in. However, Mike notes that he was particularly head shy, tended to pull back at odd times, and was quite reactive to standing in water and wet shiny surfaces. “In our experience, a new arrival would get over this sort of thing in a couple of weeks,” shares Mike Stevens. “But not Leroy.”

As Leroy continued to display odd or reactive behavior, the Stevens remained patient, expecting he would eventually settle in.

At the First Sign of Trouble