Leslie Morse’s Tip Top 962 whom she has ridden to two victories in Exquis World Dressage Masters Grand Prix Specials suffered colic at the Dressage Affaire CDI3* Friday and underwent surgery.

The surgery at a clinic in nearby Rancho Santa Fe was successful and Tip Top was reported doing well.

“He was standing in his stall at the horse show eating hay, and within seconds he threw himself down rolling. Thank God we were right there watching it,” said Morse.

Dr. Rodrigo Vazquez, of Equine Surgical Services in Rancho Santa Fe, California, operated on the 16-year-old Swedish Warmblood (Master—Hortensia). He found a pedunculated lipoma strangulation—a lump of fat that had wrapped around 20 feet of distal jejunum and part of the ileum. Basically, Tip Top had a lump of fat that had been there for years, and that fat ball strangled his bowel."

“We were very lucky that we were so close to a clinic. Dr. Rodrigo Vazquez has given Tip Top the best chances for a complete recovery,” said Morse. “It was a very frightening experience. To see Tip Top in such horrible pain was heart-breaking. Now he is comfortable, and we just have to wait and see. Every hour counts for the next five days. Tip Top is so strong; I know he will pull though this, and I will do everything that is possible to have this happen."

The 16-year-old Swedish Warmblood stallion has been competed successfully in Europe and the United States for three years, including the World Cup Final in Las Vegas in 2007. The pair won the Grand Prix Special at the Exquis World Dressage Masters CDI5* in Hickstead, England, last July and the Grand Prix Special at the WDM event in Palm Beach last month.

Leslie, 45, of Beverly Hills, California, had been scheduled to compete in this weekend’s Grand Prix and Grand Prix Freestyle as part of their campaign to qualify for the selection trials for the USA’s team for the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in Kentucky in September.

Watch Leslie and Tip Top in action at Hickstead and Pal Beach - see links on the right.