UGA vet school treated horse now in Rose Parade
BURBANK, Calif. - It's not just the Georgia Bulldogs who had to overcome a major setback to get to this year's Rose Bowl--so did a horse that will lead one of the three Wells Fargo stagecoaches featured in Monday's parade.
David Helmuth of Milledgeville is a contracted stagecoach driver for the banking company. Rusty, one of Helmuth's horses, suffered a broken leg while in Savannah for the 2014 St. Patrick's Day Parade.
"Rusty was one of my main lead horses," explained Helmuth. "That was like taking the--almost like a quarterback out."
So, they turned to the University of Georgia's College of Veterinary Medicine to help get Rusty back on his feet.
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The people at the UGA took care of him like none other and it was such a bond between horse and man and student," Helmuth recalled.
A year later, Helmuth said Rusty was back to full strength.
Wells Fargo and their iconic stagecoaches have been a part of the Tournament of Roses Parade for decades, but this year, they stepped things up a notch. For the first time ever, Rusty and his fellow horses will be featured in teams of six.
"Six is our corporate symbol and it really represents a teamwork and a collaboration and that's what we want to show," said Lovester Law, marketing manager for Wells Fargo's stagecoach appearance program. "That's who we are. That's embedded in our corporate culture."
This will be Helmuth's ninth year driving a stagecoach in the Rose Parade, but he said the experience will be even better now that Georgia is in the game.
"Rusty is a Bulldog," Helmuth laughed.