Zeus

Zeus is a Shire/Percheron cross, and he stands 18.1 hands high. Scott met the horse while the team was jousting in Wisconsin.

Originally from Northern California, the horse had previously jousted in the Midwest, in the service of another jousting company. Scott met the horse's owner, and also the joust trainer, and agreed to take Zeus on trial. One afternoon was all it took to see that the horse was ready to go back to work as a warhorse. He immediately took to armor, flags and lances again and, within a couple of hours, Scott was running passes against Becca and Paladin.

Not long after he arrived in New York, his right eye began running and it was clear that something was wrong. On January 12, 2009, the specialists at The Cornell School of Veterinarian Medicine in Ithaca, NY diagnosed Zeus with cancer. He had a tumor that had consumed this third eyelid and attacked the lower lid of his right eye. With the hope of saving Zeus and his eye, the specialists at Cornell completely removed his third eyelid and the inside of the lower lid. The surgery was followed by localized radiation therapy to the affected eye socket, to destroy the remaining carcinoma and retard future growth.

Zeus recovered well from the surgery, and is now perfectly healthy and happy. We don't know what the long term future will hold for Zeus, as this type of cancer can be very aggressive. For now he's back to his normal life of playing with his friends and traveling to shows. Zeus will continue to work with the rest of the troupe for as long as he happily can and we will continue to provide the best care we can for this valiant horse.

Zeus is Paragon Jousting's largest warhorse, weighing in at over 2000 lbs. He is currently touring as a joust horse for Becca, Marshall and Seth.