| Misty - A Criminal Case | ||
Misty is one of our worse cases. I can't tell you how many people have said I should put her down and I always ask them the same thing. Why? They always say she's in pain — she can barely walk around. I ask them, "Really? How can you tell she's in pain?" Usually when someone wants to put a horse down, its not really for the horses benefit, its for the peoples benefit. Because the horse will need special attention, or maybe they don't know another way to get rid of the horse and they don't want them seen in their stables. Misty is in bad shape, but her eyes are clear and she eats well, both important things to look for. Let's get to know Misty. Where do I start? I guess from the beginning... |
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Owner #1 was transporting her, driving drunk around a tight turn and flipped the horse trailer. A police officer was just getting ready to pull him over. Once the trailer flipped and he came to a stop he jumped out and ran around to help get the horse out of the trailer. No easy task because shes laying on her side, but he did it, by some miracle. The officer saw he had it under control and proceeded to run a make on the guy. He watched him walk the horse toward the truck. When the guy reaches in the back of the pickup and grabs a chain and starts beating the horse with the chain — because it was the horses fault he flipped the trailer — not because he was drunk. Criminal? The police officer thought so. |
Somehow Misty made it threw all that. Sure, her legs are weak. Understandably, since a chain was wrapped around them in a fit of rage. He also knocked out one of her eyes — or at least knocked it back in her skull. It gets worse... She was then given to Owner #2. He kept her doped up on Bute every day and bred her twice to have some colts to sell. As if she didn't have enough problems already being crippled up, doped up and scared up, this guy, must have NEVER trimmed her feet. |
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| When we finally got Misty, her front feet stuck straight out forward 24" from her hair line, kind of like a Pinocchio nose sticking straight out on each foot! That is Criminal! Of course, she was very, very thin. We had several farriers take a look at her, but no one wanted to take the risk of hurting her even more. Then a friend, Brian, came by to look and told us what they do with wild mustangs with a similar problem. I didn't do what he suggested, but it gave me an idea that she might not have feeling in the longer part of the hoof. So, with a brand new hacksaw, every two weeks we would gently cut off a 3 inch long piece of hoof until we got within 3-4 inches of the leg. Now we have some friends of the rescue, Dan and Jodi, who are working with Misty's feet in hopes of getting her back down to a normal foot. It may take another year but they feel she may walk much better. | ||
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| Misty will probably never be a riding horse, but we're trying to make her quality of life better. She's slowly gaining weight — she gains it and she looses it — but she's making steady progress. Her eye shifted about a month or so ago, so now its not all pink and you can see part of the eye. She can at least see partially on that side, now. | ||
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Misty is a sweetheart of a horse — just one of the horses that will probably be here for life. She was taken off Bute the day she came to the rescue and has not had to have any since.
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