I walked down the aisle of the barn in an oblivious manner...called out greetings to each of the horses familiar to me, smiled at the frantic "do you have anything for me??" nickers with which I am always greeted. I was naturally making a beeline for Tuff's stall at the back when a new face in the last stall caught my eye. "Hello honey, who are you? You're precious!" I called out to the fuzzy head eyeing me only a bit warily. Before I made it to her stall (I would find out soon her name was Reno and she came with one other mare), I stopped dead in my tracks in front of the stall next to her. Her head was down at first, greedily munching on the hay in her stall, but then she lifted it and my voice caught in my throat, coming out in the form of a stunned gasp. "oh baby" I whispered as I walked closer to her, reading the name "Halo" on her name placard. Halo was emaciated. Just as noticeable as that were the large, open, bloody wounds on her head above her eyes. She chewed her hay as though she were oblivious of the glaring gashes on her face, even as it drained and ran down the length of her muzzle. I reached my hand in slowly and petted her cheek, one of the only parts of her head that wasn't injured. My eyes filled with tears as I looked over her too thin body - her spine jutted out prominently, as did her hip bones and her ribs. "Oh, angel" was all I could say as I looked her over with tears. It was the first case of really blatant neglect that I had seen come into the rescue. Her pasture mate, Reno, was thin as well, but not in the condition in which Halo found herself. Cowboy and Amber filled me in later - Reno and Halo had been seized from their owner by animal control a few days earlier, in the form of 7 sheriffs. Our PHH vet, Dr. Dana Bridges, had been working on getting these girls away from him for months for the obvious neglect. She was finally successful and they were brought to our barn. The bloody gashes on Halo's face were the result of being kicked - her owner let them go untreated and they became severely infected. Our vet opened and drained them and she now gets daily warm face scrubbings with lots of antibiotics and soothing gels. And she is absolutely
wonderful
about it. She stands perfectly quiet and still. When I voiced my amazement at this to Gretchen last week, she responded "I think they just know. They know when someone is helping and taking care of them." And she did. You see Halo and you assume that from her physical condition, she must be terribly miserable. But the two times I've seen her now, she is far from miserable. She seems quite content, particularly when she's eating! She is truly an angel of a girl. Gretchen and the rescue are going to do everything possible to save her....but there is the unfortunate possibility that she could have many health complications - direct and indirect - from being so emaciated for who knows how long. When you see her, it's a wonder she can even support herself on those bony legs. But stand she does...and with each day, her wounds are a little less glaring and she will slowly regain the weight. Halo is such a perfect example of what motivates everyone involved in the rescue. You fight for her sake because she doesn't have the strength to do it herself, and she doesn't have the voice that we posess. As long as there are horses like Halo out there, PHH has a reason to exist. And I have a reason to drive 100 miles roundtrip every weekend to be with them and let them know they are loved.
