Lucy You're Home

Lucy arrived at a sale barn. She'd been seized from a cruel home and delivered by the sheriff's department. This was a no-hesitation decision for us the moment we saw her, because last November we arrived too late to save a similarly starved quarter horse who passed away just hours after arriving to our sanctuary. We knew we would honor his memory and help another sweet soul in similar condition - and Lucy is our next mission.

We bought her and raced her to the hospital. See her photos from the transport. She was so frail. We knew she needed a careful balance of the correct food and medication to survive her re-feeding program. She was graded 1-2 out of 10 on the health scale at the hospital, had elevated numbers showing some kind of slight infection brewing, and she is blind in one eye. She is 20+ years old with rotten pointy teeth that make it painful to eat, and most importantly, she needs to gain 300 pounds! 300 pounds of bodyweight vanished through starvation with her previous owners. Her critical condition has her exhausted, droopy, and barely aware of her surroundings. The goal is to bring her through a strict refeeding program - so she has strength, awareness, light, health and energy again.

Lucy is the dearest of animals. She loves to be touched. She leans into you, and moves her body through your hands from neck to tail and back again. It is hard to leave her side at night once she's all tucked in her stall. She doesn’t want you to go and she makes it abundantly clear by walking with you each step. Laurie and Elise, our ranch managers, are always with her, checking on her, feeding her, brushing her... she's the topic of conversation always... Did she eat the whole bowl? Is she standing? How does she like the fan? Has she come outside yet?

We are pouring every bit of care into her, as she is very sick. After 30 days of quarantine, we woke to find bulges in her neck and thick mucus in her nose. We've sent her to the hospital twice to have her infection drained and cleaned, and she's on antibiotics as we work to improve her weight. She has been tested and has sinusitis.

She’s going to get better. We tell her every day, because we will not give up making sure we give her the life she always deserved. Lucy, you are home and your huge animal family is excited to have you!