I sure want to thank everyone who’s been saving a little heart-room to keep up with the saga of Mikey’s rescue mission of the blind mare abandoned at a livestock yard. Once she’s had a chance to rest up, I’m sure Mikey will have her own stories to tell; can’t wait to read about them on her own blog, The Horseshoeing Housewife.
Photo: Mikey introduces herself to the blind mare before starting to trim her feet.
A few random thoughts to share, plus some extra photos:
* I have every bit as much admiration for Janet L., the livestock market employee who took the blind mare under her care, as I do for Mikey. Janet, who lives on the auction grounds, is the sort of person who shuns publicity. (She managed to duck or hide herself from most of the photos, and refused any credit at all for her help with the mare.) But she is every inch a horsewoman. She figured out how to get the blind mare to lead (which she wouldn’t do on auction day); cleaned and treated her eyes every day; and knew how to talk her right into Mikey’s trailer. She also let slip that this wasn’t the first unsold auction horse that she’s assisted. For someone who lives and works at what’s essentially a meat market, she retains her feelings for horses.
Photo: With the blind mare safely loaded, Mikey and I show off her aptly named FEARLESS rescue rig.
* This life-episode has taught me that you don’t always have to have the WHOLE answer in order to get a problem solved. Sometimes, little pieces of answers, coming from multiple sources, can add up to a good ending. Just the smallest act can be the one that makes the difference.
Photo: No longer needed: The auction tag from one very lucky horse.
* As small acts go, I loved the one where Janet, upon release of the mare to Mikey (and ultimately to Shiloh Horse Rescue), finally got to remove the “797” auction tag from the top of her tail. I know that had to have meant something to her. (The tag had to remain as long as the mare was in the auction market’s custody, for purposes of tracking and identification.) Seems like a lucky set of numbers, in more ways than one!
