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[Editorial] [Words from the Staff] [Featured
Breed]
[Featured
Rider]
[Featured
Equine]
[Featured
Equine Hazard]
[Book
Review]
[Winter
Riding]
[Summer
Camp Preparations]
[Glossary]
["Ask
The Trainer"]
["The
Help Desk"]
[Poetry]
[Contests]
[Writing
for the E-Zine]
[Submission Tips & Guidelines]
Please
Visit:
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The chestnut Morgan filly struggled feebly as volunteers tried to coax her into a waiting stock trailer alongside her gaunt mother. The mare would have nickered encouragement to the three-month-old foal if she'd had more than just the strength necessary to climb into the trailer compartment. The filly collapsed from exhaustion, her tiny emaciated body landing softly at the feet of the volunteers. The knew they had to get her, her mother, and the fifteen other surviving horses to the rehabilitation facility as soon as possible or they would all die, so they gently hoisted the weakened filly and placed her at the feet of her mother in the trailer compartment. 
Waiting at the rehabilitation center was Melanie Lofton, staff veterinarian and specialist in the care of horses. During her career with the Center, she cared for many of the abused and neglected animals confiscated from their owners. The next incoming group of horses was from a Morgan breeding operation. The owner, recently taken ill, had been unable to look after his more than twenty horses over the course of the winter. Unfortunately, six animals were long dead before passing motorists noticed the skeletal survivors out in the frozen pastures. Melanie was saddened at the horses' conditions when they arrived. Many were near death and would have to be put down. Although she regularly saw such atrocities, she never got used to them. The mares with nursing foals were in the worst shape. Their bodies were eating themselves away to provide milk for their young. Melanie worked feverishly on the animals, trying to stabilize their conditions so they would not die before they could be helped, but over the course of a month almost half perished due to malnutrition and disease, including the chestnut filly's dam. Too young to be on her own, the foal was "adopted" by Melanie, who cared for her at her home until she was eight months old. After returning "Lucky" to the Center for placement in a good home, Melanie resumed her work with the animals full-time.
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