Taylor Murphy at Lone Star Ranch and Rescue in Texas witnessed a dramatic turnaround of fortunes for one resident this year. Read on for this amazing tale of triumph over adversity…
“When we rescued Persephone (Perci), she was near death. The five-year old former racehorse’s hip bones were literally pushing through the skin. She had severe rain rot that rendered her nearly hairless, pressure sores all over her body, spear grass ulcers in her mouth, an old, untreated eye injury, and a heart murmur among other small injuries and puncture wounds.
(Image credit: creditUnknown)
“All of this presented a daunting challenge. She had been neglected for a long time and had got to such a poor state that our vet did not know how she was still able to walk. Her prognosis was not great.
“But Perci took it all in her stride: the vet check, treatment of her wounds, transport to our facility at Lone Star Ranch and Rescue in Texas, and was exceedingly happy to get her first meal with us.
“Throughout the next few months, Perci gained weight steadily and at 14 weeks into her rehabilitation, she was at a healthy weight and a far cry from the emaciated creature we had first brought home.
“We were able to begin a light exercise regime and retraining programme to slowly get her back into shape at the 20-week mark. She impressed us, and our vet, every step of the way with her progress and attitude. Perci had made a remarkable recovery, and at 24 weeks she was ready to be adopted.
“We had several interested parties, but the right family was found in April 2017 and Perci moved to their beautiful 600-acre property to live out her life freely and among other horses. We get regular updates and she is thriving.”
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A graduate from Durham University, Madeleine joined H&H in 2011 and became Features Editor — producing content across the magazine and website, including the popular inside back cover article ‘The horse that made me’ and the weekly ‘The best of my fun…’ interview. She has written on topics as diverse as hay making and headcams, to hot totty in the horse world and circus horses. Madeleine now works as a freelance feature writer for Country Life, The Telegraph, Horse & Hound, cntraveller.com, The Spectator and The Field, as well as writing obituaries for The Times.
