Upcoming May Meeting - Mark Your Calendars!

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2nd Annual Horse Health Day

On April 11th we held our second annual horse health day. Our 4-H club members worked alongside and under the direction of Drs. Billy Brainerd and Stuart McCall drawing blood for Coggins tests, vaccinating and inoculating their horses as well performing top to bottom examinations. Their love of horses and their responsibility to their health and welfare are the highest precepts of 4-H leadership and we are very proud of them. Below are photos of our great 4-H kids in action.

Special thanks to Mr. Mark and Cade Hermeling and Ms. Nancy De Santis for being our VET TECHS extraordinaire for this clinic.

Up Coming Bull Riding Clinic - June 5th & 6th

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Attention Out of Towners...

Hi All,
We just wanted to let any of our 4-H members attending this clinic from outside of the Santa Fe area that the La Quinta Inn 4298 Cerrillos Road ( Intersection of Cerrillos and Rodeo Roads) will serve as our host hotel this year. Rates for our members are only $59.00 per night. The rooms are really nice and they have a free breakfast with waffles and all in the morning. There is an Applebees and a local favorite called the Flying Tortilla just next door that serves a great dinner special. Please contact them early though at 505 471 1142. The name they are holding the rooms under is Santa Fe County 4-H. The manager there is Mr. Jeffrey Adkins.

Ya gotta meet Molly...

Meet Molly. She's a grey speckled pony who was abandoned by her owners when Hurricane Katrina hit southern Louisiana . She spent weeks on her own before finally being rescued and taken to a farm where abandoned animals were stockpiled..
while there, she was attacked by a pit bull terrier and almost died. Her gnawed right front leg became infected, and her vet went to LSU for help, but LSU was overwhelmed, and this pony was a welfare case. You know how that goes.

But after surgeon Rustin Moore met Molly, he changed his mind. He saw how the pony was careful to lie down on different sides so she didn't seem to get sores, and how she allowed people to handle her. She protected her injured leg. She
constantly shifted her weight and didn't overload her good leg. She was a smart pony with a serious survival ethic.

Moore agreed to remove her leg below the knee, and a temporary artificial limb was built. Molly walked out of the clinic and her story really begins there.

'This was the right horse and the right owner,' Moore insists. Molly happened to be a
one-in-a-million patient.  She's tough as nails, but sweet, and she was willing to cope with pain. She made it obvious she understood that she was in trouble. The other important factor, according to Moore , is having a truly committed and compliant owner who is dedicated to providing the daily care required over the lifetime of the horse.

Molly's story turns into a parable for life in Post-Katrina Louisiana ....
The little pony gained weight, and her mane finally felt a comb.  A human prosthesis designer built her a leg.

The prosthetic has given Molly a whole new life, Allison Barca DVM, Molly's regular vet, reports.

And she asks for it. She will put her little limb out, and come to you and let you know that she wants you to put it on. Sometimes she wants you to take it off too. And sometimes, Molly gets away from Barca. 'It can be pretty bad when you can't catch a three-legged horse,' she laughs.

Most important of all, Molly has a job now. Kay, the rescue farm owner, started taking Molly to shelters, hospitals, nursing homes, and rehabilitation centers. Anywhere she thought that people needed hope. Wherever Molly went, she showed people
her pluck. She inspired people, and she had a good time doing it.

'It's obvious to me that Molly had a bigger role to play in life, Moore said. She survived the hurricane, she survived a horrible injury, and now she is giving hope to others.'

Barca concluded, 'She's not back to normal, but she's going to be better...To me, she could be a symbol for New Orleans itself.'



This is Molly's most recent prosthesis. The bottom photo shows the ground surface that she stands on, which has a smiley face embossed in it.. Wherever Molly goes, she leaves a smiley hoof print behind. 



God's creatures often reflect the character we aspire to.