Horse tries to the beats odds

Horse tries beats odds

Skin and bones and in need of urgent veterinary care

Three-year-old paint quarter horse Cookie, Saturday, February  16, 2013, who was just skin and bones when she arrived at Paws Ranch Equine Rescue in Bostic, NC. Trauma from a horse halter that had been to tight caused her jaws to become deformed crowding her teeth with possible nerve damage that made it difficult for her to eat and affecting her eyes. Cookie will need surgical procedures at NC State University and other efforts to repair crowded teeth and other medical issues with her jaws, she has started putting on weight and is full of energy.

Bostic, NC -- The horse was skin and bones. A halter was becoming enmeshed into an open wound on her jaw. And "Cookie was smaller than horses less than half her age.

Just a three weeks later, though, her volunteer team report that Cookie is full of spunk. She'll approach strangers to nuzzle their hands and can't wait to stretch her neck and give a hug. Her eyes have that spark back unlike that forlorn desperate look when she arrived at PRERI.

"She is gaining weight and should be ready to have the first of many surgical procedures," said Dr. Rachael Butterworth-Tice, of Rutherford Large Animal Mobile Services, who performed the extraction of a fractured tooth from the roof of the fillies mouth. "She deserves the of care."

Delores Hanser, Executive Director of Paws Ranch Equine Rescue in Bostic, first met Cookie when she was barely able to stand, unable to eat, extremely underweight and locked in a car garage teetering on the brink of death.

"It was the worst combination — starvation and trauma — that one of many we have seen," Hanser said. "Her body was trying go through so many things."

Amazing, Hanser and her dedicated volunteers, the little paint horse's spirit was rekindled.

"She would come by us, and almost want to snuggle in our laps," recalled Joseph Byrd, who volunteers at Paws Ranch Equine Rescue. "She couldn't get close enough to us."

An unknown, trauma had caused the horse's teeth to be crowded and the jaw deformed . It could have been intentional, it could have been the owner kept the halter on to tight as Cookie was growing injuring her sinus cavity and inflicted pain and crowded teeth or from being startled and smashing into something.

Unable to eat normally, Cookie had withered to less than 300 pounds, half of her current weight.

"One more week, and she would have been dead," said Hanser, not wanting to name the owner, where she found Cookie. It's because they surrendered the horse and we need to still work with owner, and Spartanburg Animal Control because of the other animals on the property she explained.

Cookie's condition led Hanser to spur a team of volunteers, donors and veterinary specialists. Together — unified on the social media website Facebook and Twitter — they pressed on. First, Cookie was evaluated and started on nutrition plan and antibiotics for infection. She had a minor surgery to remove fractured teeth and float teeth to make her comfortable on March 4th $1,500,  to remove tooth fragments in her jaw.

But the infection did not clear up.

Cookie will be referred to North Carolina State University Veterinary Department for assessment and surgical treatment when her condition becomes more stable. The veterinary costs will be close to $6000.00 for her corrective surgery to repair the damage she received from her owner.

With a three-dimensional computerized tomographic scan, veterinarians will be able to see infected areas of  Cookie's skull, sinuses and jaw. The infection of the fractured teeth was literally causing holes in her jaw to her sinus causing infection to Cookie's Jaw, Hanser said.

For Hanser, Cookie's story is one of a number of equine crossing their path that she has had a hand in since she and her husband sold their California home in 2006 and moved to North Carolina to be with family.  They started the rescue in 2007 and became a nonprofit 501 (c)(3) March 2010.

But few have generated the support of cyberspace as Cookie's Plight have. "Cookie is a fighter," Hanser said.

PRERI volunteers will update the horse rescue's Facebook and Twitter page throughout Cookie's ordeal and especially during her upcoming surgeries. Hundreds are hanging on the hour-by-hour updates, she said. And anytime Cookie needs something else — her veterinary bills will top over  $6,000 — Facebook and other cyber friends came through in times of need with their compassionate donations to help our horses in need, Hanser said.

"This is what we like to do helping the horses", she said.

Dr. Butterworth-Tice DVM said she often sees horses with wounds near the jaw, but usually not as complex as this. "We had to go pull tooth fragments from her jaw and palate to get give her comfort while a surgical plan will be devised for her recovery," she said.

Butterworth and her team were able to remove the infected tooth fragments. But they found a particularly aggressive form of bacteria. Next up, treating the horse with antibiotics  to kill any remaining bacteria. Cookie was giving drug that makes the horse feel like they've had a margarita so it's easier for them to stand the surgical procedure, Butterworth said".

"We were absolutely thrilled to have her in," she said. "Horses without a will to live and big heart like hers don't make it through what she did — she just loves being the center of attention.

"She was just a sweet Little Girl."

Hanser said she is grateful she has supporters and volunteers and professionals willing to support her life's passion that started with her first horse at 14 years old: "You can look into their eyes and see their soul. They are such amazing creatures. They could kill you. But they are gentle."

Donations for Cookie can be made at  http://pawsranch.org/donate/donatemedicalcare.html or mail donation to PRERI   P.O. Box 338 Bostic, NC 28018  Cookie's Care.