Meet Molly. She’s a gray speckled pony who was abandoned by her owners when Katrina hit southern Louisiana, USA. 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 diff- erent 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, her mane 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, 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.” “She’s not back to normal,” Barca concluded, “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 left side photo shows the ground surface that she stands on, which a smiley face has embossed in it. Wherever Molly goes, she leaves a smiley hoof print behind!
Thank you for posting this story. It inspires me as the owner of a three legged Boer Goat. I that when an animal is injured to this degree they know instinctively that we humans are here to help them. I believe when and animal is injured like this they came to teach those involved great lesson of compassion. Our goat’s leg was stepped on and mashed by the horse in the pasture while her Mother was giving birth to her twin Sister. We provided her with Reiki and Rapid Eye Technology daily for several weeks so that her body would heal and move past the energy of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from the shock of her trauma. She is doing very well and we currently are working on a design for her prosthetic leg. She loves running in the pasture with her sister and the rest of our goats.
thank you for this inspiring story. i am going to start a therapeutic riding program and wanted to find stories of horses with disabilities for the children to have hope thank you so much
You are welcome! When I ready this, I had to post in my blog and share with others. As an animal lover, I can only hope that there are more people like you out there to help these precious animals. Thank you for making a post
[...] my blog stats I see that the most popular month was May, 2008; a lot of people read the post about Molly the 3 legged horse ; but what else gives us inspiration to keep going in life? I say the animals we love are a great [...]
This story is not accurate, I wish people would get the facts right before putting something like this out there. You can find the correct version here http://www.wildhorserescue.org/molly.htm
A horse cannot walk with only 3 legs, that is why the cast made for her had a stump on it so she could lean on it while healing. Also, the leg never got infected nor did the dog gnaw on her, he attack out of fear and frustration.
I see now the link is given already to the correct version of the story, why even post this story when it is incorrect?
Hi Karla,
Sometimes blog posts are not 100% percent accurate, but at least I had a link to the correct story and then there are people like you that can leave valuable comment about the post. The bottom line is that it’s a great story and the horse survived.
WOW What an amazing story! I smiled with tears in my eyes! I love the will power Molly has to survive!
She truly inspires me!
And hats off to the vets to do this type of procedure! It proves that miracles can happen!
I agree with webbyzard! This is a great story. Actually I found it so interesting that I even watched a video on youtube where they show Molly walking on 3 legs! Overall this is a very inspirational story since most horses would not cooperate and would be too large to try a procedure on this. I highly recommend going to youtube and watching the video on her! It really is amazing to see the video clips they took throughout the Molly’s procedure and recovery! WOW
Hi Lacey – I have to check out Molly’s video! Thanks for the comment.