(PROGRESS PHOTOS AT THE END OF THIS ARTICLE.)

As you already know, Happy Trails serves every county humane society in Ohio regarding farm animal and equine rescue. The animal in question

Standing in his stall in Holmes County, Koda was greeted by Happy Trails representatives Rob Willard and Annette Fisher.

must be removed from it's current situation by a humane officer or other law enforcement officer such as a deputy sheriff.

In this case, the call came in from the Holmes County Humane Society, requesting our help in this horse situation. A beautiful brown and white paint gelding was recently purchased through the local auction house by a kind person with good intentions. After having the horse at his location for several weeks, he needed to go

Painfully thin, Koda bravely allowed us to load him into the trailer for the ride to Happy Trails.

out of town and left other people in charge of his horses and other farm animals, including his new horse that he purchased from the Mt. Hope auction. Sadly, the temporary caretakers not only did not properly care for his animals, but had chosen to ride this debilitated and crippled horse down the street during the new owners absence. This demonstration was met with anger and digust, resulting in multiple complaints to the Holmes County Humane Society. Happy Trails received a request from the Humane Society to place this horse in our rescue

Our vet declared, "There is not any more fat left on this horse to lose. He has zero fat."

program, and just by chance we actually had an open stall at that exact moment — infact, two other horses at the sanctuary were leaving that afternoon for their new home, and their stalls would be available shortly. The new horse came in on the same day that the other two horses headed toward their forever home.

Extremely weak, dehydrated, and a number one on

Here Koda enjoy's a leisurely day of grazing in the middle yard at Happy Trails. He is already looking much better after only a short time.

the veterinary body score chart (with one being completely emaciated and ten being an obese horse), this gentle creature could not even hold his head upright due to lack of muscles in his neck. Every bone was prominent in his spine, his hips, his shoulders, his withers and his neck. He had not one ounce of fat on him. Our field service vet, Dr. Holly Troche, immediately discovered that he had a heart murmur, probably a product of his debilitated condition. Hopefully with proper nutrition and the right care, the heart murmur would lesson in time.

The Paint would look at us with a sparkle in his eye. He might not have been able to hold his head all the way up, but his spirit was as strong as his flesh was weak. He had a will to live, a way about him that was kind

Koda's eyes are full of life and love, and he is an absolute sweetheart!

and loving, though he jad apparently been through quite a bit. He stole our hearts and broke them at the same time.

Being a Paint, he of course needed a Native American Indian name — no question about it. Sharon Barnard, Happy Trails President, decided to name him after his incredible personality. He is trusting, caring, kind, and above all else, FRIENDLY with absolutely everyone who came near him. He seemed ecstatic to be at Happy Trails! So Sharon chose the name Koda, a Dakota Sioux Indian name meaning "friend".

Koda now eats eight very small meals a day, and is gradually working his way to slightly larger amounts. His diet currently consists of Purina Equine Senior, vegetable oil, and also Vitamin E supplements. He has the freedom to wander about the yard at his leisure, and he has one of the large and roomy 12'x12' stalls in the horse barn as his very own where he snuggles down into some extra thick straw at night. Though he gets unlimited amounts of hay, he tends to prefer

Mary Bittence, Happy Trails Board Member, offers Koda some hay to munch on.

the short grass in the yard.

The geese, ducks and chickens are Koda's yard friends, as well as George, the pot belly pig who ambles slowly about the middle yard.

So one day short of two weeks at Happy Trails, we determined that Koda's condition was stable enough for a trip to the Equine Specialty Hospital in Aurora, where all the rescued horses get a thorough medical evaluation before being made available for adoption. On Wednesday, October 24th, Rob Willard, Happy Trails Board Member, took Koda to the Equine Specialty Hospital where Koda received a Coggins test and blood tests to help us learn as much as we possibly could about him.

And learn a lot we did. I am looking as I write this at the written diagnosis, spoken in true vet language. I'll try to simplify some of it. Certain things we already pretty much figured out. Koda has a screwed up front knee which is full of arthritis. OK, we can help him deal with that. He has a holosystolic heart murmur that is the loudest over the aortic valve on the left side of the thorax — and since there should normally be fat around the heart and there is none, we are hoping that with proper nutrition the heart murmur will subside or at least be minimalized. OK, so we know what to do there too - feed him correctly and help him to gain weight safely. His eye lenses had a slight ground glass appearance indicating mild cataracts. So he's not going to win any sharp shooter awards - we can live with that too.

However, the unexpected news thrown into the works is that his retinas have pigment changes suggestive of Equine Motor Neuron Disease (EMND)— something we have actually never encountered here at Happy Trails. To sum it up in every day terms, it's the horse version of human's Lou Gherrig's disease. It's a disease that can hit any horse at any time, and causes them to be unable to keep or gain weight. It can cause dramatic results in a short period of time.

There is a biopsy that can be done to determine if Koda does indeed have this debilitating disease. However, it involves surgically cutting into the dock above the tail and removing a small slice of muscle and $600. To 100%-verify this disease, it will change nothing — not the way we handle his rehabilitation, his care, or the way he is already loved by all the volunteers at Happy Trails.

We have been counseled to remain on course with his rehab and recovery program, to help him continue to gain weight. If the indicators that point to his disease are correct, Koda may gain 50-100 lbs., and then again, with a re-occurence of the disease may lose it all again. If the indicators are incorrect, he may continue to gain weight and recover as much as his body will allow him to for his age. We chose to play the "wait-and-see" game at the advice of our trusted veterinarians.

For now it has been determined that Koda is comfortable, happy, content, curious, friendly, and that his lack-of-body-fat can be offset by keeping him warm with winter blankets.

So, were back to what our first words were — watch his progress!

We will share his progress, his set-backs (hopefully there will be none!) and his road ahead that we will travel with him as he continues his journey of recovery.

Donations can be made toward Koda's care (grain, hay, straw, vitamin E and mineral supplements, medical bills, teeth floating, worming, hoof trimming, etc.), either through PayPal or by sending your kind donation to: Happy Trails Farm Animal Sanctuary, 5623 New Milford Rd., Ravenna, Ohio 44266.

On behalf of Koda, many thanks for believing in the animal rescue work at Happy Trails and for believing in him!

Week #2: We will start a series of photos to see how Koda is progressing with his recovery. Here is Koda on Friday, October 19th, one week and one day after his arrival at Happy Trails. He appears to have already started to gain weight!

Lookin' good at week number three!

Week #3:  Here he is, looking good (OK, well relatively speaking compared to what he looked like the first day!) on Thursday, Nov. 1, exactly three weeks after his arrival at Happy Trails!

Koda lookin' even better on Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2007.

  Week #5: This photo was taken on Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2007. Koda is lookin' good, feelin' great, and is now able to proudly hold his head up like a horse should be able to!  He also made me cry this week, when he was feeling SO good, that when I turned him out in the yard in the morning, he spun around and took off running and bucking — something he was not able to do in the past due to his weak and debilitated condition.