Yet another call came in to Happy Trails from an Amish farm in Holmes County. A young, blind Standardbred needed to retire from his life as a buggy horse. It was getting harder and harder to keep him straight when trotting down the road, and his family replaced him with a new horse. Could Happy Trails take him into our Amish Horse Retirement Program?

The sanctuary has been overwhelmed with calls. What could we do to help this hard-working buggy horse? I explained our situation, and politely asked what would become of their buggy horse if we did not intervene on his behalf. A very calm and matter-of-fact voice told me that he would be shot and buried on the property within the week.

Working with extremely limited time and virtually no additional funds or resources, we hoped and prayed for a miracle for him — a miracle that would happen within the week. And, as always here at Happy Trails, a miracle came through just in time — a brand new foster home emerged in Holmes County, willing to take in this precious boy temporarily until we could make other arrangements.

I have to stop and back up for a minute....miracles involving the rescued animals and the people who's lives they touch happen so frequently any more for Happy Trails, that we truly need to stop and acknowledge them sometimes. It's almost as though they become common place, and we really have come to rely on them and expect them to come through for us at just the right time. We are very grateful for the miracles that come our way, and

Still thin from running daily as a buggy horse and lack of proper nutrition, Shadow already gained a great deal of weight while in foster care with Connie Miller.

the chain of events that happened in order to give this wonderful horse his freedom and a new lease on life happend in a time frame that was truly nothing short of a typical Happy Trails miracle.

Enter Connie Miller, animal-lover, horse owner, and all-around kind and compassionate person, who agreed to bring the blind buggy horse to her home, where she would care for him and spoil him rotton until we could find a place for him to go permanently. We were thrilled for him! He couldn't have asked for a more beautiful home or for a more attentive foster mom! Arrangements were made for us to meet at the Amish farm in Fredericksburg, and Connie even agreed to haul the horse for us.

It just so happened that during that week, Cari Ludrowksi, a die-hard Happy Trails volunteer, and myself, were scheduled to be in Holmes County to give out winter horse blankets to families who obviously needed blankets for their horses (horses who traveled many miles to stand tied patiently at a hitching post in the bitter cold). A sweaty horse's mucles can "tie up" or "knot up" easily if his hot, tired muscles cool too quickly or if his temperature drops too suddently. This can be a very painful condition for the horse. Happy Trails collects horse blankets all year and then distributes them for free during the winter months to the Amish communities. So on Wednesday, Nov. 12th, Cari and I scheduled a stop that day at the home of the blind Standardbred, and we

"Don't yell — we're blind, not deaf" was painted on the fence in the blind-horse area, adding some light-hearted humour to the atmosphere of HorseNet.

met Connie for the first time when she pulled in the short driveway with her horse trailer.

Soon Mrs. Weaver came out to greet us, and filled out the paperwork for our Amish Horse Retirement Program. We were directed to go find the blind horse in the barn. The new relacement horse was out in the pasture by himself.

I walked around the corner of the barn to find the horse sticking his head eagerly out of his stall. I opened up the stall door, to see an extremely thin, malnourished horse standing on a concrete floor, piles of manure climbing up around his ankles. "You might want to give him a drink before you take him," we were told. I looked around,

The beautiful, rolling hills of Mt. Airy, Maryland, are home to nearly 100 horses at two different locations of HorseNet.

and much to my amazement, there was no water bucket in his stall. In order to get a drink, the horse needed to be led out into the aisle to a water trough. He trusted me completely as I led him out of his stall, down the aisle, and over to the water trough. He drank a long, long drink. Right then my heart broke in two for him.

He loaded into the trailer with no fuss nor muss, but did sadly call out a farewell whinny to the new buggy horse.

Cari and I followed Connie to her home where three absolutely healthy, gorgeous Paint horses greeted us with an assortment of curious nickers and

Ellen Williams, HorseNet Horse Rescue director, and Rob Willard, Happy Trails Board Member, compare horse resue notes in front of one of the spacious barns at HorseNet.

squeals. "We'll put him in the end stall." I "showed" him all the walls, and where the water bucket was. He dove happily into the giant pile of hay in the corner.

Connie was more than happy to help and to serve as a foster home, and the Standardbred was welcome to stay there until we could find a safe place to take him in permanently. However, with the economy the way it is and the amount of rescues that were already overflowing with abused and abandoned horses, what were our chances of finding a sanctuary with an opening available for a horse, let alone a blind horse? Connie instantly fell in love with the big guy and named him Shadow, a name which he would now have for the rest of his life.

As we put the word out about Shadow and his

"I'm keeping an eye on you," the resident donkey seemed to be saying.

predicament (or, rather our predicament), we talked to many, many polite, overworked and overburdoned folks in horse rescue. "We're full," was always the reply. "Good luck with that!"

Well, it ends up that we didn't need luck. We were in need of yet another a full-blown miracle. Then came the unexpected message on the answering machine from a HorseNet Horse Rescue Volunteer. "We have an opening for a blind horse — we can take him. Call us back!"  My heart just about jumped out of my chest...seriously?  Someone had an opening for a blind horse?

After a series of emails and phone calls, arrangements were made, and both organizations checked each other out. It's sometimes a challenge when working in animal rescue, to make sure that the rescue group (especially if it's one that's out of state) that you're working with is a true, legitimate organization, and has good facilities and good people running it. HorseNet Horse Rescue had it all. We were grateful and relieved!

Rob Willard, Happy Trails Board Member, offered to haul Shadow to his new home in beautiful Mt. Airy, Maryland — a home that was ready to welcome their newest family member just in time for Christmas. Jennifer Sanderson, 

This beautiful Belgian mare named Bonita is another resident of the blind-horse section of the sanctuary.

a personal friend and humane officer, was kind enough to go along on the trip too! So Shadow had his entourage, his trailer, and his new home all ready for him. What could possibly make the situation even better? 

"Rosie needs a companion,"  said Ellen Williams, director of HorseNet. Rosie is an older, blind mare who hangs out mostly by herself. She would welcome a boyfriend! We made sure to tell Shadow that he would have a job waiting for him, and that his job would be to make friends with Rosie. He assured us that he was up for the challenge!

On Saturday, December 13th, Rob went to Connie's house and brought Shadow back to Happy Trails for the night, which was going to cut at least an hour and a half off the long trip on Sunday. Connie had grown quite attached to her Shadow, and though she was happy that he found a sanctuary so quickly (she had him for about five weeks), parting was bittersweet. After tears and goodbyes, Shadow loaded like the polite gentleman that he is, and headed off to Happy Trails for an evening of rest and relaxation.

I woke Shadow up the following morning for a 5am breakfast, so that he could get prepared for the trip. Rob arrived with camera in hand, and after a few last-minute photos, blanketed Shadow and loaded him into the trailer. I felt a strange mix of emotions as I waved to Jen, Rob and Shadow as they pulled out of the driveway in the

Just like at Happy Trails, the barn manager for HorseNet is the resident cat.

blackness of the 6am sky. As the yellow trailer light disappeared down the driveway, I was thinking that I had just witnessed yet another Happy Trails miracle! What a strange turn of events, this horse going from being scheduled to be shot in the head to riding in luxury to a home where they actually knew how to care for blind horses. I was thinking of all the lives he touched and how people, once again, all worked together for the good of the animals.

So stepping back, I think that there's a lot more going on than people working together to save animals. By showing compassion for them, aren't we really helping ourselves?  That horse, by going through his set of health issues and having his needs presented to people, taught us some truly valuable lessons. He taught us how to work together, how to be kind to one another, how to help each other out in a crisis, and how to step in and give of ourselves and our talents whenever we can. So in the long run, are we really helping them, or are they really teaching us? I am going to guess that it's a blessed combination of these two trains of thought.

So in the spirit of working together to promote our friends in animal rescue, if the story of Shadow the horse has touched your heart, please help support HorseNet Horse Rescue in Mt. Airy, Maryland. Your kind donations will help care for Shadow and his blind friends, and provide them with nutritious round bales of hay, grain, wormer, hoof trims, teeth floating, vaccinations, and all other aspects of care needed for these truly wonderful animals. HorseNet has nearly 100 rescued horses between their two locations, and at Shadow's location, he has nine other blind horse friends, including Rosie.

Wood fencing made for safe pastures for the blind guys.

Be sure to check out their website, and here's their contact info:

HorseNet Horse Rescue, IncP.O. Box 358
Mount Airy, MD 21771
Ellen Williams, Director
info@horsenethorserescue.org
301-922-7029 (Beth)
www.horsenethorserescue.org