Second Chance

On February 29th, 2008 Nicole Baker, one of our board members, rescued a colt that was left for dead on the side of a county road where she lives in Kentucky. Her husband just happened to be at the right place, at the right time and his headlights at the right angle to see the colt in the road the night before (2-28-09) on his way to work. He made one quick call to his wife Nicole. She and her four children rushed to Second Chance’s side, waiting for daylight to break so they could make phone calls for help.

They didn’t know how Second Chance had gotten there, but tire tracks at the end of the pavement led them to believe he was ditched there, with the cruel owner thinking he would die. It took several hours making phone calls, finally Animal Control showed up. Both Animal Control and the Sheriff’s department thought it would be best to euthanize him and the sheriffs department said they could come out and shoot him. It took a while, and a few neighbors, to gain enough help to talk authorities into letting Nicole help this colt. So they agreed to summon the help from a few inmates from the nearby Detention Center to help lift the colt on their car trailer and transport him to their house for proper and urgent care.

This colt could not muster any strength to get up to his feet nor hold his head up alone.  After the transport to Nicole’s home, about 2 tenths of a mile, his heart stopped beating and he lay lifeless on the bed of straw. Panicked, she started patting him on his neck and rubbing him as you would a newborn puppy, and he gave a gasp of air and came back to life. The Animal Control, Sheriff’s office and a number of people whom were reluctant to help had sought to put the colt down, but Nicole argued and fought to give this guy a second chance. And thus he was named! He was so malnourished and so neglected that his body was feeding off his muscles to survive.

The first vet to come out wasn't very pleasant and told Nicole that this wasn't an emergency and didn't think there was anything he could do. He showed her how to feed him through a tube, gave him a shot and quickly left handing her an outrageous bill! The second vet came out and the colt was rated a low 2 on the Henneke scale by the vet and had several (6) wounds from road rash and from pressure sores, due to not being able to get up without assistance, and bugs were all over him to. Lice, flies you name it he had it on him. Rain rot so severe that he would just moan at the touch of your hand. Nicole did not know how long he had been laying there before they found him. His sores were all the way to the bone. He had gapping holes on both sides of his body. His hair had fallen out all leaving big bald spots.

For the first month Nicole had to give liquids through a feeding tube, penicillin shots and steroid shots. Nicole and her husband had to hoist him up using safe mesh straps to get him to his feet,and hand feed him, brush him, roll him from side to side. Every 2 hours she was with this colt and tried her best so he could have a another chance at life. It took 1 month (April 1, 2008), before the colt made it to his feet alone!

On May 22, 2008, the colt made his first run in the sun. He had gained a lot of weight, had gained muscle mass and was truly becoming, one happy little man. He still has ongoing care and checkups to ensure proper healing physically and emotionally. Nicole was still treating the wounds, still giving supplements, Omolene, lice treatment, topical medication for the rain rot.

On June 17th, he had his first hoof trimming, as he was strong enough to stand alone and to balance himself. Now with it being over a year later, Chance has thrived so well, he has been castrated and acts like a big old baby but with some attitude, it's too cute not to chuckle at him. His sores have healed completely but he still has white rain rot scars on his back. His hooves are in the best condition for all that he has gone through. He's just a joy!  Soon, he was moved to SCERAS President Gale Mott’s care on Cherrywood Farm, the home of Second Chance Equine Rescue and Sanctuary. Nicole felt that they could better serve, treat and give him more attention than she could. He deserves the best in life for the fight he fought. He will live out his life at the sanctuary.