A Plug For Cowboy

This is Cowboy. He was rescued two weeks ago near death from starvation. He was given only a very slim chance of surviving his first few days of re-feeding. His body score was .5 on a scale of 1-9. He was at the stage of emaciation where the internal organs begin to shut down. Cowboy's pasture mate did not survive.







Cowboy is a 5-year old Thoroughbred who was on the racetrack until August 2007. When he was rescued in early February, he was still wearing his racing plates. To look at his photos now, it is hard to imagine that only 5 1/2 months ago, this horse was in good condition.

Cowboy is another horse who, like Argus, is being helped by the Sonoma CHANGE Program and Dr. Grant Miller. And Cowboy, like Argus, now has his own BLOG! Please join me in sending thoughts of support to Cowboy and his foster care team as he continues on the path to recovery.

http://sonomachangecowboy.blogspot.com/

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Argus is out enjoying the sunshine today! On Sunday, Demi and I gave him a thorough grooming and "beauty treatment," which he enjoyed. Argus was a champ about letting me hose and wash his legs, and spray Show Sheen in his tail. I was so proud of him, as both of these things (hoses, baths, and spray bottles) are new to him.

We walked around in front of the barn, but it was too much for him. He started to shake badly. I stood with him for a while, letting him settle. It is really amazing how hard he shakes when he is frightened.

Afterward, I turned Argus out in the arena. Wow! After warming up, Argus proceeded to RUN FAST around the arena. This boy can GO! I have never seen him run so fast ---- you can definitely see that he is bred for racing. But....after our fence-crashing incident, I was leery. Although he respectfully slid to a halt just before the arena fence, I watched him closely. Argus also bucked over and over. He felt good, and it is really astonishing to see him developing these natural abilities --- running and bucking. I remember the very first time I turned him out into a small paddock, he tried to pick up the canter, his hind end weakly slid out from under him, and he ended up sitting like a dog on the ground, looking confused.

No more. Argus is getting strong. When you place your hands on his rump now, on either side of his tail, his muscles now feel like muscles. When he first arrived, they felt like soft bread dough.

Photos to come!