Implanted Prosthetic Limbs for Amputee Horses: Be Part of Research!

Six years ago, Molly the Pony turned the world upside down on by wearing a strap-on prosthetic on her amputated limb. If she read the newspaper this week, the peg-leg pony who survived Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans might think she needs to come out of retirement on behalf of her new prosthesis designer, Niki Marie Hansen. Hansen believes it's time for a new generation of artificial limbs for horses.

PBS "My Bionic Pet": Putting Hooves and Paws and Tails Where They Weren't

On Wednesday, April 9, the PBS documentary series Nature will focus on pets who are missing parts. The star of the show will be the all-time star of this blog, Molly the (Three-Legged) Pony, but you'll also meet Chris P, the piglet who lives in a wheelchair or Mr. Stubbs, the alligator who needed a tail, and a pack of pooches who are running with the best of them but without as many legs.

If You Liked MOLLY THE PONY, You’ll Love THE GOAT LADY!

Following the incredible success of MOLLY THE PONY through this blog, it's time to add Molly's friend, THE GOAT LADY by Jane Bregoli.

Here’s what THE GOAT LADY is about:

Who’s that funny-looking lady in old clothes down at the end of the street? She walks with a limp and her yard is filled with goats.

On a street of beautiful new homes with perfect lawns, the old farmhouse looks out of place. The children can only wonder what goes on there. But the goats fascinate them.

One of the mothers is an artist, and she sees something beautiful in the goats and the old woman.

When the artist fills the town hall with paintings of the goats and their owner, the new residents in town get an eyeful. Children and adults learn to see the beauty in what they once thought was just a rundown house and a weird old woman in their neighborhood.

They learn that their houses are built on the fields of the old farm, and that the “goat lady” once owned it all. They learn she sold the fields to pay her late husband’s medical bills. And that she donates healthful goat milk to people who are ill, like she is. And they find out that the young baby goats go to poor families overseas, thanks to the Heifer Project, a longstanding anti-poverty program that supplies farm animals to poor families.

And the neighbors learn to start acting like neighbors, the children learn a lot about goats, and the goat lady finds out she has a lot more friends that she thought she did.

WHY PURCHASE THE GOAT LADY?

Teach children that old people have value and something to teach that they can value. That the way someone dresses or the shape their house is in are not yardsticks to their character or value. That animals make a great difference to poor people in other countries. And that people who wear old clothes and live in shabby houses may turn out to be generous and help people in need.

And THE GOAT LADY won the ASPCA's Henry Bergh Award for best children's book about animals!

BOOK DETAILS for THE GOAT LADY

Size: 9.25”w x 10.25” h, 32 pages
Hardcover, laminated cover.
Full color illustrations and paintings throughout.
Written for children in grades 3-6, much loved by many adult readers
Very similar to MOLLY THE PONY in size, shape, length.
And it is a TRUE story!
Cost: $17 publisher's list price

And don't forget Molly!

Update on Molly: MOLLY THE PONY is in its third printing!

Molly (the real pony) continues to do well at Ms Kaye’s farm down in Louisiana. Her fame through the book has not gone to her head at all. She had a tough time when Hurricane Gustave hit, but her barn is being rebuilt and she keeps limping along to schools and hospitals to share her story and her message of hope.

We need to raise enough money (or find a sponsor) for a truck and trailer so Molly can go to places beyond New Orleans, though she has plenty to do right there!

Thank you to everyone who has purchased MOLLY THE PONY and donated to her fund.

Gustav New Orleans Report: Molly the Pony Evacuated, Stablemates Stuck

Molly never wanted to hear the word "hurricane" ever again. After surviving being abandoned and left to die after Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005, the plucky little pony made a big comeback, only to be attacked by a pit bull so that what was left on her right front leg had to be amputated.

Molly was the first successful amputee equid at Louisiana State University's vet school and became the subject of the fastest-selling book ever perhaps in horse book history: the first printing of the children's book about her sold out completely in 30 days and had to go back to press! (and now the second printing is going quickly)

So when Gustav headed west from Cuba into the Gulf of Mexico, I said, "Oh, no! Look out, Molly!" But her dedicated caretaker, Kaye Harris, moved Molly and a companion pony, Flossie, to a safe haven where they will be well-cared for.

Not so for the other 19 retired ponies at the Kids and Ponies Foundation's retirement sanctuary/farm in St. Rose, Louisiana. A pre-planned evacuation site cancelled, forcing them to find an alternate place, which Kaye did, but then there was the problem of moving 19 ponies with a single truck and trailer.

So Miss Kaye and the 19 elderly ponies will stay put in spite of the mandatory order to evacuate all people and horses inside Interstate 10. The new house built to replace the one so badly damaged by Katrina isn't even finished yet, but the roofs of the barns have been reinforced and everyone is hoping for the best.

P.S. Molly has a foundation to help with her ongoing veterinary expenses and help the other ponies who have found a home at the Kids and Ponies farm. Visit www.mollythepony.com.

If you go the web site, you can see some of the 19 ponies who will be weathering the storm at the farm. Some are in their 30s, one is at least 40, and another has deformed front legs. Keep them in your thoughts.

To learn how to order the book MOLLY THE PONY, please click here or email Mollytheponybook@hoofcare.com.

All HoofBlog text and images © Hoofcare Publishing 2008 unless otherwise noted. Photo courtesy of mollythepony.com.

To learn more about new research, products, and treatments for the horse's hooves and legs as reported to veterinarians and farriers in the award-winning "Hoofcare & Lameness Journal",
go to http://www.hoofcare.com

Direct “subscribe now” link to Hoofcare & Lameness Journal: http://www.hoofcare.com/subscribe.html

Contact Hoofcare Publishing anytime:
tel 978 281 3222 fax 978 283 8775 email bloginquiry@hoofcare.com

Molly the Pony, Equine Amputee and Katrina Survivor, Romps to a New Role in Life…on Three Legs

 Hurricane and amputation survivor, Molly the Pony, photo © Pam Kaster

MOLLY THE PONY BOOK UPDATE: Ten years after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, Molly continues to be in great health.

Meet Molly. She’s a gray-speckled pony who was left behind by her owners when Katrina hit southern Louisiana. She spent weeks on her own before finally being rescued and taken to a farm where abandoned animals were being cared for. While there, she was attacked by a rescued pit bull terrier, and almost died. Molly's gnawed right front leg became badly infected and her vet went to the equine hospital at Louisiana State University (LSU) for help. But LSU was overwhelmed, and this pony was an equine refugee. No American Express card dangled from her frayed halter. If you've ever had an animal in need of major surgery, you know what the criteria is.

But after the local veterinarian persisted, LSU surgeon Rustin Moore agreed to meet Molly face to face, and that meeting changed his mind. He saw how the pony was careful to lie down on different sides so she didn't seem to get sores, and how she allowed people to handle her raw, infected limb. When she stood up, 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.

Dr. Moore agreed to remove her leg below the knee in a very special surgical procedure and a temporary artificial limb was built. The Humane Society of the United States and Lifesavers Inc. (an animal-angel arm of Lifesavers Wild Horse Rescue in California) provided the funds for the operation. Molly walked out of the clinic and her story really begins there.

Here's Molly having a clean sock put over the stump of her leg before the leather sleeve of her prosthesis is strapped on. 

“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. For the rest of her life, Molly will be at risk for the terrible disease called laminitis, which often affects horses who bear unequal weight on their legs and makes amputation a controversial option for many horses. But expert care has kept Molly free of laminitis.

Molly’s story has turned 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.

This is Molly's most recent prosthesis. The bottom photo shows the ground surface that she stands on, which has a smiley face embossed in it. Wherever Molly goes, she leaves a smiley hoof print behind! (Photos © Kaye Harris)

Most important of all, Molly has a job now. Kaye, the shelter farm owner, started taking Molly to shelters, hospitals, nursing homes and rehabilitation centers--anywhere she thought that people needed hope after losing so much in the storm. 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. “She's going to be better. To me, she could be a symbol for New Orleans itself.”

This month, Molly the Pony, a children’s book about the pony who has already inspired thousands of people around New Orleans, has been published.

It’s not a book about amputation or prosthetics, it’s a book about people and a pony. But the photos you see here are a few of the great ones from the book.

Maybe Molly won’t make the vet textbooks, but she might reach more people from the pages of this book for children. If you know a child, a library, a hospital, or maybe a therapeutic riding program that can use a lift, here’s a book that can do that. And a lot more.

The book Molly the Pony has been awarded the 2008 Henry Bergh Award from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals for children's books about animals.

Molly the Pony is no longer available from Hoofcare Publishing. We prefer that you order it directly from www.mollythepony.com so that the proceeds can go to help pay her vet bills.

You will LOVE this book--and Molly!

PS Many, many thanks to all the people who are forwarding the link to this story around the web--and around the world. This has been the most popular story ever posted on this blog, and deservedly so.

Interesting to note: almost everyone who has called was ordering as a gift for a child with some sort of a hurdle to overcome. It is the perfect gift for that...and I am so moved by the stories that callers have told me. Thank you, everyone. This is truly a "grassroots" effort since neither the university nor I has the funds to properly promote Molly and her story. She's an underground classic!

To forward this blog article, just click on the little envelope icon at the end of this story, if there is one, or copy and paste the address from the browser window.


Here's Molly at her new job! In the book you will see her with children in wheelchairs. She's just the right height to look them in the eye! As a matter of fact, Molly looks everyone in the eye, no matter how tall they are! (Photo © Pam Kaster)


All HoofBlog text and images © Hoofcare Publishing 2008 unless otherwise noted. Molly's photos from the book MOLLY THE PONY by Pam Kaster. Most photos of Molly are © Pam Kaster.

Contact Hoofcare Publishing anytime: tel 978 281 3222 email books@hoofcare.com