The injured becoming inspirational to many..

Molly is a grey speckled pony who 
was abandoned by her owners when Hurricane
 Katrina hit southern Louisiana . She spent weeks
 on her own before finally being rescued and taken 
to a farm where abandoned animals were stockpiled.

While there, Molly was attacked by a pit bull terrier
 and almost died. Her gnawed right front leg became 
infected, and her vet went to LSU for help, but 
LSU was overwhelmed, and this pony was a welfare 
case. You know how that goes.



But after surgeon Rustin Moore met Molly, he 
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.

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.



Moore agreed to remove her leg below the knee,
 and a temporary artificial limb was built. Molly
 walked out of the clinic and her story really 
begins there.


"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.



Molly's story turns into a parable for life in
 Post-Katrina Louisiana.

The little pony gained weight, and her mane finally 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.



Most important of all, Molly has a job now. Kay,
 the rescue farm owner, started taking Molly to 
shelters, hospitals, nursing homes, and rehabilitation 
centers... anywhere she thought that people needed 
hope.

Wherever Molly went, she showed people
 her pluck. "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."

Barca concluded, "She's not back to normal, but 
she's going to be better...
To me, she could be a 
symbol for New Orleans itself."

This is Molly's most recent prosthesis.

The 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.

-- Author unknown