Timmy was surrendered in early 2016 when his owner could not manage his weight or give him the special care he needed.  He appeared to be in his mid teens, 16.2 hh and we were told he was an Appendix QH.   He arrived to us 100 lbs underweight, with severely neglected and sore feet, had an infected eye injury, and skin infections on all four legs from hoof to armpit.  He was one sad looking fellow, but was always kind and patient, becoming a favorite for volunteers to handle.  He was put into a refeeding program and slowly but surely all his visible ailments were healed.  He recuperated nicely at within a few months was ready to be ridden.  He had very flat, poor quality hooves, so needed shoes to be comfortable under saddle.  It was evident that he also had some arthritis, and he was listed for adopted in a light riding capacity.  He was found to be very well trained with smooth gaits in our evaluation under saddle.

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A seemingly nice family came along looking for a 4H mount for their 14 year old daughter.  They fell in love with Timmy and promised to keep the riding light, since the girl was just learning and not interested in jumping or running him.  They had him put in shoes and she began lessons with him.  Within a few months they were still plagued with lameness issues and although they loved him very much, did not have room to keep him if he could not be the intended 4H mount.  He was returned to the rescue in fall of 2017, about a year after adoption.  As soon as Timmy returned, we could see his issues had worsened.  Most obviously, his right front fetlock had a huge swelling on the outside.  It did not appear painful, but it was hard to flex, it was so large.  In addition, both hind suspensories had dropped, with the right side worse than the left. His feet were still poor quality and the shoes fell off as soon as he was turned out to pasture.  So, we went back to work on more rehabilitation, beginning with a very thorough vet exam.  To try to diagnose the giant ankle, we did x ray, ultrasound, tapped the fluid and sent it away for testing.  Five vets at the clinic reviewed the data and were stumped.  They sent it all to Cornell where two more vets looked it over and said it was very unusual.  They ended up labeling it a pseudobursa, probably caused by some sort of trauma.  He was deemed comfortable as a pasture companion, but not cleared to ever be ridden again.  We thought Timmy would be with us for life.  Companion horses with obvious disabilities to not adopt easily.

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In March of 2018, we got a phone call. Caller:”You have a gray horse named Timmy?”  BAHR: “Why yes, yes we do.” Caller: “That’s my horse!”  We had never been so happy to hear that someone loved Timmy and was looking for him!  It seems his previous owner had him for 9 years.  She trained him and showed him in AQHA shows.  Her young daughter won multiple championships with him.  He toted all the kids around the farm and was a family pet.  Unfortunately, Timmy was never a very sound horse and they did not feel it was right to keep pushing him to show, so he was retired from showing.  When a friend with a special needs child asked to keep Timmy at her place as a pet, the owner agreed with the understanding that he should come back when she was done with him.  Tragedy struck Timmy’s new family when the husband passed away, the family sold the farm and moved away, never answering the repeated inquiries of “where was Timmy?”.  Timmy’s owner was devastated her horse had been given away to parts unknown and she had no leads to find him.  She searched for 4 years until a chance search by a friend on our website brought up Timmy’s description.  Although his color had changed, she knew it was her old friend.  Within days she was at the farm, signing the papers and taking him home once more.  His little girl is now a teen, but he still nuzzled her pockets looking for treats.  He will never leave again, being a babysitter to youngsters and watching the family grow.