2-27-09

A Story From Spike
Spike was rescue in 2007 and was adopted to A Chance for Bliss
This is dedicated in memory of Spike who passed away in Janary, Spike we all loved you so much.

This is a story from Spike that Tawnee wrote for him while he was in our care.

"It's Spike here! The kind folks at NER have been so nice to me and they all love me so much. They fixed my feet and I feel so much better! I can easily walk all around now and I can even lay down and get back up without hurting myself. I want to tell you everything that has happened to me.

"When I came to NER, I was not sure what was going to happen to me. They took me away from the home I had lived at for the last 18 years. I loved it there but my hooves had grown out really long, but it happened so slowly I didn't mind it too much. Yes, it was hard to walk around and it hurt if I tried to lay down but that was just the way life was for me, I couldn't do anything about it.

"Some of the NER people (Jason & Tawnee) put me in a big trailer and they drove for about 4 hours. I was a little scared of what was happening and where I was going. The trailer finely stopped and soon the NER people were asking me to get out of the trailer. After awhile they did get me out but I did not want to.

"They put me in a nice soft pen and it felt good to be back on the ground again.

"The next day they brought a nice lady named Sally and her friends out to see my poor feet. They brought hoof nippers with them and soon were trying to trim my hooves. I was glad to see that they knew my hooves were a problem and that I needed help. They worked away on my feet and Tawnee rubbed my ears. I decided that everyone here was really nice and that I didn't have to worry one bit. They worked on me as much as they could and then they stopped, they said that my hooves were too hard and they would work on me later. I was ready for a rest anyways. I was really happy that the NER people found out about me and were helping my poor hooves.

"It was not long before they put me in that big trailer again. They took me to the vet to get my hooves x-rayed. The lady named Sally was at the vet to with her horse trailer.

"After they got the x-rays the vet, Sally and the NER people left me to go look at my x-rays.

"As I stood there I wondered what would happen next. They came back then led me away to Sally's trailer. I was going to Sally's ranch and she was going to work on my hooves and get them fixed and then bring me back to NER. I was ok with that I guess... although I didn't have much say in the matter. Us animals really don't have a say on what happens to us. We can only hope that we end up with good, caring people.

"I decided that Sally's ranch was pretty nice and I loved all the horse cookies I got there. She worked and worked on my hooves. It did not take long and I was walking easier, it was almost like I had to learn how to walk again. For so many years I had to walk with those long hooves, it was like trying to walk with flippers on your feet all the time. Now walking was so easy, I could not wait to get back to NER and show the nice people there how I could walk. Below you can see what my hooves were like when I first came to NER and then what they look like now.

Before

Back

Front

After

Back

Front

"I'm so happy, when I came back to NER I had so much fun showing everyone what I could do with my new hooves. I walked around and around the big pen, I walked up and down the hills, I laid down and easily got back up, it was great! Best of all, Sally is such a good trimmer that my hooves were not sore at all, she is the BEST!"

Spike, we all loved you, you sure touched our hearts in a special way!