Name: Cody

    Type: Shetland Pony

    Color: Chestnut & White Tobiano 

      Markings: Strip & Snip

    Sex: Gelding

    Birthday: 05/13/2018

In August 2018, a series of photos depicting some terribly emaciated and neglected mini horses were brought to the attention of Celine Myers at the Ark Watch Foundation. A rescue had placed the minis with a “quarantine provider” who was pocketing the money and starving the minis in his care. The horses were standing on a small patch of dirt in the heat of the TX summer without any food, water or shelter, not even a single tree to provide them with a spot of shade. Celine and another rescue reached out to help, and Ark Watch took the four most critical minis and immediately sent them to a vet clinic. Two of these minis were a sorrel mare and her paint colt with an eye injury. Celine named the sorrel mare “Hallie” and her colt was named “Cody”.

Hallie was very protective of Cody and virtually unhandleable. This made treating Cody’s eye a bit of a challenge for the vet team but it was critical they tend to Cody’s eye as soon as he arrived at the clinic. Not only was Cody in a significant amount of pain from the injury but the eye was also very infected. Initially, our vet thought she would have to remove Cody’s eye. She began a treatment regimen with a serum made from Cody’s own blood and multiple antibiotics. As Cody’s injury began to heal and the infection resolved, the vet felt she might be able to save the eye but she wasn’t sure if Cody would have any vision in it. Only time would tell. Happily, Cody responded extremely well to the treatment and has about 65% vision in the eye.

Shortly after Cody arrived at the vet clinic, the vet noticed that the foal’s stifle was locking. Initially, it seemed to be an intermittent event but in time, it started to lock and stay locked. Once Cody was old enough to be castrated, we made the decision to put Cody under general anesthesia and do both surgeries at the same time. We had hoped that the vet could do the less “severe” surgery on Cody’s stifle but when it wouldn’t unlock even under general anesthesia, the vet had no choice but to cut the stifle. While Cody was anesthetized, we also took the opportunity to trim his hooves. Poor Cody woke up from surgery to an unfamiliar body but, like all youngsters, he was quickly on the mend. Just when Celine throught Cody’s health issues were resolved, he developed a cough and some nasal discharge. A lung scan revealed Cody had abscesses in his lungs and our vet suspected the poor foal had Rhodococcus, an often-deadly illness that affects very young foals. Cody was put on a course of antibiotics. About 10 days into the treatment, he developed serious diarrhea, a common side-effect of the drugs Cody was receiving. Thankfully, some Bio-sponge resolved the issue and Cody remained on the medications for another three weeks. In time, the lung abscesses eventually resolved and Cody made a full recovery.

Throughout Hallie and Cody’s stay at Reata Clinic, the vet had often expressed that she had serious concerns about anyone handling Hallie. She didn’t care for people at all. Despite this, after several discussions with Celine, Red Bell Run agreed to take on the pair. Fortunately, with slow and patient handling, Hallie has learned that all people are not evil and that she and her son Cody are safe here. Cody’s traumatic eye injury as a baby has caused permanent sight impairment and damage to the drainage system in his left eye. He has to be given eye medication daily and his tear ducts flushed regularly. We keep a careful eye on him and he gets regular exercise for his stifles. Hallie has a new best friend in another Ark Watch resident, Cassie, who looks like a larger version of her little self! Cody loves everyone and is a very happy camper these days! Both he and his mom are much loved residents of our Silo Barn.