Bo the blind horse
Bo was abandoned at a boarding stable in Oregon when his owners decided they didn't want him after he went blind. They literally walked away and left him. A teenager named Rachel H. started caring for this big, handsome fellow, making sure he was fed and watered and groomed … and loved as well.
After months of trying to reach the owners and placing liens on the horse, the folks who run the stable finally gained legal ownership of Bo. Then they promptly announced that they would take the blind horse to a nearby place called Wildlife Safari for lion food if no one stepped forward to take him.
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At that point Rachel called Whispering Winds Equine Rescue in Roseburg, Oregon. Susan P., who runs the rescue, then contacted us. Even after we had agreed to take Bo, the stable owners were still threatening to take Bo to Wildlife Safari, so Susan hurriedly arranged to have Bo trailered out to her place to keep him safe until we could get there. She also took care of his vet check and Coggins test, and got him ready to travel.
We hired Bob Hubbard Horse Transportation to pick up Bo at Susan's ranch and bring him out to Montana. They're professionals who haul horses all over the country, using the type of big semi vans you see in this photo we took the morning Bo arrived.
It was a chilly 9 degrees above zero when we unloaded Bo in the predawn darkness that December morning. Bo, who was used to much warmer Oregon temperatures, was probably wondering what had happened to the weather! But we put a hefty winter blanket on him, settled him into his stall with plenty of hay, and he adapted just fine.
We discovered a couple of months after he arrived that Bo has a neurological problem of some sort that causes nystagmus – his eyes dart back and forth rapidly – and ataxia, or lack of coordination. This happens only periodically, and for brief, fleeting moments. He has made multiple trips to our equine vet clinic as we try to find out what the underlying cause is. We still don't know, so he has more medical tests ahead.
But in the meantime, we're looking forward to turning him out on pasture starting this spring, not long after the snow melts. He'll be able to graze and roll around and sun himself, just being a horse enjoying life. Thanks to Rachel and Susan, he's going to get that chance.
March 2008
