Meet the Star Man...

From Jim: Around three years ago, a big ole Tennessee Walking Horse arrived at the sanctuary. His papers showed him to have a fancy registered name- Someone or Another's Star Shine. He made it pretty clear that he was Star and came to be the Star Man. When he came here, he had been rescued by Tawnee from an auction where the killer/buyers were licking their chops for a chance to get this big guy on their slaughter trucks and trailer. Star was lame in the rear quarters. He staggered and would nearly collapse. Our vet diagnosed him as having spinal stenosis, a narrowing of the spinal column, which created nerve issues. He was becoming paralyzed. Dr. Dahling thought we might give him a few good months, but the fear was he would get down and not be able to get back to his feet. We thought we ought to give him some time. Well, it took about two years for Star to regain his strength, fill in the atrophied muscles and return to fairly good health. He'll always have a spinal issue and riding him is out of the question. He is a great horse. He had been someones "special horse" and was tossed away to the auction lot when his disability ended his working life. I sometimes wonder if the folks that did that to the Star Man have any idea of what they've missed out on. Star loves to give kisses. He puts his head on your shoulder when you love on him. He's really a pet. When you're around his turn out, he'll generally have his head through the fence waiting for some attention. He's one of the sanctuary's favorite greeters to our guests and volunteers. He's an important member of his herd. Dancer, Dunny, Chad are his friends. He is an example of the need for patience when waiting of an animal to heal. Long, sometimes very long, layups often result in amazing recoveries. The Star Man is enjoying his retirement. A few months has run to three years and Star is going strong. His rump is round and strong again. He travels up and down the slopes of his turnout without a stumble. He'll turn and run and chase and play like a colt. I wish everyone with a senior horse could see that they're really special and have so much to offer. The Star Man is one the sanctuary's stars! We love him a lot.