Up until Dec 23rd, Anakin had not tried laying down in his stall at Cedarbrook. He’d been on a strict referring diet since his arrival two weeks before, and he had just graduated to free choice hay. He’d also stopped trying to eat his bedding, so his stall was filled with fluffy shavings. It must have looked very inviting because he laid down for a nap…but when he tried getting back up, he was unable to do so. In the end it took several large firemen with a length of heavy netting to hoist him back to his feet. And as usual, nothing about the experience seemed to bother Anakin in the least.
However, we knew this was not something we could risk happening again, so the decision was made to move Anakin down the road to Pilchuck Veterinary Hospital. If you’re not familiar with Pilchuck, it’s the premier large animal vet practice in our area, offering world-class care by the best doctors and staff in the business. SAFE relies on Pilchuck for emergency and surgical care as well as top-notch diagnostics and therapy. Anakin would be in great hands.
The trip to Pilchuck was uneventful, and soon Anakin was tucked into a large, warm stall with a double load of cedar shavings for bedding. He got excellent, round-the-clock care and monitoring, and best of all, his stall was equipped with a ceiling hoist that could be used to help him to his feet when he layid down.
Hello Anakin!
Anakin took full advantage of this opportunity, spending about 6 hours a day resting. He liked to alternate between snoozing full out on his side, and rolling up onto his sternum so he could relax and eat. He wore a sling full time, which was taped and padded for comfort, so that getting him back up could be a fairly simple procedure. And of course you know Anakin…he’s was a perfect gentleman and made no fuss whatsoever when the hoist was used!
But keeping Anakin at Pilchuck was considerably more expensive than at Cedarbrook. An amazing community of people joined together and made donations to help save this horse, so we were able to keep him there. But as weeks went on, we began to worry that he still needed help standing up. He was still incredibly weak and just not able to use his back legs to push his hind end up off the ground. The hoist was not a long-term solution to Anakin’s problems, and we needed to see him gain enough strength to get up on his own.
On January 15, we got the call from Pilchuck that we had been waiting for. Anakin had stood up on his own.
He would spend 5 more days at Pilchuck before being released back to SAFE. Before he left, he graciously allowed a group of kids from a local equine 4‑H club to meet him and get a lesson in equine skeletal anatomy, thanks to his still prominent bones. Anakin left the hospital weighing nearly 90 pounds more than when he arrived.
Back home at SAFE, we served him mashes and soft alfalfa at all hours of the day and night. He required a LOT of care — in addition to the many feedings, he got medications every eight hours. He was confined to his stall to preserve calories and hand walked a few times a day. Our volunteers would take advantage of his empty stall during his walks, so his stall was cleaned several times a day. Fortunately, all the volunteers were eager to help with Anakin’s recovery, so there were plenty of willing hands available to give him the care he needed.
With Anakin making good progress down the road to good health, we could turn our attention to some of his other needs. Our farrier helped us create a treatment plan for Anakin’s right front hoof which is badly abscessed from lack of care. To prevent infection and aid with healing, Anakin got twice daily pedicures that involve soaking, medicating, and wrapping the affected hoof. Fortunately it didn’t appear to be causing him any pain or discomfort, but we had our vet out to x‑ray both front hoof to rule out the possibility of founder, which they did. Anakin also had a very cloudy left eye, which might have been the result of past trauma or an autoimmune deficiency. On our vet’s recommendation, we treated it as uveitis, which meant eye drops for Anakin every eight hours! It was fortunate for all of us that Anakin was such a good and patient patient!
Many people asked us how Anakin ended up in such terrible condition. Short answer is that we still don’t know. I have personally spoken with two of his owners and have been able to piece together a timeline for his life after the shutdown of the Equine Research Center at Cal Poly. Anakin left Cal Poly in excellent health and weight, and was adopted by a former student of the program. He had a brief career as a dressage horse, but was sidelined by an injury and was eventually sold to a family in California. He was in perfect health and weight at the time of that sale too. Five years later, his family moved to Alaska, and he was left in the care of relatives living in Elma WA. Six months later, he was reportedly given away to a young woman who answered a Craigslist ad for a free horse, and five days after that, he was signed over to SAFE. None of Anakin’s owners or caretakers in the last five years have admitted responsibility for his emaciated condition, and there’s been a lot of finger-pointing between them. Gray’s Harbor County Animal Control continued to investigate this case of criminal animal cruelty for a while, but we never held out much hope that anyone would be held accountable for what happened to this horse.
