We met the State Brand Inspector and Sierra's former owner on October 16, 2003. What we saw was very sad. Standing on one side of a pen which was filled with various size rocks was a beautiful mare. Her mane was matted and she really had no interest in any of us. We looked at where she was standing and where her water barrel was located. There was a film of algae floating on the top. We didn't know how long it had been since she had a drink and there really wasn't anyway of knowing since the hose was at a constant steady drip.
As we entered her pen, Sierra's ears perked up as she watched us approaching her. Talking softly and slipping the halter on, she nuzzled me with her nose and let out a soft nicker. Now we had to get her from the pen to the trailer. Looking around the pen at all the sharp rocks that she was going to have to endure was heartbreaking. We had no other choice. We backed the trailer as close as possible to the pen to make this as easy as possible on Sierra. Her first step brought tears to our eyes. It is very hard to describe how she was walking, her front legs rigid, her back legs bearing her weight. But she did it. We were not sure how she would maneuver getting into the trailer, but much to our surprise she jumped in without hesitation. She made the journey to her new home without any problem. Upon our arrival back at the Miracle facility she was warmly greeted by all her new barn buddies. She even responded back which was more than we had seen from her at this point.
Our farrier came out knowing what he was up against but he managed to get her feet squared away. Sierra is moving much better now and she is going to be checked out every two weeks by him. Additionally, she will be going back to the veterinarian in about 7 weeks for xrays to determine what is going on inside her hooves. Sierra is now standing in a very soft pen, has been bathed and groomed and is showing quite a bit of attitude with her barn buddies.
We had been told by the former owner that "Imagine That, Sierra" is a former barrel racer with National Champion status, which is very surprising that anyone would allow this to happen not only to her but to any other horse. If anyone has any information regarding Sierra, we would greatly appreciate it if they would contact us. Sierra is going to be with us for a long time and we would really like to know more about her.
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After a long battle, Sierra succumbed to chronic laminitis and crossed the Rainbow Bridge in May 2007.
