Atticus Is Getting His Surgery

Update: we have scheduled Atticus for his surgery and I want to say a very heartfelt thank you to all of you that have contributed to make this happen for him. You have no idea how much your generosity means to us. I will be taking him to the hospital in Northern Texas Jan. 19th. In making his appointment we discovered that while all this time we believed Atticus to be a gelding he is fact a cryptorchid - which is that he is still a stallion, an intact male that never “dropped”. So in addition to his stifle surgery he will also have the crypt castration done at the same time. This did add an additional $1,000 to the cost but some angels came around us and he will get this done as it is absolutely necessary. Thank you all again, I am humbled and forever grateful for you. 

Hi Everyone, this is Atticus, he’s my heart horse. He’s a resident at the local horse rescue I volunteer at, The Bridge Sanctuary, and I am absolutely in love with this big, goofy guy. Atticus is a 5 year old retired Thoroughbred racehorse that ran his last race in March 2020. He was tossed away shortly after and found underweight and lame in a kill pen. He had an Angel save him from that fate to discover that he has a stifle injury, which is likely what ended his racing career, but he would need to have surgery and will likely not ever be an athletic riding horse again. A blown stifle for a horse is like having a blown knee on a human for comparison. He can move around but he’s not able to do all the things his young heart wants to do and some days are worse than others pain wise. His Angel did what she felt was right and surrendered him to The Bridge for his care and rehabilitation and this is where I met him and fell in love with him. I can relate to Atticus’ stifle injury, I have really bad arthritis in both of my knees, I will eventually need knee replacements and I have good days and bad days and my athletic and riding days are in my past too.

But it hurts my heart knowing this young horse wants to be able to run and buck and play and can’t until he has his surgery to get that stifle cleaned up and repaired the best it can be. He also has recurring abscesses in his front right hoof that come up whenever it rains or he gets into mud that I’m hoping they can find the root cause of and rectify. If I had the means he would be on his way to the equine surgeon right now, but I don’t and so I’m asking my friends and family and acquaintances that know how much this horse means to me to please help me raise the funds for his surgery so he can finally be on the road to recovery. The Bridge operates 100% on donations and they have done an amazing job getting him back to a healthy weight so that he is now a candidate for the surgery. All of the funds from the regular donors are dispersed where there are needed the most, usually the feed and vet bills, so this is something I’m taking on myself because I love this horse so much. This would be life changing for him. 

He probably will forever only be able to be a gorgeous, tall, copper lawn ornament but at least he will have less pain and be able to be turned out for exercise without worrying about him ending up dragging his back leg because it’s too stiff or sore to move right. He has so much personality and love - he has helped me out of my “lock down depression” and I just want to repay him by helping him be happier.