Well, he's NOT gaining weight...after putting on 100 pounds in the first couple months at Catskill Animal Sanctuary, Andy's little body is still wretchedly thin: every rib visible, his spindly little legs way too long and gangly -- part horse, part antelope. Veterinarian Heather O'Leary of Rhinebeck Equine has suggested that he's now ready for a gradual transition to a diet higher in calories and fat, so Walt will be concocting yet another custom blend, to be fed
four times a day, along with all the hay he can eat.

But he sure has gained strength and energy and ATTITUDE. We're able to turn him out now, this horse who was chronically and severely underfed for his entire life and who was so weak upon arrival that he could barely stand. Even now, he rests -- stretched out flat in his lushly-bedded stall -- for an hour or more at a time.

And oh, what a joy to see him charging around the pasture!! A stallion who can't yet be gelded since one testicle hasn't dropped (and an invasive surgery under full anesthesia would still be too much for such a compromised being) he goes out with our two bovine youngsters -- Rudy, a steer from Catskill Game Farm, and his blind friend, a little cow named Helen.

For the most part they ignore each other. Meanwhile, though, Andy is thrilled to be out in the air, nibbling remaining shoots of grass, stretching his legs, spindly as they are, and whinnying longingly to the mares across the road. Mostly, Andy runs. He trots and canters then gallops, snorting and tossing his head much of the time. Sheer delight at being free; sheer delight at feeling GOOD...surely for the first time in his life.

You GO, boy...you GO...