A new friend and Pryor Mountain Wild Horse lover, Laura Curtis, sent Lori and I these photos of Merlin. Laura gave me her permission to share them with you. Below is her description of Merlin and his injury.
It was difficult to see Merlin’s foot with the grass around it. I could not see it close enough to tell if there was an open wound. When he raised it, it looked as if the hoof area was not firmly attached to the leg.
I took them about 6:30 pm Friday evening, Sept 28. It was almost dark, misting rain and windy with a heavy rain coming in. Merlin was grazing in grass beside the road with a steep drop-off on his other side. I did not want to cause him to stop eating or need to take extra steps, so I did not get close in, and with the grass could not get a good shot of his hoof area without taking a chance on disturbing him causing him to try to move.
As we watched, he did take a few steps, limping very badly. I had to fight back tears just to watch.
On our Saturday morning drive-thru he had crossed the road and was about 20 feet from road up a small slope about 6 feet. It seemed he was putting some weight on the leg, but the hoof looked to be “dangling” when he lifted it. But I don’t think he could have gotten from where he was Friday evening to where he was Saturday morning without using that leg some. We did not see him Sunday morning when we made our last drive before heading back home.
Laura
It is difficult for me to see Merlin in this condition, but the will to survive in these wild horses is very high. I have to hold on to the hope that Merlin will heal and get healthy before winter comes. The thought of losing another great stallion this year is something I do not want to think about.
Please keep Merlin in your thoughts and prayers and send good healing energy his way.
Thank you so much Laura for sharing with us.
Sandy
The below photo if from Linda Dombeck. She took this in June when Merlin was injured. It is the same leg that is injured now. Thanks Linda for the photo.
I emailed both the NPS and the BLM about Merlin this morning. NPS emailed back and said that they would be watching for him.
