Saved from the brink of death, Shy, a mustang, has become quite popular in North Bend. After being rescued from an allegedly abusive animal shelter that was shut down in 2014 and brought to North Bend by Susie Thompson, Shy has made a big impact with the people who have met her.
Thompson, Shy’s owner, lived in Montana and operated a non-profit education center and petting zoo where she gave children riding lessons. Due to pressure from her husband about taking care of unusable animals, Thompson took three horses, a 25-year-old mare, an old mule, and an injured buckskin mare to the animal shelter Rocky Acres Rescue in Montana.
She said the kids that took her riding lessons had grown attached to the horses and one of the children’s parents wanted to get the 25-year-old mare back for her daughter. When the parent contacted Rocky Acres Rescue, she found that they had been shut down after allegations of animal cruelty. According to the Helena Independent Record in Montana, the secretary of state dissolved Rocky Acres on Dec. 1, 2014, after the shelter had been seized by authorities in March of that year.
Thompson said the owners of the shelter had been starving the animals and treating them extremely poorly. The Helena Independent Record also reported that the former owners of Rocky Acres, Thomas Jessberger and Dalene Rindal, were charged with 34 felony counts of animal cruelty and one misdemeanor.
More than 30 horses were seized by Broadwater County authorities and Jessberger was sentenced to a 20 year penalty with eight years suspended in the Montana Department of Corrections for animal cruelty; he was also ordered to pay $38,000 in restitution, according to The Missoulian.
“They rehabilitated the animals and the little girl got the mare back.” Thompson said. “Because I was involved with the sheriff down there, I got to know them and they found one of their horses that was confiscated from this rescue…” The horse was blind and starved, she said, and the organization “had a hole dug for her they were going to bury her in.”
Thompson adopted that horse, named Shy, and brought her along to North Bend where she moved to help take care of her mother. Shy has become quite the neighborhood pet, with people walking by to see and feed her. Thompson has a sign out front detailing what she knows of Shy’s story, which has brought attention and love from the community.
“There are a lot of people in North Bend who come to see Shy. The people that walk by read the sign and bring her carrots and treats,” she said. “There was a balloon on my fence that said ‘you rock’ and there was a note from a child that said ‘my family stopped by, read the story and [want to] thank you.'”
Thompson explained what it is like to take care of a horse with visual impairments and how learning the environment and audio cues is important.
“You have to make her aware of her surroundings by taking her there and letting her walk into things so she remembers where she can go,” Thompson said. “She goes to the sound and she knows my voice and when I drive home she knows my car is coming from a ways away.
“It’s mainly talking to them, letting them know where you are at. You just have to make sure she is aware of her surroundings. It’s a trust issue. You try to comfort her and make it easy for her to understand instead of expecting her to understand.”
Thompson is looking for medical treatment that would help Shy’s eyesight. She is considering taking Shy to the WSU Veterinary Specialty Teaching Clinic in Spokane.
“I called around to see what I could do for Shy’s eyes and got hold of an ophthalmologist at Spokane. They said they would like to take a look,” she said. “If they believe they can help her, they might do her surgery as a training for the veterinary college.”
Thompson has another blind horse, Buddy, and strongly believes that taking care of animals with impairments is just as important as taking care of healthy animals.
“He has worth, a lot of people would put him down, but he loves people and just because he can’t see doesn’t mean he doesn’t have worth.”
