Blizzards, roosters and the gentle giant

So on Friday we took the dog, packed an overnight bag and drove off into a blizzard. What should have taken 31/2 hrs turned into 5, but we finally arrived at our destination.....

Here a pic of the highway; icy ruts are not fun to drive in...

When we finally got there it was late already.

We met M, the woman whose place Max was staying at.

She was sitting amongst her 8 rescued cats having a rooster flat as a pancake in front of her on the kitchen-table...

"Interesting scene"..., I thought when we walked in.

The rooster's head was supported by a rolled up kitchen towel, but he was fully stretched out on his stomach - lifeless.

M told us that someone had -without her knowledge- dropped some unwanted chickens off at her barn. 

This rooster being a Bantam (small breed) and not made for the cold almost froze to death.

His eyelids and comb were damaged and blackened by frostbite and there was not much life left anymore.

She informed us, that she had put him in the oven before "for a few minutes to speed things up" and now he was resting on a microwaved "warm" towel...

As the ceiling fan flapped heavily above our heads, I felt -even though still wearing my winter jacket- chilled.

I thought to myself:" That poor bird will never make it in this draft".

So I took birdie and tucked him in tightly as we kept visiting with M and learning all about Max....

My fingers touched Chicken Little's cold skin and I honestly wasn't sure how much life there was still left.

I knew I had come to meet a horse, but I could not walk away from a critter in need like this.

Two long hours later his eyelids fluttered briefly and another half hour later he tried to open them: very droopy...

"I had a really, really bad dream..." he seemed to be processing. "You wouldn't believe what happened.."

I gave him some warm water with a syringe which he took and then he fell asleep again. Another half hour later "Freddie" - as we christened him- was awake and let out a little "croak".

That was the nicest sound of the day yet! :)

We were not sure if he had sustained any organ damage, but there was a chance he would survive.

After we were sure he could hold his own body temperature ( about 4 hrs later) M put him in a dog crate and we went outside to meet Max.

It was already totally dark by then and we went down to the barn for a quick "Hi".

It was moving to meet the big boy and I was touched by the kindness in his eyes.
We planned to come back the next day and stay at a motel nearby.

Minnie ready to go!

The next day we saw that Freddie had made it through the night and heavily protested as we lifted him out of the dog crate to see how he was doing.
Sure had some life back in him! He did not even look like the same bird :)

Then off to the barn.
It was freezing cold!! Despite all the clothing and layers we only managed about 2 hours inside the barn until our feet/ toes and legs started to hurt from the cold. What difference in temperature compared to our area near the lake!

M let Max out of the barn for the first time after his surgery. He loved it!

Max is wonderful. He is such a gentle giant. Very sweet and comes when called by his name, which I find remarkable as he has only been out in the field to fend for himself with the other horses.

He is still very weak , especially in the hindquarters, and thin even though he has gained some weight already, but still needs to put on some 600 lbs or more.

M showed us the tumor they had taken out of Max' eye socket and it was large. He also lost his lower eye lid as it was destroyed by infection.

As I put some ointment on him I realized how big the cavity was.

I could put my whole hand right up in there. That will be a great concern re healing as there is no skin tissue to pull from.

I also heard air sounds coming out of the eye cavity....not good....that's an added infection risk and provides an unprotected opening into the sinuses>brain.

M was not aware of this and said she would tell the vet. She said that "this horse needs all the prayer it can get".

Little did she know that we were already praying for a miracle for this gentle soul.

Max truly is a very special horse. He has a very sweet personality and is eager to please. It was so much fun to see him enjoying the snow after we released him from the barn. He was just loving life out there and was happy and carefree.

He is not over the hill yet and the open sinuses cause great concern.

M told us that he might need to be put down.
Very disheartening.

I truly feel that there is something very special about this boy and made a connection with him, but it could also be that this was the only time we got to meet him.

Here he is, exploring after being cooped up in the stall for days:

"Oh, I think this might be the perfect spot for a little rolling action..."

And a good shake of course!

"Who is this new person calling my name??"

Wait- Let me check out this dog poo first...:

"Will you be back?"

Steve and I drove home and our heads were churning.

" I know this is crazy.." I started, " we came here to just visit, but I really like him...and we don't really have a place yet...but I really feel a strong connection with him."

So we drove off thinking about whether we might be able to adopt this boy...