Cooper's Courage
At the horse auction in Christiansburg, Va
by Ginny Gilfillian

He was closely tied to a post. All alone, at the end of a fence. Every rib was visible. His eyes were swollen shut and draining green exudates from the virus that had blinded him. He held his head down as if he didnít have the strength to pick it up. He was awaiting his fate.

8 years old, he was a young horse stricken with moon-blindness. A treatable condition if caught early, but if not, sure to blind him totally. It already had.

The bidding on cooper started at $5, with increments of $5. We looked at each other knowing that this pricing only meant one thing. He would go to a feedlot and be ground up and fed to cattle.

We entered the bidding when it hit $70, and got him for $85. He was loaded into our two horse trailer with Jazzie, a young incorrigible mare, very pretty, but also headed to a feedlot because of her bad habits. They bonded in the back of the trailer and have been companions ever since.

Cooper has now filled out nicely. He is a beautiful chestnut boy with a flashy white blaze on his face. He is sweet and gentle and puts his head on your shoulder when you say ìhugs, cooperî. He stays close to Jazzie in the pasture. Ocassionally, he loses her and gets upset. He runs in a tight circle until she comes to his rescue and nudges him, or gives him a few sounds from her throat.

As his health returns, he gets bolder in the pasture and has been seen taking off at full gallop across the filed. This makes me worry that he will step in a hole and hurt himself, but my partner, Nancy, tells me that Cooper doesnít want me to worry about him. He is happy now.

I think he will be the poster boy for our program.