Miniature Horse Gets Life-Saving Prosthetic Leg (VIDEO)

ARGYLE, Texas (AP) — A miniature horse born without most of his right rear leg now acts like he's born to run, thanks to a new prosthetic leg.

Ranch Hand Rescue feared Midnite would have to be euthanized after the North Texas horse rescue group received the 4-year-old horse from law enforcement officers who had seized him from a neglectful owner.

Then the rescue's staff began to wonder whether a horse could wear and use an artificial leg. Bob Williams, who runs Ranch Hand Rescue, asked a Fort Worth company that makes artificial limbs for humans about the prospect.

The company, Prosthetic Care, undertook the challenge, with all hoping for nothing more than allowing Midnite to walk. After his second fitting Tuesday, that hope proved to be modest as Midnite took off running.

WATCH:

Comments

[MarkInEugene]

02:59 PM on 03/26/2011

Everyday there is an avalanche of horrible news. But there always seems to be one beautiful, positive story among them. Midnight...your awesome!

[SamKnause]

10:09 AM on 03/26/2011

SWEET !!!!!

[RBLRDR]

08:27 PM on 03/25/2011

Yay!

[MaggieNYS]

07:13 PM on 03/25/2011

Excellent! With so much sad news these days, this was a real smile-maker.

[Love my Noles]

12:58 PM on 03/25/2011

Go Midnite!!! How wonderful it is to see. Thank you to all involved to make this happen to that
beautiful horse. Keep up the good work!

[TheDodoBird]

09:52 AM on 03/25/2011

'Lil Sebastian!

[lambdin1]

02:36 PM on 03/24/2011

Had to send this to a friend. Amazing what we can do today!

[arose544]

02:05 PM on 03/24/2011

they should have just given him crutches, it would have been cheaper ;)

[hellaci0us]

12:53 PM on 03/24/2011

what a great story..

so nice to choke back tears because of something good (i'm at work .. shhh)

great work with even greater results..

team midnite !

[zingdaddy]

12:45 PM on 03/24/2011

This is the second such prosthetic I've heard of, and the other one was successful too. I hope this becomes more common! I wonder if this would have helped Barbaro.

[MaggieNYS]

07:14 PM on 03/25/2011

Check out the prosthetic leg on Mosa the elephant:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/4966620/Mosha-the-elephant-gets-prosthetic-leg.html

[zingdaddy]

08:45 PM on 03/25/2011

v. cool! thx!

It's acts like this that so revive the spirit.

[mzrecycle]

07:49 AM on 03/24/2011

I'm delighted to see that Midnite can now be free to run and gambol about. When I first started watching, my concern was that when a human gets a prosthesis, he can say where it rubs, or is too tight, etc. My thought: how could Midnite do this? The rest of the video answers my concerns. He just took off running for joy. WOW!

I know that dogs can adjust to having just 3 legs, but how in the world could this animal manage for FOUR YEARS to get around with only 3 legs on the ground?

[HBHB]

12:42 AM on 03/24/2011

This should be the top story. Even if for an hour. Would just be a real nice change for once.

[You Are My Density]

01:31 AM on 03/24/2011

Agreed. It would be nice to have some good news for a change. :)

[janejoy]

11:11 PM on 03/23/2011

Heartwarming that he now has a chance to live after such neglect.

[unique]

09:50 PM on 03/23/2011

I love stories with happy endings.

[LALC]

09:08 PM on 03/23/2011

Funny, just thinking about something like this the other day. Our horse could use one!

[unique]

09:50 PM on 03/23/2011

I hope your horse gets a prostetic. Good Luck.

[LALC]

11:37 PM on 03/23/2011

Well thanks unique, I appreciate, but that won't be happening. The poor guy has nasty arthritis & is now retired! :((