Ten days after Stitch’s arrival came Lilo. Stitch was the perfect companion for her, the same size, close in age, and both very needy.

 Lilo, renamed Nikkie for "In the Nik of Time"

Lilo’s Challenging Journey  

Lilo has had a tragic start to her little life. Not that any one did anything to her, she was just dealt a rough hand. Lilo was born blind. She was born on May 7^th, 2004 to a QH x mare and a Leopard Appaloosa sire. Lilo’s owner noticed within the first few weeks that she could not see and would run into things and lose her mother. She was born into a dark world. Her mother nurtured her to become very healthy in every other way and her instincts are very sharp.

 A neighbor had been involved with some of the care and overseeing of this small backyard breeding operation. When she discovered that the owner was going to “get rid of” the blind filly, she intervened. The owner just did not want her. She could not sell her and she was starting to become a nuisance. At 4 months old she was starting to stray from her mother as normal foal would. The mother didn’t care and they would get separated. Usually at 3 – 4 months the foals are off exploring their new world and the mares are happy for some quiet time. Being able to be kept in sight they are off playing and learning to be on their own. This was not so for Lilo. She would become terrified at the insecurity and begin to panic. The mare did not understand her needs and was not able to assist her. The owner would have to catch the foal and bring her to her mother. This woman is aging and her health was failing and she was unable to retrieve and reunite the mother and foal every time. Her neighbor was fearful of the bleak prospect of this ever having a happy outcome. The owner wanted to send Lilo to a large University to have her used for scientific study. Little did she know that this would result in examination, dissection, and necropsies, all of which would be done on the “dead” animal. This was unacceptable. Something else had to be done. With nowhere else to turn the neighbor called Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Utah. They in turn arranged for the blind filly from NJ to live her life in comfort and security at Rolling Dog Ranch in Montana. This was a sanctuary for blind animals, and she would join the 8 other horses and many other animals there. Now the problem was to wean her from her mother, and get her from NJ to MT. Best Friends contacted LCR for assistance and on August 25^th, 2004 we went to NJ to pick her up. Our job was to prepare her for transport. To get her weaned and ready for the 4 – 7 day trip to Montana.

 Seeing her for the first time, she was beautiful. She was perfect in every way. She didn’t seem to have a single thing wrong or a care in the world, until you looked close enough to see her eyes were empty. She was sweet and easy to handle. I gave her a mild sedative and we were on our way to loading her. Without much struggle she was in the trailer and on her way. 20 minutes into the ride I pulled over to see how she was handling it. Amy, her riding companion, informed me she was in a panic. Within minutes she was thrashing around and trying to flip over back wards. Lilo was in the worst panic-stricken state I had ever seen. She just didn’t know what to do. With more sedation we got her calm enough to slowly continue the ride back to the ranch. Arriving at LCR Lilo, along with Amy, was exhausted. We put her in a stall next to Stitch and prayed for the best. Things seemed okay and her exhausted little body was now peaceful and resting, still under sedation, but at least comfortable. My ride home made me wonder if we were doing the right thing. Was this fair to the poor fear struck animal? She is now in a strange place with strange people, her mother is gone and it is all completely dark. New noises and smells and voices all became too much for her to handle.

  Lilo slept through the night due to pure exhaustion, but was in turmoil in the morning. The newness of her changed world would put her into a panic at the slightest sound. She would circle in her stall until she was so dizzy she would fall down. I couldn’t stop her. I would talk to her, caress her, hold her and stand quiet so she would feel secure. As soon as I would let go she would start all over again. I finally had to sedate her again. She was just not adjusting. I had informed Steve Smith of Rolling Dog Ranch or the dilemma I was in and that I wasn’t even sure it was fair to continue. I saw such fear in this poor soul it made me cry. I just didn’t know what to do and was sure I had made a mistake in taking on this challenge. The only thing to do was stand in her stall with her to give her company. She relied on me for security and comfort and I was not going to let her down. There had to be something I could do to be able to leave the stall without having to give her sedation. Obviously we couldn’t do that forever.  Stitch was the perfect candidate. He was young, calm, quiet and needed a friend of his own. He was on stall rest so we wouldn’t have to worry about taking him away from her for turn out. It worked. We divided the stall in half and Stitch replaced me as her security blanket. 

The world was so new and different to her now that every noise was carefully absorbed. I watched as she miraculously transformed her senses into sonar, radar, instinct, intuition, vibration, and just good horse sense. The over powering amount her other senses had kicked in was amazing. You could watch her negotiate her steps and moves. She had a sonar sense of where things were, even my hands. I would rub my fingers together so she new I was going to touch her. She would listen to Stitch chew and move. When out for a walk she would step every step he made. At first we had to lead her by cradling her head in my hand and hold her around the hindquarters. She quickly learned that she was attached to a lead and would rely on the tension to know where I was. 

This was working and after a week she was doing so well, we tried to move Stitch to the next stall over and give her more room. This threw her into another panic. She started her circling and throwing herself backwards all over again. I wasn’t sure where to go from here. I knew she would never make to MT without Stitch. We considered sending him with, but he was not healthy enough to make that kind of journey, and he was already ready to run, buck and play and we knew Lilo would never keep up or be able to find him. She would still be alone. We decided to try a goat. I’ve seen that work before and it would be our best shot. They could stay together in the same stall without being crowded. With this in mind I decided to put a bell on Stitch to accustom Lilo to listening for the bell, and we would transfer the bell to the goat…when we got one.

 A goat, how hard could that be to get? Well, little did we know, it was next to impossible. I put the word out to every contact I could think of. No one had a spare goat. They were all too small, too old, pregnant, or just not available.  We searched auctions and farms all over the area. Nothing was available.  I figured she would just have to be okay on her own. We really didn’t have much choice. Then one day I had been doing paper work and working around the farm. I was at the ranch all day, except for maybe an hour. Evening feeding came and I was out in the barn with some other volunteers and I looked over into one of the stalls that had an open door to the outside. In with the two horses was a goat. Yes, a goat, a little black with white goat. I asked the girls, “Where’d the goat come from?” as they were just as baffled because they thought I knew and were asking me what to feed her. They said she had been there the whole time. I went in to meet this goat and she was a little nervous, but friendly. I picked her up and locked her in the stall next to Lilo. I went into the house and started calling the same people I had before asking who left us a goat. No one did. No one knew where she came from, they all said, maybe she wandered in. maybe she escaped from the slaughter house and knew to come to LCR. Out of the “blue” appeared this cute friendly goat which we named Blue. We think she was a gift from God.  He knew Lilo needed a friend and the goat needed a happy life. A match made in heaven.

Slowly we introduced Lilo and Blue to each other and with in 3 days they were best of buddies. Everything was falling into place perfectly. Health checks were made; papers and permits were obtained; now we needed to wait for the truck to take them to their new home and family waiting for them in Montana.
   

The trailer for Lilo arrived on a bright sunny afternoon-a little late, but we didn’t mind the extra time with her.
The driver, Jeff Marks, was in no hurry to load and leave. In fact he asked if he could unload another horse he was hauling to Washington state (Jabudi-what an absolutely gorgeous horse!) to give it a chance to rest, stretch his legs, and get a drink.
This was our first sign that Lilo was in good hands.
Jeff was very understanding, listening to our instructions and concerns-there were many. He spent quite awhile in the stall with Lilo, touching her, handling her, getting to know her, and letting her smell him and get to know him.
Our second sign that Lilo was in good hands. We were starting to feel better about this long haul she had in store.
Finally we were ready to let go and we loaded Lilo and Blue. She went on the trailer like a dream, much different than when she had been picked up. She settled into her space in the front of the trailer-extra large to accommodate her and Blue-like she had been there before.
She went around the whole area touching everything with her nose and mentally mapping her space. She had water, food, and Blue-she was happy with it.
Jeff promised to keep in touch and let us know how she was doing along the way and they were off. No kicking, no screaming, no crying out.....well at least not from Lilo. We all cried like babies.
Within a half hour we had a call from Jeff. He was just getting ready to get on the turnpike and wanted to let us know that he had checked on Lilo and she was doing just fine.
Our third sign. I breathed a great sigh of relief and felt the worry slip off my shoulders and out of my thoughts.
I know there are a lot drivers that haul horses without much thought about their cargo, Steve and Alayne from Rolling Dog Ranch had found someone that truly cared about the animals in his care. We heard from Jeff almost daily and everything was going great. Lilo was calm and relaxed. RELAXED!! IN A TRAILER!! What a difference from her first ride! Then trouble struck when Jeff’s truck broke down in Minnesota just a day or two away from their destination. He needed his transmission repaired and would have to do a couple days’ layover. Normally when Jeff hauls horses he has a network of barns that take the horses in so they can rest overnight in a stall. Jabudi was no problem, but Lilo would probably get very confused getting in and out of the trailer and put into a different barn every night, so she and Blue slept in the trailer with Jeff. His “stall” was in the front compartment of the trailer, complete with a bed, fridge and computer! He spent a lot of time with Lilo and was very impressed with how far she had come in such a short time. We had told him about her first few weeks at LCR, the terrifying trailer ride away from her mother, the panic and fear, the spinning and circling in a stall alone until she fell or reared backward.
Finally Jeff, Lilo, Blue, and Jabudi were back on the road and headed for home.
When Lilo arrived at Rolling Dog Ranch, Steve and Alayne climbed up the sides of the trailer to get a peek, but she was sleeping and they couldn’t get a good look at her. Jabudi was unloaded and they finally got a look at this little doll as they led her off the trailer and into a stall where she quickly mapped out her space and then dug into a pile of hay. Lilo was finally home!
Steve and Alayne have kept in touch as much as they have time for and tell us that Lilo, now named Nikki, has adjusted amazingly well and very quickly. They have several older “babysitters” for Nikki and everyone just adores her. She quickly maps out her space, whether it’s a stall or paddock and can follow Steve’s voice when he calls to her. She is doing wonderfully!
A heartfelt Thank You to Jeff Marks of Grand Champion Hauling for taking such good care of this little sweetie-pie on her journey, to Steve and Alayne for your confidence that Lilo would adjust to life without mom and her familiar surroundings and for taking in this amazing little filly, to Jane at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Utah for connecting Lilo’s neighbor with Rolling Dog Ranch and LCR and covering some of the shipping costs.
There were a lot of people working together to save Lilo. Sometimes we questioned whether we were doing the right thing, if it was fair to ask her to continue a long life in darkness. Lilo answered that question and gave us a fascinating lesson in resilience.
You can continue to follow Lilo/Nikki’s progress thru the Rolling Dog Ranch website.

Nikki and Alayne in the beautiful Montana mountains.