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PrintThere's something about Molly, the three-legged pony
After surviving Hurricane Katrina and a dog attack, Molly now helps others overcome obstacles.
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Molly the Pony, a children's book written by Pam Kaster, was published by LSU Press in 2008. "It's much more than a children's book," Kaster says. "It's great inspiration for anybody who's experienced a significant catastrophe and overcome it. It's about a survivor."
• Buy this book
She isn't exactly a unique medical marvel: There's a donkey in Florida with a prosthetic leg, and California Thoroughbred stallion Boitron famously serviced mares after undergoing amputation surgery and anesthesia 18 times in order to be properly fitted with his prosthesis.
But there's something about Molly.
Now 19, this gray speckled pony stands 11 hands high and weighs 400 pounds. And she's been wearing a prosthesis on her right front leg since 2006.
Owner Kaye Harris, who runs a pony-ride business and a pony retirement and animal rescue foundation in New Orleans, frequently fields requests for Molly to visit children's hospitals.
At Molly's first such visit, when introduced to a wheelchair-bound sick child whose head was thrashing violently, "Molly did not move a muscle. She moved her head in closer to this boy, her eyes making contact with his eyes, and this mare was talking to this kid. Afterward, his head wasn't thrashing and he was taken away more at peace."
Watch CBS Evening News' segment on Molly
Molly has similarly comforted many other children. She's even been asked to travel to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., to console wounded vets, but Harris needs a better trailer for that long trip.
A victim of Katrina, Molly was abandoned when the hurricane hit in 2005. She was rescued by Harris a week later but victimized again when a rescued pit bull on the ranch viciously attacked her. It required five stitches in her belly, 17 staples in her jaw, and bandages on all four legs for Molly to begin recuperating.
"The reason I feel that she didn't founder is because I didn't have her stay in a stall," Harris says. "I let her out to wander in the front yard after three days if she wanted, so she could choose."
Everything healed except Molly's right front ankle, which decayed and literally fell off. Harris raised $5,000 to pay Louisiana State University's fee for amputation surgery, which was performed by Dr. Rustin Moore. Since then, Dwayne Mara of Bayou Orthotic & Prosthetic has made Molly six prosthetic legs — all gratis.
Watch Molly in a video by the LSU School of Veterinarian Medicine
"She uses the prosthetic about a third of the time. She will either bump me or come find me if she wants it off," Harris says. When it's off, Molly still gets around okay. "She tripods; she moves the front leg over to center it between the two back legs." She's learned to compensate in other ways, too, lying down in ditches so she can get up more easily.
A bit of a celebrity, Molly has appeared on CBS Evening News and YouTube. Three years out from amputation surgery now, she seems to be thriving.
"The doctors all want to say it's because she's small." Harris doesn't think so. "Being smaller probably does help, but I think it has to do with her innate smarts about protecting herself and her survivability."
Links
• Learn more about Molly and her foundation at www.mollythepony.com.
• Visit Molly's MySpace page.
