Meet Molly.  She's a grey speckled pony who 
was   abandoned by her owners when Hurricane 
Katrina hit southern   Louisiana .  She spent weeks 
on her own before finally being rescued and taken 
to a farm where abandoned animals were stockpiled. 
While there, she was attacked by a pit bull terrier 
and almost died.  Her gnawed right front leg became 
infected, and her vet went to LSU for help, but LSU 
was overwhelmed, and this pony was a welfare case. 
You know how that goes. 

But after surgeon Rustin Moore met Molly, he 
changed his mind.  He saw how the pony was 
careful to lie down on different sides so she didn't 
seem to get sores, and how she allowed people to 
handle her.  She protected her injured leg.  She 
constantly shifted her weight and didn't overload 
her good leg.  She was a smart pony with a serious 
survival ethic. 

Moore agreed to remove her leg below the knee, 
and a temporary artificial limb was built.  Molly 
walked out of the clinic and her story really begins 
there. 

'This was the right horse and the right owner,' 
Moore insists.  Molly happened to be a 
one-in-a-million patient.  She's tough as nails, 
but sweet, and she was willing to cope with pain. 
She made it obvious she understood that she was 
in trouble.  The other important factor, according 
to Moore , is having a truly committed and compliant 
owner who is dedicated to providing the daily care 
required over the lifetime of the horse. 

Molly's story turns into a parable for life in 
post-Katrina Louisiana .  The little pony gained   weight, 
and her mane finally felt a comb.  A human prosthesis 
designer built her a leg.