The Great Horse Rescue: part 1

Life in Nicaragua is good. I live a more predictable life these days. My days usually consist of waking up when I want, walking for a good hour on the beach, lounging in the hammocks, cleaning, reading, doing laundry (by hand, mind you), doing my insanity workout, and cooking. Sometimes I surf.

walk for miles and miles.....

doing laundry by hand, it's hard work!!

Our hammocks

I've scrubbed this house from top to bottom. I'm also trying out some new bread recipes. 

Cinnamon raisin bread

 Dinh surfs for 2-3 hours twice a day, so I'm forced to entertain myself for the majority of the day if I don't go with him. 
I wasn't getting completely bored, but I wished there was more to do. There is a stable down the road that is owned by an American couple. I told Dinh we should get a horse, we could keep him at the stable for a small fee. We decided to do a little more research on horses and buy one in the near future. 
I usually walk alone in the morning while Dinh is surfing, but the surf wasn't too good one morning, so Dinh decided to join me. 
We were rounding one of the rocky points when we saw a regal horse standing on the rocks far away . I thought it made a good picture so I snapped a pic with my iphone. 

As we got closer, we discover it's a colt, that he is alone, is limping, and has a big cut on his upper leg. My caregiver instinct kicked in right away. The little horse was skittish of us and wouldn't let us get near him. I tried to observe his leg as he hobbled away. I couldn't tell if there were any broken bones. Nothing obvious. 
From the evidence, I assumed he had gotten injured and his owner left him because he wasn't able to walk. Nicaraguans don't look at animals like we do. It's heartbreaking. 
"Dinh, we HAVE to help him!!", I pleaded. I would rescue this horse by myself if I had too. I'll never let an animal suffer if I can do anything about it. 
Dinh agreed. We hurried back to the house and gathered supplies: water, carrots, a makeshift splint and a rope. We called Dinh's friend, Chip, who has a 4-wheeler. It was over a half an hour walk to get back to the little horse, so we thought it would be helpful to get Chip involved. 
Operation: save a horse, had begun. The 3 of us piled on Chip's 4-wheeler and off we went. 
When we arrived, we found 4-5 local guys with horses at the location. They were there to fish and camp. We asked of it was their horse and they said no. 
I creep over slowly to the little horse. He eyed me suspiciously . I talked to him gently and offered him a carrot. He wanted nothing to do with me and limped further away. I was relieved that he was somewhat mobile, it will make the rescue easier. I didn't see him warming up to me anytime in the near future, so I got the rope and tried to lasso him. As you can imagine, it was an epic failure and quite comical at the same time. The Nicaraguan guys watched us gringo clowns dance around for a while, snickering under their breath, then offered to help. They were much more experienced with horses than we were. With the little horse running away from them also, it took a few tries before they harnessed him and were able to tie a halter on him. 

We were so grateful. We wouldn't have even known how to tie a halter. They handed us the rope and we thanked them up and down. 
This horse was not liking being told what to do. We pulled at the rope and he dug his front hooves deep in the sand. It took the maximum strength of both Dinh and I to get him to move. He bucked up on his front feet, then took a few steps, then pulled against us as hard as he could. It was a very slow moving process. The job was exhausting and we questioned what we had gotten ourselves into. In between rests, we decided this would be our horse now. We named him Milagro, which means miracle. It would be a miracle if we got him off this beach. 
"Come oooonnnn Milagro, we're only trying to help you", I grunted between the tug of war sessions. 
"You look like a camel when you do that", I teased Milagro. He really did look like a camel when he put his head down and scrunched up his face. We both laughed. 
Dinh said he was getting tired, but my adrenaline was kicked into high gear. This animal was in need and it was up to us to help him!!
"Ok, let's try to get to that tree, Dinh", I encouraged. 
All of a sudden, the old worn rope snapped with such force that Dinh and I flew backwards, thumping hard on the sand. 
"Owww!!", I yelped as I rubbed my butt. 
Milagro was still. He was tired too and didn't attempt to run now that he didn't have a rope attached to him. I walked reeeaaaallll slow over to him and tied the 2 ends together. Due to the exhaustion, he finally let me pet his head a little. He was breathing hard.
"Don't worry, we're here to help you, you're so pretty, you just have to stop fighting us", I said in a smoothing voice. His big brown eyes focused on me and I noticed for the first time how long his eyelashes were. His emotions were so human-like. He had such a powerful energy emanating from him. I felt a bond form at that moment. A bond that I knew would last a very long time. 
Chip left on his 4-wheeler to get some help. We planned to take him to the stables, but had a good 2 miles more to go. The feat was looking nearly impossible.
Dinh and I continued to struggle with the stubborn adolescent. It's a good thing he wasn't any bigger than he was. For a little guy , he was strong!
After a while, Chip returns with a local cattle herder on a big horse. All it took was a little nudge on his butt from the big horse to make Milagro obey . We instructed the man to bring him to the stables. As we watched them tread away , my heart was overcome with emotions and I got all teary-eyed. It was such a relief to have some help. Milagro might have known that we were saving him, but he sure put up a good fight. He doesn't listen to us, but he listens to other horses. Figures. 
We returned to the house and planned to go back to the stables after we ate lunch. 
Within an hour, we were at the stables, looking for our little Milagro. The 2 horse hands working at the stable, Milton and Martin, said they hadn't seen a little colt and knew nothing about it. 
My heart raced, where was our little guy?! We jumped in Dinh's truck and backtracked. With each windy turn, my worries rose. We didn't see Milagro. Where was he?! 
Then finally, we see the precious little animal on the side of the muddy road. His harness was off and there was no cattle herder to be seen. 
He had left him. 
Milagro was just standing there like, "ok, you guys got me here, what do you want me to do now? This is your guy's big idea."
We quickly drove back to the stables, explained the situation to Milton and Martin, begging them for help. I was almost in tears at this point. Without hesitation, they saddled up their big horses and followed us down the road. These were good people. 
When we got there, Milagro was still standing on the side of the road, looking bored. He didn't want to go far with an injured leg. They assessed him a little and then nudged Milagro's butt with their horses nose. 

Once again, Milagro obeyed and hobbled along as best he could. It was slow moving but we all made it back to the stable safely. Once at the stable, Milton and Martin gave Milagro a shot of antibiotic and pain medicine. 

getting his shot

They sprayed an antiseptic on his cut, which was looking rather nasty with infection. Now for the big question: were there any broken bones?
They said "no" and I let out a cheer. Milagro was going to be just fine, they said. I was so happy that they helped us that I told them I loved them, in Spanish. Haha. They didn't speak English. 
It was such an emotional day. We knew he was in good hands from now on. He was put in his own stable and given hay and fresh water. We could finally relax. 

Milagro recovering