Her large well muscled body bears the obvious signs of abuse…signs that we know too well. She had been stripped from her foal, and judging from the wicked gash spanning the width of her worried brow…, most likely she had been beaten into the trailer that had been designed to transport a pony, not a very large and terrorized horse, shoe horning the mare into a claustrophobic and horrifying bear trap of a cage.  She emerged from the trailer bleeding, in need of being stitched from ear to ear, and deeply defended. While there are those who violate and brutalize, there are also those who guard, protect, and serve. In Lady Bug’s case, there were both. Because there are those of us who will not turn our backs, and because in spite of Lady Bug’s life of abuse and fear, a kind woman inserted herself in what was a violent storm, purchasing the terrified mare….not for her own pleasure, but to save her. We took a few days to load the mare, who carries both a muscular posturing and defensiveness that masks yearning for compassion and companionship that can only be accessed through the milky chocolate softness located in her liquid eye. Once home on a ranch that she now owns, Lady Bug took a long exhale, and a nap in a fresh pile of sweet smelling shavings. Many thanks to Liz for her selflessness, generosity, and humanity…it takes a village!