Melanee Sinclair stands with rescued Moochie at the Oglebay Stables.
WHEELING, W.Va. — Grazing outside the Oglebay Stables, Moochie the pony doesn’t want to lift his head.
Only a few weeks ago, however, he couldn’t lift his body off the stables’ ground.
“He’s much better than he was when he first came here. He was really, really sick,” said Melanee Sinclair, Moochie’s owner.
Despite his desire to graze, she is carefully monitoring his food intake – a diet of too much grass is dangerous for recovery.
When Sinclair purchased the 19-year-old pony this January from the YMCA Camp Tippecanoe in Ohio, Moochie weighed 400 pounds under his normal weight. Veterinary tests at Valley View Animal Hospital in Dover, Ohio, revealed many health concerns. Paired with the pony’s cut-off tail and frozen legs, his life was at risk.
Had she not bought Moochie, Sinclair believes the pony would either have frozen to death in the winter ice storm or been sold at a livestock auction, ultimately for slaughter.
“Quite frankly, we didn’t think he could survive…
