Lou Whitmire

Reporter

TIRO - Rudy the quarterhorse is now happy, healthy and back with the woman who showed him in 4-H at the Crawford County Fair for many years.

After becoming aware of Rudy's unfortunate plight while volunteering at the Humane Society, Natalie Lyons has been reunited with her old 4-H companion,

In January, the Humane Society Serving Crawford County launched an investigation into the health of the 21-year-old horse, which had been confined to a stall in a boarding facility for months. The animal was removed from the stable and was taken to a foster home in the care of the humane society.

"It was covered with a blanket, but the horse's face was sunk in and you could tell it was malnourished," Tami Rike, the organization's humane agent said in January. "You could see its spine and ribs very clearly, and it appeared to be starving. It had had insufficient food for at least six months."

In January, Rike said a veterinarian determined that its body condition was a 1.5 on a scale of 1 to 10, meaning it was near death.

Trisha Tackett of Ohio 103, who is boarding Rudy until her longtime friend Natalie gets a barn built at her place, also knew Rudy as a kid in 4-H. Tackett said the look in his eyes when she saw him was unforgettable.

"I could see he was down, but he was not broken," she said Wednesday night outside her barn.

Lyons said she's never letting Rudy go again. Rudy is officially retired.

"He's been a show horse since he was 4. It's time for him to be happy and whatever he wants he gets," she said.

Lyons said she hopes Rudy lives a long life.

"He was still the same old Rudy," Lyons said. "He's just a good old horse. He's predictable. Her (Tackett's) daughter comes out to see him. He's a good teacher. He's taught a lot of the local kids through 4-H. He's mostly a showmanship, trail, Western horse."

Lyons said her parents bought Rudy in 1999 for her 12th birthday from the University of Findlay, where he was trained. He was a reining horse, but did not have the proper body type for it, so the college sold him. Lyons showed Rudy until she was 19 and leased him out to a couple of local kids.

She was working 24-hour shifts as a paramedic with Life Support in Bucyrus and could not get him outside each day when she decided to sell him about four years ago to a local family a couple years ago.

Lyons said Rudy's recovery has been slow, requiring special feed.

Rudy still drinks water vigorously because he fears no more water is coming.

Tackett's daughter Avery, 6, led Rudy around the enclosed corral area outside Wednesday night.

He rolled on the ground and pranced around, even bowing at times.

"He couldn't have done that before. He could barely walk," Lyons said.

Rudy is like family.

When she was showing him as a youngster, Lyons said Rudy used to nip at her mom only on show days.

"On show days, she would pick at me like everything had to be perfect and I think he knew she was upsetting me," she said with a laugh as Rudy entertained his visitors.

"Rudy was always looking out for me," Lyons said.

And now Lyons is returning the favor.

Lwhitmir@nncogannett.com

419-521-7223

Twitter: @LWhitmir