Nick the stallion recovering at Brookline farm

Friday, January 21, 2011

Staff Photo by Grant Morris An abused Friesian stallion named Nick is walked by Kristle Dougherty Thursday afternoon at Covered Bridge Farm in Brookline. Nick was one of three horses abandoned by their owner Dec. 20, after there was a report of a dead horse at the house.

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Staff Photo by Grant Morris An abused Friesian stallion named Nick is walked by Kristle Dougherty Thursday afternoon at Covered Bridge Farm in Brookline. Nick was one of three horses abandoned by their owner Dec. 20, after there was a report of a dead horse at the house.

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Staff Photo by Grant Morris Ribs protrude from under Nick's skin.

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Staff Photo by Grant Morris An abused Friesian stallion named Nick is walked by Kristle Dougherty Thursday afternoon at Covered Bridge Farm in Brookline. Nick was one of three horses abandoned by their owner Dec. 20, after there was a report of a dead horse at the house.

Enlarge Purchase Photo

Staff Photo by Grant Morris Kristle Dougherty looks Nick in the eyes, Thursday afternoon at Covered Bridge Farm in Brookline. Nick was one of three horses abandoned by their owner Dec. 20, after there was a report of a dead horse at the house.

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Staff Photo by Grant Morris An abused Friesian stallion named Nick is walked by Kristle Dougherty Thursday afternoon at Covered Bridge Farm in Brookline. Nick was one of three horses abandoned by their owner Dec. 20, after there was a report of a dead horse at the house.

Enlarge Purchase Photo

BROOKLINE – Three days before Christmas, an emaciated, black horse named Malachai was delivered to the Covered Bridge Farm on Mason Road. That’s where Kristle Dougherty and her partner, David Janik, keep 18 horses and run a riding school. They had agreed to care for the rescued Friesian stallion.

Translated from the Hebrew, Malachai means “angel of God.” By the looks of the horse, it would not be long before he would meet his maker.

But the stallion had arrived in the nick of time, and Dougherty changed his name to Nick. And over the next several weeks, she spent every hour of every day caring for the horse as if he were a newborn baby. The economic meltdown that occurred three years ago was bad for horses across the state and nation, and Nick is one of hundreds who have suffered after an owner was no longer able to provide care.

Dougherty, who was assisting the New Hampshire Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals with Nick’s case, told the horse’s story without naming any of the parties involved.

Because the case is under investigation and could go to court, she said, she is obligated to keep that information confidential.

As Nick’s caretaker, moreover, Dougherty said she is hoping to gain custody and to keep the horse for the rest of his life.

“When he first came, he was like a 90-year-old man,” Dougherty said. “Now, he comes in prancing and screaming, letting everyone know he’s here.”

Nick was rescued Dec. 22, after a woman in Bedford called the town’s Animal Control Department to report a dead horse on a local property.

“The animal control officer went out there, but there was an 8-foot stockade fence and he couldn’t get in,” Dougherty said. “And that night, the owner of the dead horse loaded three horses into a trailer and called a friend in Amherst saying she was dropping off the horses for a few days.”

In the middle of the night, the owner left the horses in the trailer on her friend’s Amherst property, without food, water or blankets.

“The friend found the horses in the trailer and called the owner,” Dougherty said. “She (the friend) took the two mares out, but he (Nick) remained in the trailer with no blankets, nothing.”

According to Dougherty, the friend contacted another horse owner in Pepperell, Mass., asking if he could take the stallion. He didn’t have room and called Dougherty.

Nick was delivered to the Covered Bridge Farm at 4:30 p.m. Dec. 22, placed in a stall and fed a bit of food and water. The stallion was standing in the trailer for 36 hours, cold, hungry and fatigued, and at 6:30 p.m., he went down for a nap, Dougherty said.

“He didn’t have the strength to get back up,” Dougherty said, recalling how she had called her veterinarian and trainer and several of the people who board their horses at her farm to come and help. “He was so exhausted and didn’t have the muscle tone.”

The vet administered a painkiller but explained what Dougherty and the others already knew: “If we can’t get him up, I’ll have to euthanize him.”

Janik had an idea.“We could make a sling and lift him with the tractor,” Dougherty said, describing how her partner put together a contraption that worked like a wheelchair lift.

It took 20 minutes to raise the horse but after the sling was removed, he collapsed again.

“He had no strength,” Dougherty said.

On the next try, however, Janik worked out a way to raise Nick and keep him supported.

“Three of us stayed up all night to watch him,” Dougherty said.

For the next three weeks, she lived in the viewing room inside her riding arena, watching the horse every hour of the day and taking cat naps to keep going. And slowly, the horse, although still bony and 600 pounds underweight, began to recover. Now, Dougherty’s hopes are pinned on getting support from the local horse community and from a regional group, the Northeast Friesian Horse Club, slated to hold its annual meeting Saturday at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Nashua.

“He’s awesome,” she said on Thursday afternoon, leading Nick from his pen after removing the layers of blankets that he must wear to keep from burning too many calories while standing in the cold. “For a horse to go through something like this and still want to be with people, to go through that kind of abuse, left with nothing to eat, and he still cares about people. … At the end of the day, it’s amazing.”

Anyone interested in contributing to the Nick Fund may contact Dougherty at the farm, at 533-0770.

Hattie Bernstein can be reached at 673-3100, ext. 24, or hbernstein@cabinet.com.