Frostbite Saves Pony’s Rotting Manhood; He May Now Live For Years

BRIDGTON, ME — Animal rescuer Brogan Horton has seen — and smelled — plenty over the years, but never anything quite like this. On a frigid January night, her organization, the Animal Rescue Unit in Bridgeton, received a load of animals they bought from a livestock auction. But this time, it was different. A 15-year-old pony they received as a throw-in had a severe injury. A 2-inch-by-2-inch chunk of his penis flesh broke off. The organ looked like it was rotting.

She thought for sure the pony would die.

"The original appointment with the vet was to put him down," Horton tells Patch. "I mean, I had a body guy coming out to bury him."

It wasn't just the appearance. It was the smell of decomposing "organ death," she says.

"If you were within 10 feet of him you could smell it," she says.

Horton has spent her fair share of time around foul odors, including helping to remove bodies as part of animal rescue following Hurricane Katrina. This pony's smell was among the worst things she's ever encountered.

"It was in the top two worst things you could smell," she says.

But after taking a closer look at the issue, Horton ended up canceling his euthanasia appointment. And now, she says enough money has been raised to give the pony reconstructive surgery, which could allow him to live another 30 years — pain free.

At some point a few years ago, something happened to the pony, Horton says. It could've been an injury, a cyst, a mass — something that was left untreated. Eventually, the last three inches of the pony's penis were, in her words, "eaten off" and filled with masses.

"It kind of disintegrated the actual penis itself," she says.

The pony should've died, she says. But a bitter cold that swept through the Northeast is the only reason he didn't die over the last month, she says. Frostbite essentially cauterized the wound and prevented the pony from bleeding or having more of his penis break off. Had it been July, he would've long been dead, she says.

"I can't imagine the kind of pain he lived in last summer when it was warm and there were flies," Horton says. "It had to be excruciating."

When the Animal Rescue Unit received the pony on Jan. 6, temperatures plunged to minus 25 degrees, keeping him alive. After sedating him, they took a closer look at the reproductive organ and discovered it actually functioned fine, save for the last three inches. They decided to try to save the teen boy, and — aptly— named him Richard.

A fundraising campaign was launched to get Richard reconstructive surgery, and has raised more than $5,600. Now, Richard, hopped up on painkillers, awaits surgery, slated for Monday. The vet will remove, shorten, and create a new penis for him.

It's still too frigid for him to properly recover outside though. His catheter would freeze, leading to more issues with his healing. So Richard may get a small vacation: healing inside the Myhre Clinic, which is performing the surgery, until April, where it'll be a balmy 55 degrees. After that, he'll be adopted out to a loving family as a companion pony.

Horton says the organization still seeks donations to cover for his post-surgery care.

She says they contacted authorities about a possible animal abuse case, but she said it's often difficult to track down who cared for an animal before an auction. Richard is also expected to survive, so he wouldn't necessarily be a prosecutor's top priority.

In fact, he's quite lively.

"It's amazing. He's not even up and going — he's feisty," Horton says. "He's very much alive."

Click here to watch a video of a veterinarian explaining Richard's medical issue. (EDITOR'S NOTE: Video is very graphic and may be disturbing to some readers.)

Photo credit: Brogan Horton, Animal Rescue Unit