With prosthetic leg, mini horse goes galloping
Prosthetic designers had hoped Midnite the miniature horse would be able to walk, thanks to his new prosthesis. Instead, he ran.
For centuries now, horses have been passed up by technology--forced to live in the shadows of manmade monstrosities like the train or the motorcar that add insult to injury by co-opting the name of their equine forebears with twisted phrases like "Iron Horse," "horsepower," and "Mustang GT."
Those dark times are coming to an end; the age of the bionic horse is upon us.
A miniature horse born sans much of his right leg was recently fitted with a nifty new prosthesis that makes him able to run like some sort of Lee Majors/Seabiscuit hybrid, except, uh...smaller.
When we first heard about this story, we naturally all had the same reaction: "We've gotta get on whatever health insurance plan that tiny horse has!"
Turns out, though, that credit goes to a Texas group called Ranch Hand Rescue that received the horse named Midnite from law enforcement, which had taken it out of the hands of a neglectful owner. The group contacted a Fort Worth company called Prosthetic Care, which designed a new leg in the hopes that Midnite might be able to at least walk.
By yesterday though, the 4-year-old Midnite was already galloping and presumably strategizing with lawyers about potential endorsement deals. Perhaps they ought to think globally by teaming up with this elephant.