Jessie, a Riding for the Disabled horse whose skull was
fractured by a hammer blow between the eyes, is well on the road to recovery.
But it has not been an easy road for Jessie or her caregivers at the Riding for the Disabled centre in Darwin, in northern Australia.
Jessie, a 15-year-old quarter horse, was attacked in her paddock in early October, the blow punching the bone a centimetre inwards.
"Jessie is doing really well," says centre manager Lesley Monro.
"The hole in her head has almost disappeared, but in saying this it has taken quite some time.
"It was such a large hole - about the size of a golf ball - and an open wound which needed to be cleaned twice daily and bone fragments pulled out of it."
Lesley says the wet season has just started, with sky-high humidity and seven inches of rain in half an hour on Sunday.
"I was worried that this humidity would hinder her progress but it seems that it is only helping.
"I will be turning her out in about three weeks for a four-month break.
"Jessie has been extremely spoilt over the past couple of months," she says.
"It's mango season up here and she almost demands her daily dose of peeled and stoned mangoes after her daily routine of injections, etc!"
The cruel attack on Jessie shocked locals and Lesley received calls from all over Australia, including one from the Northern Territory's Chief Minister Paul Henderson, inquiring after the horse's health.
Jessie's skull was fractured between the eyes from a single blow with a blunt object, punching her skull inwards and fracturing her sinus. The shape of the wound indicates it was a hammer.
The centre could ill-afford to lose the services of Jessie, who has been a part of the equine RDA team for five years.
The RDA operation is based at Marlows Lagoon, a suburb of Darwin. It has 38 acres and Jessie was outside with others horses for the night when the attack occurred.
 One of the RDA's riders gives Jessie her much-anticipated mango. |
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