Our plucky lamb needed help and we were determined to get her baa-ck on her feet. By Susan Franks, 53
Stirring sugar into my tea, I stared out at the field and smiled.
I’d opened The Rescue Ranch as a sanctuary for farm animals, starting with just two goats from a local pub that could no longer care for them.
Now my husband Jules and I had 35 animals, from sheep and goats to rabbits and dogs, including my collie-cross, Siegfried.
Seeing them frolicking happily in the field together warmed my heart.
No sooner had I gone back inside to get ready for the day, when a large car came down our drive.
I opened the door and a young man said: ‘I’ve got a sheep for you.’
I bent down to see a tiny lamb with sweet, tired eyes in the back of the car.
She’d been found abandoned.
‘Poor girl!’ I said.
We called her Rosy and within hours, we’d got her all settled in one
of our barns. And pretty soon, she’d attracted the attention of Siegfried.
He gave her a few sniffs and a tentative lick hello — he’d always been good with our injured animals.
But Rosy wasn’t in a good way, and when our vet came over later, he said: ‘I’m not sure she’ll walk again.’
He explained she had a broken leg, and that all her other legs had seized up. The poor thing couldn’t move at all.
She was probably only five months old.
At first, we were a bit stumped as to how to help her.
Then Jules said: ‘I’ve got an idea.’
He made a frame out of wood and got to work trying to do some physiotherapy on her legs.
It seemed to help, but we knew we had to get her walking.
I remembered seeing wheels could help disabled dogs move around.
Maybe we could get some for Rosy, I thought.
I got busy on my laptop and put out an appeal for wheels on Facebook.
Within hours, I’d had loads of offers. And a few days later, a four-wheeled frame arrived at the ranch.
We got to work adapting it, slotting on larger wheels to support Rosy properly.
Popping her on the frame for the first time, Jules and I willed her on.
‘Come on, girl,’ I said.
It had been so long since she’d walked, I was worried she’d forgotten how.
Then slowly, she shuffled forward, with the wheels squeaking underneath her.
‘That’s it!’ I said, clapping with excitement.
She began to get more confident, and soon she was whizzing around the field, munching on grass and playing with her friends. There was no stopping her.
And over the next few weeks, we noticed an improvement in Rosy’s front legs. She seemed to be putting pressure on them and moving them herself.
‘Her front legs are almost completely healed,’ our vet said at her next check-up.
Tears welled. It was lovely to know we’d made a real difference to Rosy’s life.
'I've got a sheep for you'
Rosy has been such a welcome addition to the ranch, and she’ll live out the rest of her days here in Hatton, Warwickshire.
She’s made some great friends. There’s 20-year-old Lulu, another sheep she loves to gossip with, as well as Thomas and Sidney the goats, who she cosies up with at night.
And of course, Siegfried, who wakes Rosy each day with kisses to the nose.
We’re now on a mission to get Rosy a new frame. We hope if we put her on to two wheels, her back legs will follow suit and start to recover too.
We’re so glad we went on our woolly mission, and we’re hopeful Rosy will make a full recovery.