BOZMAN A 30-year-old mare rescued from a swimming pool Christmas morning has found a new home and a new love.
"Miss Katie," a black Thoroughbred pulled out of a full swimming pool, is doing well at her new home at Country Comfort Farm in St. Michaels.
"She's doing really well," said Chelsea Faulkner, who lives at the farm and helped rescue the mare. "We had her going out with the other horses ... she's in love with Cowboy."
Cowboy is an 8-year-old Quarter Horse, whose show name is Romeo.
"She went from not having anyone to now, she's got a heated romance," Faulkner said.
Lisa Gowe, who rides Cowboy, said Miss Katie can't stand to get more than five feet away from her new love.
"She has to be by him," Gowe said. "She whinnied while I rode him, for him to come back. She's very happy."
Faulkner, along with the St. Michaels Fire Department, helped pull Miss Katie from the pool after the horse wandered from her pen.
"She was pretty much drowning, and her body was shutting down," Faulkner said. "She was trying to go up the shallow end, but it was on an angle. She kept sliding down into the deep end. She was shaking so bad."
Faulkner and the firefighters had to drag a limp Miss Katie out of the pool.
"It was pretty scary," she said.
After her rescue, Miss Katie's owner surrendered the mare to Country Comfort Farm. She's had her shots updated, and had two teeth pulled.
"Now she can eat comfortably," Gowe said. "She's in retirement. She deserves to eat, eat and eat."
And along with a healthy appetite, the mare has a new spring in her step.
"She's perked up so much her eyes are so much brighter, and she gets a little frisky and trots around," Faulkner said. "We'll keep her forever."
Gowe is collecting donations for the mare's care at P.O. Box 234, Neavitt, MD 21652
