Chicken Nugget Needs a Leg Up

Chicken Nugget is one of the horses at Painted Bar Stables. For the past years he has been a stalwart contributor to our stables, playing host to thousands of riders for trail rides, lessons and other adventures. His expertise particularly caters to kiddos and novices, but he's been a fan favorite among even more more advanced riders on our all day rides and adult immersion camps.

Unfortunately one day he came in from the pasture with a bit of a limp. Upon investigation it was determined that he tore his Manica Flexora. This is a thin sheath that bundles all of the tendons together in the lower leg above the pastern. Because it is torn the tendons will keep rubbing on it getting lesions and making him limp.

He will be having surgery on his left hind leg on Wednesday, April 30th, 2025 at the Cornell Equine Hospital in Ithaca, NY.

Now I know what you might be saying, did this happen before? And, yes. Three years ago Nugget had the same issue in his hind right leg. Sadly it turns out that this is not uncommon, specifically for his breed, for this to happen bilaterally and so here we are again.

But there’s hope! While it cannot be solved medically (with medicines and injections and the like), as proven by his last surgery this tear can be solved with surgery that would go in and remove the torn portion of the membrane. And this surgery has a very high success rate (70% chance of getting back to full work). Nugget has already proven the efficacy of this surgery as he recovered 100% and went back to full work; as well as another one of our horses, Poco, who also had this surgery in the past and went on to compete in endurance races again before she was retired to do her favorite job of teaching children.

While no surgery is a guarantee, without the surgery, he will always have pain in that leg and inflammation of his tendons. And we cannot leave him be without trying. To us, it is not an option: we have to fix him!

Chicken Nugget is an integral part of our Handsome Haflinger Happy Meal (consisting of Nugget, Tater Tot and Sweet Tea) and we just can’t imagine the barn at work without him. While we may own him -- he is here for the public and spends most of his life contributing to the happiness of others.

Unfortunately with grain and bedding costs already rising in price and the costs of all of our other supplies going up, we are a bit short on funds.

We could really use any help anyone can offer. Even just a little bit of help adds up.

And Nugget and his Happy Meal geldings would also really appreciate it too!

TOTAL BILLS:

Diagnosis: $800

Surgery for Torn Manica Flexora: $4000

Staffing and Supplies for 4-6 Month Stall Rest: $1000

total cost to barn: $5800

Barn Budget: the stables has a very break even budget this morning but we have been able to earmark $1500 out of our veterinary slush fund to put towards nugget. However we worry about depleting the fund even further in case of emergencies or needs for other horses - especially other horses without a fanclub who are not as known to the public and in public use.

Owner Contributions: the stable owner as $1000 earmarked for him out of her personal expenses, but we could really use some help getting to the total number.

Ways to Help:

1. Donate to our GoFundMe

2. Send a donation directly via Venmo to avoid processing fees to @paintedbarstables

https://venmo.com/u/paintedbarstables

BEWARE OF FAKE PROFILE that looks like ours but has a (-) at end. Our profile has many friends.

3. Share our fundraiser with your friends

4. Regularly share the services that Painted Bar Stables offers so that we can increase our income to balance the budget of this surgery. Help us make more money because we are willing to earn the money it takes to help Chicken Nugget.

5. Help us recruit interns for our fall and winter internship program so we can take our more rides beyond the summer college break!

Whether you help us with small or large donations, or simply by helping promote the Painted bar Stables, it will make a huge difference.

Nugget’s History and How We Rescued Him

Like all three of our Haflinger geldings, Chicken Nugget started his life as an Amish driving horse, and like all three of them he was named Bud (there’s a lot of lack of creativity in the Amish community for naming it seems).

Nugget in particular was a drop out. He was scared of the lawnmower he was supposed to pull and tough to hitch to harness. He didn’t really seem to do well working with the Amish lifestyle at all and it just made him really nervous - he is, after all, a chicken.

In 2020 we rescued him and brought him to our farm where he learned a new job: how to be ridden. A job he thought was much, much less scary. It also came with many perks such as kisses from children, which he desires in great numbers.

Since then he has blossomed from quite the scardy-cat Chicken to an adorable and beloved Chicken Nugget.

This chonk of fast food quickly bonded with Tater Tot, our other Haflinger, who has showed him the ropes. Following in Tater’s hoof prints (quite literally usually, as often will follow Tater anywhere) the two of them, are a force to be reckoned with. You’ll often find them on trail one-after-another playing bumper horses and leap frog as they take beginners and advanced riders alike on epic adventures.

Along with the younger haflinger, Sweet Tea (the third member of their gang), these three have become the Happy Meal, some of the most popular and beloved horses in our stables.

In 2022 during a trail ride, Nugget tore the Manica Felxoria in his right hind leg. The surgery had a couple of obstacles but otherwise went very well. Within the year he was back to work, especially with the physically easier tasks of helping the youngest of children that ride at Painted Bar Stables.

While at the Cornell Equine Hospital in 2022, the veterinarians noticed a pink spot on his eye. Haflingers are quite prone to cancerous cells in the eye. Because nugget was already going to be in surgery, the veterinarians opted to add an additional procedure to remove the mass, and we are very glad that they did because it turned out to be a squamous carcinoma. Afterwards we treated him with chemotherapeuticals. and he's looked right as rain ever since.

That said -- when he goes back under anesthesia the ophthalmologist will again take a peek at his eye to make sure no signs of cancer have returned.