Ozzy: From Forgotten Champion to Beloved Companion
Some stories just grab your heart and don't let go. Ozzy's is one of those.
When this 22-year-old Standardbred bay gelding first came through our doors from Snohomish County Animal Control, he was barely standing. With a body condition score of just 1.5 – a clinical way of saying he was fighting for his life – Ozzy's spirit seemed as depleted as his body. He couldn't even muster the strength for a proper whinny.
But here's the thing about champions – they never forget how to fight.
Day by day, meal by careful meal, Ozzy began his comeback story. His foster home reports he's taken to his re-feeding program with the same determination that once powered him around the racetrack. Yes, you read that right – this gentle soul who arrived at death's door was once a celebrated racehorse named Red Star Dusty, thundering around Fraser Downs in British Columbia and crossing finish lines in victory.
Today, Ozzy stands before us transformed. He is at a healthy weight, his eyes sparkle with renewed interest in the world around him, and his once-silent voice has returned as a strong, beautiful whinny that seems to announce: "I'm still here. I still matter."
His remarkable progress speaks to the resilience that lives in these magnificent animals, even after humans have failed them. There's something profoundly moving about standing beside an animal who has known both the roar of the crowd and the silence of neglect, yet still chooses to trust. Ozzy approaches each day not as a former champion or a rescue case, but simply as a horse ready to connect, to belong, to matter to someone again.
Could you be that someone? In racing, they measure value in finish lines crossed and purses won. Here at Skagit Animals in Need, we measure it differently – in second chances embraced, in trust rebuilt, in lives transformed. By any measure, Ozzy remains what he always was: a winner through and through.
Reach out today to learn more about bringing this remarkable survivor home – and prepare to be changed by a horse who refused to be forgotten.
