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Farm at Prophetstown seeks donations to extend life of sick horse

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) – A sick horse that lives on the Farm at Prophetstown is in need of Greater Lafayette’s help.

The horse is being cared for at the Large Animal Hospital at Purdue.

Her name is Time, and her owners hope that an expensive operation can give the 9-year-old horse more time on earth so she can continue to bring visitors joy.

“The farm itself, it’s been received by the community tremendously, and it’s really starting to get a name for itself,” Steve Dietrich, the Farm at Prophetstown’s board president, said.

That success is partly due to Time.

“She’s gentle, she’s kind, and she knows her job,” Leslie Martin Conwell, the farm’s executive director, said.

Time arrived at the Farm at Prophetstown in 2015.

“She is outstanding in her temperament, and she meets and greets our visitors,” Conwell said. “In many cases, it’s the first time that they have ever actually touched a horse before.”

But lately, Time has been having leg issues.

Purdue veterinarians X-rayed Time to find out what was wrong. Their discovery wasn’t good.

She has significant pain and stiffness in her left rear leg and will need surgery.

“They feel that if they do that surgery, she’ll have an outstanding quality of life,” Conwell said.

But without the surgery, Conwell says Time will have to be put down in less than a year because the pain will become too severe.

Time’s life can be extended 20 more years if she has the procedure.

“There’s no comparison between the two, and certainly that made this decision pretty clear,” Dietrich said.

The procedure is estimated to cost the farm around $5,000-$10,000 – a significant amount for the nonprofit – so a Facebook page was created to bring in donations.

The crew says it will do anything possible to make sure Time has more than a year to put smiles on visitors’ faces.

“Certainly it’s a fact of life, if you will, that things come and go, but we would certainly miss Time and the farm would not quite be the same,” Dietrich said.

Time will be seen by Purdue vets again on Friday to assess her situation and set a date for her operation.