Miniature horse gets prosthetic hoof

FORT COLLINS, Colorado (KTVU) - A miniature horse that was apparently attacked by dogs now has a new spring in his step, thanks to a prosthetic limb.

Three-year-old Shine was attacked on December 29, 2015.

Shine, who is described as a "sweet little horse with a sweet tooth," was left with a mangled hoof. According to Colorado State University, he also had puncture wounds to his face, a torn lip and knee injury. His hoof injury led to a life-altering infection.

Shine's owners asked veterinarians at CSU to "do whatever it takes." They wanted Shine to live a happy life on their Florence ranch.

According to CSU, it was a life or death situation when Shine had his lower-left hind leg amputated in preparation to be fitted with a prosthetic hoof.

According to CSU, horses are usually put down when they suffer a severe injury to a limb. That's because full sized horses are too heavy to put weight on an artificial limb. Shine is only 150 pounds when full-sized horses typically weigh between 800 and 2,000 pounds. His small stature made a successful surgery possible. “It’s the first one I’ve done, but I’ve always wanted to try,” said Dr. Laurie Goodrich, who specializes in equine orthopedic surgery. “We had no way of preserving that limb. So we had to take it off, and this was the only option to preserve his life.”

Shine got his prosthetic hoof boot on April 18th.

His owner posted on Facebook, "God is good! Today is the day I've been waiting and praying for, for over four months. We've come a long way since that horrible bloody morning when I found Shine standing in a pool of blood after being attacked. It's been a long journey. Shine never gave up and neither could we."

Shine can walk now, and is even back to trotting.