Tristan Rohde, 8, her family found Brindle under a bush in their Lawton, Okla., neighborhood a couple of weeks ago -- more than 1,300 miles from where he disappeared. The Rohdes thought Brindle was dead, but when he lifted his head, Tristan decided to take him in.
"If I didn't, then he would just be sitting there right now with no family, no friends, no nothing," she said.
The Rohdes took Brindle, who was near death, to a veterinarian who found a microchip with tracking information under Brindle's skin.
According to his owner, Brindle could open doors. One day in 1999 he opened the door, left, and never returned.
He is expected to be reunited with his owner next week.
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A descendant of Triple Crown winners Seattle Slew and Secretariat experienced equine hell until he was rescued:
An SPCA vet diagnosed Freedom's Flight with severe "rain rot," which made him lose most of his hair, bites, wounds, severe rashes, abscesses under his hooves, detoxing from steroids, a fractured right cannon — shin — bone, and strangles, a potentially deadly, highly contagious bacterial infection.
Yet sick as he was, "there was something about him," Waggoner said. "I didn't want to leave that horse there. He was still so trusting of people."
She offered Coto $200. He declined the money and allowed her to isolate the horse on his land until she could make other arrangements. Freedom's Flight spent the next five weeks in quarantine, getting treatment for strangles and, finally, his broken leg.
About a week into the horse's recuperation, Couto, the SPCA board member, checked the underside of his upper lip and saw the tattoo: I35289. The Jockey Club thoroughbred registry in Kentucky matched the number to Freedom's Flight.
"I adopted him two weeks after we seized him," Cuoto said. "By that time, I'd really bonded with him."
He says he's spent about $30,000 on vet care.
Today, Freedom's Flight cavorts in a lush pasture, his coat an iridescent copper — 1,300 pounds of rippling muscle and coltish curiosity.
Tomorrow marks the twentieth anniversary of the death of Secretariat. Disney is producing a film about his life.
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