Race horse that survived Indiana tornado finds new home

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) - Tom survived the tornado that ripped through Ellis Park in 2005.

A farmer discovered him with several other race horses wandering in the Ohio River bottoms days after the storm.

The thoroughbred's owner never claimed him. Tom probably wasn't racing anymore, and his tattoo was too faded to read.

"At a time when people were in crisis, they probably just let him fall off their radar," said Jean Wessel Duckworth, Tom's current owner.

When Duckworth bought Tom a few years after the tornado, she thought she was getting a spirited animal that would be fun to ride. She had no idea that the horse was actually deeply traumatized. And that she would spend the next decade trying to help him recover.

Tom was hard to ride, and hard to handle. He startled easily. The movement of a cat or the sound of the wind sent him into panic.

"We didn't let a lot of people handle him," Duckworth said. "Something would startle him and he'd jump sideways two or three feet. He could be on top of you before he even realized it."

Duckworth wasn't sure how to calm the horse - and she even considered giving him up. Then, one day, she had Tom tied to the back of a horse trailer when he suddenly reared up in terror.

Duckworth looked around, trying to find what scared the horse. There were no nearby animals, no loud noises. It was a beautiful day.

Then she saw it. The unlatched door of the horse trailer was swaying gently in the morning breeze.

"That's when I realized that the walls in his stall probably moved before his world fell apart and the tornado blew the barn apart," Duckworth said.

Suddenly some of Tom's behaviors made more sense. Her barn had a pair of large doors and banged together in the wind. The closer he was to the doors, the more nervous he became.

Duckworth moved him to the stall on the far end of the barn. It helped some, but there were other issues.

"He watches the sky," Duckworth said. "I've never ridden a horse that worried about sky monsters. So I suspect he was in an area of the barn where he could see it coming."

Duckworth struggled on for years trying to help the horse feel safe. Then a couple years ago she met a woman who practiced Chinese medicine.

The woman gave Duckworth a special oil blend that she said might sooth the horse's nerves. The results, Duckworth said, were miraculous.

"For six months I gave him the oils on his forehead every time I rode him," Duckworth said. "It made all the difference in the world."

Duckworth reached out and gently patted Tom's flank. The horse stood calmly at the end of the barn as she brushed and saddled him.

They walked easily together passed the rows of horses in their stalls to the arena for their daily ride.

"He's become a part of the family," Duckworth said. "He's a good guy and he has a really happy life now. I'm happy for him. He's a lot of fun and he has a much happier life."

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Source: Evansville Courier and Press

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Information from: Evansville Courier & Press, http://www.courierpress.com