Highway To Haven: Cowboy's Protest Horse Now A Princess, Treat Hog

TINLEY PARK, IL — You couldn't look away that day nearly two years ago, for the pure oddity of what you were seeing: a horse, cantering along the local lanes of Chicago's Dan Ryan Expressway, reaching speeds of 12 to 15 mph. Flanked by a caravan of motorcycles was a black-and-white pinto horse clopping along the pavement, being a very good girl doing exactly as her rider told her.

The horse was NuNu, and that ride by political urban cowboy Adam Hollingsworth (also known as the Dreadhead Cowboy), did some terrible damage to the mare's legs and feet.

"It ruined her," said Terry Wenninger, manager of Forest View Farms in Tinley Park, where NuNu has been staying since. "It just ruined her legs.

"She's still not sound, she'll never be sound. So now she just gets to be a princess for the rest of her life."

Wenninger was there the night they brought her off the trailer after the pair's highway gallivant. She had a heart murmur from being dehydrated, her joints were swollen and legs filled with heat.

Her suspensory ligaments — a major ligament that runs from knee to ankle— were "broken down", and it was painful to watch her move. The suspensory ligament is a major structure that keeps the fetlock—a lower joint—stable. If the ligament is injured, the tissue tears and becomes compromised, which can cause the fetlock to drop and cause extreme pain and lameness in the horse. The healing process is painstakingly long and very gradual, and re-injury is common. At the time, NuNu rarely wanted to stand up in her stall.

The first nights were very touch and go.

Now, nearly two years later, her one blue eye and her future look much brighter and clearer. She's a bit of a "treat monger," Wenninger said jokingly, and she's certainly the barn princess.

"When she first came in, she was a very compliant patient, now she's very demanding," Wenninger said, laughing. "Demanding of treats, demanding of turnout, demanding to come in, demanding food. She's quite the spoiled little horse. She deserves it. She's just a good girl.

"If you'd get on her right now, she'd run down that highway again for you, if you asked her to. That's just her personality."

The stunt by Hollingsworth—a staple participant at Black Lives Matter rallies and protests—was meant to draw attention to his Kids Lives Matter movement. It ultimately led to animal cruelty charges and a guilty plea.

Wenninger speaks bluntly about NuNu's former owner, but without resentment. His misguided ride that day did not come from a place of aggression or malice, but rather from one of disregard and lack of knowledge.

"He was not purposely abusive to her, he just didn't know," she said. "It was just pure ignorance, what happened to her. It wasn't purposeful neglect.

"It didn't matter what she wanted, or what she needed, but like I said, she'd do it again for you. That's just her."

The concussion of hooves pounding pavement, and the shock absorption that happens with each stride, can cause injury and soundness issues like those that showed up in NuNu. She was barefoot at the time of the trek—meaning she was not wearing steel shoes—which can help offset some of that impact.

Wenninger once spoke with Hollingsworth, who wondered aloud to her if he had actually hurt his horse.

"He asked, 'Did I really hurt her?' And I said, 'Adam, you hurt her. You ran her 8 miles on the street, you just can't do that kind of thing to horses. They're not built for it.'"

Her time at Forest View Farms has been spent recuperating, enjoying time outside in a paddock, and—well, frankly, being spoiled as all get-out. She's been renamed as Amazing Grace, and she loves being brushed.

She has had corrective horse-shoeing done to make her more comfortable on her feet. She loves treats, but does not play "favorites" — she wants them all. Any and everything. Whatever's in your hand. Don't snap a carrot or crinkle a mint wrapper near her, unless you want that fuzzy muzzle in your face.

"Anything you walk by with," Wenninger said, laughing, "is hers."

Hollingsworth — who in January was sentenced to a year in prison but was released early for time served — has another horse he's riding now, and has plans for a "100-Horse Highway Shutdown" for Kids Lives Matter in September, according to his social media.