Horse 'close to death' after 8-mile ride on Dan Ryan in recovery: 'She just makes my heart happy'

TINLEY PARK, Ill. (WLS) -- A 20-year-old black and white painted horse with one brown eye and one blue eye at Forest View Farms has a bit of an ego and loves attention.

"She's very comfortable now and she couldn't get enough care. Everyone and their brother and sister, this is their pet," said Forest View Farmers Owner Jim Larson.

Forest View Farmers Facilities Manager Terry Wenninger also weighed in.

"She just makes my heart happy," Wenninger said. "Every times she's naughty and wants to run and play just makes my heart happy."

Her condition now is especially dramatic because she required 24-hour care for weeks when she first arrived.

"She was so close to death," Larson said. "It was wrenching, really. This horse was in sad shape."

Wenninger recalled the state she was in.

"She was cold and clammy, couldn't get up," Wenninger said. "My first thought was to call the vet because I don't even know if she was going to stay up in the trailer."

The horse, called "NuNu," was ridden for eight miles on the Dan Ryan Expressway for a political stunt by Adam Hollingsworth. Hollingsworth pleaded guilty to aggravated cruelty to animals and was sentenced to a year in jail. He relinquished custody of NuNu.

Forest View Farms formally took possession of NuNu earlier this year.

"Remarkable what's happened, but she's come back pretty gosh darn good," Larson said.

You can still see the stiffness in her back legs, but she is moving well.

"I love her. She's a good girl," Wenninger said. "To trust people as much as she does after all she went through, it amazes me. She amazes me."

With all the rehabilitation, rest and care, it is possible she could be ridden. But more likely, the rest of her days be going for gentle walks with friends and even visitors.