After five hours of meticulous surgery at a farm outside of Brooks, Ga., equine veterinarian Jason McLendon said he was frustrated. Though extensive operations are a typical part of McLendon’s job, the case involving an 8-year-old mare named Misty was anything but ordinary.

When McLendon, a Carrollton native, arrived at the farm last week, he found the horse’s condition potentially critical after the animal was shot with four hunting arrows. Police later arrested a 17-year-old boy who was living in the same neighborhood with felony aggravated cruelty to animals.

“I spent at least four hours trying to get one of the arrows out,” McLendon said. “It was deeply embedded and I had to work carefully. It was one of the most frustrating procedures I’ve performed.”

One of the arrows was stuck through the horse’s neck, another was lodged in the horse’s back and the other two had fallen in the pasture after piercing the horse’s temple and side.

“If the arrows had been a few inches to either side, it could have been catastrophic,” McLendon said.

The horse’s owners, Ralph and Nancy Padovano, told The Citizen, a Fayetteville newspaper, they believed the horse was shot sometime during the night on Jan. 2. It was discovered on Jan. 3 by a neighbor.

Shortly after the Padovanos saw the injured horse, they called their regular veterinarian who was out of town, according to Teresa Padovano, a daughter-in-law.

“He gave us two names and Dr. McLendon was the first one we called,” Teresa Padovano said. “He came out fully prepared.”

McLendon immediately left a church service in Newnan, where his office is located, and drove to the farm.

“Bless his heart, he came straight in his Sunday clothes,” Teresa Padovano said. “But he didn’t look so put together by the time he left that day.”

McLendon’s practice, Southern Crescent Equine Services, serves a large area, including Fayette, Coweta and Carroll counties.

As a 1992 Carrollton High School graduate, McLendon said the majority of his career inspiration came from working with a Bowdon veterinarian, Matt McCord, when he was a teen.

“He helped cultivate my career path,” McLendon said. “As soon as I could drive I started working with him every day after school and on weekends. I always enjoyed the large animal calls.”

But McLendon said he had never dealt with anything like the Padovano’s case during his time as a volunteer or professional veterinarian.

“This was a real case of blatant animal cruelty,” he said.

The horse seems to be healing well, according to Teresa Padovano, and is currently separated from the rest of the other horses.

“We are hoping for a full recovery,” she said. “As long as we are not looking at a bone infection.”

Teresa Padovano cited McLendon and the young woman who first noticed the horse’s injuries as the two people responsible for saving the mare’s life.

“They are the two heroes in this story,” she said.