It looks like the situation for Misty is improving. The 8-year-old mare is recovering from being shot four times in a Jan. 3 bow and arrow attack at the Padovano farm near Brooks.

Detectives arrested 17-year-old neighbor Jeremy Ryan Richardson and subsequently charged him with felony aggravated cruelty to animals.

Ralph Padovano on Monday echoed the assessment of Misty’s vet, both saying she is doing very well and responding to treatment.

“She seems to be doing fine, barring any infection,” Padovano said. “All her bodily functions are regular, and that’s important for horses.”

Misty is still on antibiotics, though her pain medication has been discontinued, said Padovano. The wound caused from having an arrow lodged in her spine is still draining and she is still experiencing some discharge from the wounds to her neck and face, but that is to be expected, Padovano added.

An account has been set up at First Choice Community Bank locations to help with the vet expenses associated with Misty’s attack. The account is listed as “Misty Horse.” Those interested can contact the Senoia branch at 770-599-6680, the Sharpsburg branch at 770-251-1232 or the Newnan branch at 678-423-6900.

Found the morning of Jan. 3 by neighbor Rachel Byrd, Misty had an arrow stuck completely through her neck and another one lodged deeply in her spine that required four hours of surgery to remove.

There was also a broadpoint (bladed) entry wound, but no arrow, on the right side of Misty’s face and only inches from her eye. Misty had also been shot with a target-type arrow near her left shoulder, but that arrow did not cause the serious injury caused by the others.

In the warrant taken by the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office, Richardson was said to have used a compound bow, “knowingly and maliciously caused physical harm to an animal (horse) by seriously disfiguring the animal ... by shooting multiple arrows into the horse striking him in the body and the face.”

Richardson, an 11th-grader at Whitewater High School, was charged last week with felony aggravated cruelty to animals in the Jan. 3 attack, along with 14 other misdemeanor charges related to illegally hunting deer.

Fayette County Magistrate Judge Joe Tinsley set a bond of $10,000 for the felony charge and a total of $4,550 for the misdemeanors. Richardson, in response to a question by Judge Tinsley, said he owned five bows. He was ordered to turn them over to his attorney as a condition of the bond.

Richardson’s preliminary hearing in Fayette County Superior Court will be held Feb. 2.

Though his mother and stepfather live in Fayetteville, Richardson has been staying with a friend on West Kelly Lake Drive, according to his attorney Tom Cook.

The Padovano’s farm is situated between Bankstown Road and West Kelly Lake Drive at Price Road just outside Brooks.

The sheriff’s office was assisted in the investigation by the Ga. Dept. of Agriculture and the Ga. Dept. of Natural Resources.