Appeal for funds for recovering horse found close to death on New Year’s Eve

A young horse who was found exhausted and fighting for his life on New Year’s Eve in a field in Ashford, Kent has pulled through against the odds and is recovering in RSPCA care.

When youngster Adie was discovered by a dog walker alone in a field, collapsed and freezing, his future was bleak, but thankfully one month things are looking up for the plucky pony and an appeal has been created to help with his recovery.

There were no other animals in sight in the bare crop field on New House Lane in Headcorn. The skewbald-coloured colt was lying lifeless on a muddy patch of ground, barely able to lift his head.

RSPCA inspector Rosie Russon was called and rushed to the scene where she was met with a very sorry sight.

She said: “Poor Adie was just lying there in the middle of this enormous bare field. The ground around him was churned up where he had obviously been struggling to get himself back up after collapsing to his feet, but he had become so weak he could barely lift his head, it was very sad to see.

“He wasn’t emaciated like many of the dumped ponies we see, but he was very skinny, absolutely freezing and completely exhausted – he really was just minutes from death so he is extremely lucky the dog walker found him when they did and called us.

“The walker had some water in the back of her car which was parked nearby, and as soon as Adie was offered it, he rushed to try and drink. Inspector Russon had some hay in the back of her van and once again, when this was offered to Adie he began to desperately scoff any morself he could get hold of”

Inspector Russon added: “While we waited for the vet to arrive we knew we had to keep Adie warm and alert, and the dog walker was extremely kind and fetched dog blankets and the boot liner from her car so we could shelter Adie from the wind. A local horse rider who had passed us a few minutes beforehand then appeared on foot, bringing us a horse rug from her own yard, and we used this as a sling to raise him to his feet. It was by no means an easy job, but between nine of us we managed to haul him up and keep him steady. The kindness of these people was very moving.”

Along with the vet, Inspector Russon and the group of people who had gathered to help managed to slowly walk Adie down to the small footpath that lead out of the field, where a trailer was waiting to transport him to a specialist boarding stables for intensive care.

There was a microchip and an RSPCA officer also managed to track down a passport for him, but disappointingly the details registered on both were out of date.

It’s likely that Adie was led into the field through a small footpath entrance and dumped sometime close to when he was found on 31 December 2017, so anybody who saw anything or may have some information about who owns him is urged to call the RSPCA inspectors appeal line number on 0300 123 8018.

Adie’s treatment has already cost more than £1,000 and due to his ongoing medication to get him to full health, this is likely to rise to more than double this. If you would like to donate to help the RSPCA provide Adie with the medication, vet visits, food and stabling to help him on the road to recovery, please visit www.rspca.org.uk/adie

Abandoned ponies found dumped and extremely sick like Adie are very common, and sadly, the RSPCA and other equine charities have been picking up the pieces of the horse crisis for the several years now. It’s not uncommon for welfare officers to arrive and find dumped, dead or even dying horses and ponies.

The RSPCA is currently looking after more than 850 horses, ponies and donkeys that inspectors have rescued. The majority of horses taken in by the RSPCA are cared for in private boarding stables, as the RSPCA equine centres are full with ponies in need of care and rehoming. We rely on horse lovers to donate to the RSPCA or consider if they are able to rehome a rescue horse.

Suzanne Ashton

Suzanne Ashton, Founder of Everything Horse (Est, 2012), has a BA Hons in Marketing Management and a Diploma in Equine Science. Suzanne has ridden and owned horses all her life and has twelve years of experience in marketing, writing, design, SEO, and website creation.