Marco
Rescued: July 17, 2017
Marco truly is so very lucky to be alive. Rod was called out by Almoradí police to collect this young man, who was lying in the streets without a headcollar on or any kind of identification.
Back here at our centre, he was up and down, showing signs of severe colic. Our equine veterinarian Dorothea Dudli von Dewitz just knew something wasn't quite right, that his intestines weren't working as they should be.
Then, at about 10.30pm the night after his rescue, when Sue went down to do the last nightly check as usual, she found an enormous plastic bag in his manure. We just could not believe it. We obviously caught him just in time, as he almost certainly would have died without our intervention.
Sadly, that wasn't the end of Marco's troubles. He arrived with severe and infected wounds on his back caused by a very badly fiiting cart harness. X-rays soon revealed that – thankfully – no bone shards had broken off his spine, as we feared. So although a lot of damage has been done, we are confident he will heal with time.
We suspect this was why Marco was dumped in the street, as he would have been in extreme pain so there's no way they could have put a harness on and made him pull anything.
Marco was actually only about 5 years old when rescued, but looks like an old horse. He was worked into the ground and must have just been pounding the streets constantly. Poor little fellow. He can never be worked again and will now be granted a very early and permanent retirement here at our centre, as he so very much deserves.
As a non-profit foundation staffed almost entirely by volunteers, we rely on your donations to continue our work to save ponies like Marco, and to cover their ongoing feeding and care costs. Find out how you can help here.
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