Our appeal is to save Rufus, a tiny pony who has had a terrible
ordeal over many years. His elderly owner began suffering from
dementia and couldn’t look after her animals. Rufus was shut in a
stable behind the house and it was only when she was eventually taken
into care that we were contacted.
The stable was knee deep in wet muck, his feet couldn’t be seen
and he was unable to walk. Rufus was emaciated, full of worms and
covered in sores and starving. He was in a pitiful state and we
fetched him back to the sanctuary as soon as we could.
Rufus was very weak so we had to lift him on to our transport.
His front hooves are badly overgrown and look like ‘slippers’. His
back feet are turned under and he walks on his tip toes. His was in
pain and his legs would shake.
His teeth are badly overgrown and smell terrible. He has fangs
on the upper molars caused by not having any dental treatment for a
very long time, if ever. Horses just like us humans need a visit to
the dentist at least every twelve months. He can’t eat hay because
it's too much for him to chew, but what is encouraging is that he has
a good appetite for soft food and puts his nose straight in the feed bucket!
Rufus looks confused and depressed, he has a expression of
misery on his face and who can blame him. He can't quite believe he
has been rescued! Motivating him to get well will be a big part of his
recovery. He has a ‘pot’ belly - probably because of worms. The rest
of him is skeletal thin under a dirty, matted, infested coat. We can
feel sores all over him and there is an abscess along his spine.
When we helped him in to the stable, although he was exhausted
from the travelling he still managed to eat a soft feed. He nuzzled us
and seemed very grateful. He is a tiny pony, only 26inches tall and
smaller than many dogs.
Dementia is a problem for many elderly people these days. The
abandonment of Rufus wasn’t deliberate which makes it especially sad.
We’ve been told that his owner called the vet and the blacksmith lots
of times but then wouldn’t let them in when they turned up. So they
didn’t know that Rufus was at the back of the house, not being cared
for and shut in on his own.
We’ve realized that he hasn’t seen any other ponies for many
years (perhaps not since a foal). When he whinnied (to us this
morning) one of our resident ponies whinnied back to him. Rufus looked
startled. Does he even know what another pony looks like?
All the time he spent not being able to walk and being hungry
and in pain - it doesn't bear thinking about.
The vet thinks he’s in his late teens. We have over twenty
ponies resident in the sanctuary and they have a home for life with
us. One of our ‘golden oldies’ lived to be 55 years. In spite of his
shocking condition we believe that Rufus has the will to live. As soon
as we rugged him up to keep him warm he seemed to perk up.
He deserves a chance to recover and have a happy life. We hope
he’ll be well enough one day to make friends with the other little
ponies and go out in the fields with them.
We need to raise £4,000 for his care, he needs an operation but
can’t have it done until the rest of his problems have been sorted
out. The blacksmith has told us that he has to have an x-ray of his
feet before work on them can begin. He’ll come every two weeks to trim
them just a little until they are back to normal - it could take
years. The dentist will need to make regular visits aswell. Getting
him back in condition will be a slow process. He is so small that he
can’t see out of the stable so we’d like to adapt one so he can have a
view of what’s going on and be part of sanctuary life.
If you can help give Rufus this chance of life we will all be so
very grateful. He is the sweetest and most loving little pony ever and
deserves happiness and our help.
We hope that you will be able to help and make a donation
towards the RUFUS RECOVERY Appeal
Let’s make it happen for him!
On behalf of Rufus we’d like to thank you for taking the time to
read this and our heartfelt thanks to everyone who helps us save him.
