Meet Louis Springer!

LOUIS - Bay Trotter Gelding – DOB: 2008

Louis Springer is just two years old. He was found running loose and terrified on a road and, thanks to some caring horseowners in the vicinity, Louis was caught and safely held until one of our Field Officers turned up to collect him.

Louis was very underweight, had very long feet which were in dire need of farriery treatment, and he also had a chest injury which was badly infected. Given the scars on his body and legs, he had obviously been subjected to some form of abuse. We were not at all surprised when no-one came forward to claim ownership of this youngster - they would have been in serious trouble if they had. Since he has been with us, Louis has come on in leaps and bounds; he is a very loving young horse with his whole life ahead of him.

Back in mid-July, Louis went lame and our vets diagnosed a bog spavin. They also believed that Louis had OCD, which is cartilage floating in the joint. Louis was travelled up to our vet's on 13 August 2010 for a scan and further investigations. The news was not good. A scan of the hock confirmed that Louis was indeed suffering from OCD - Osteo-chrondrosis-dessicans, which is a developmental disease where the bone flakes off into the surrounding tissue, causing great discomfort, swelling and lameness. Surgery was required to remove the boney flakes and clean the joint. A scan of the fetlock shows Arthritic OCD – at that time the flakes of bone were still attached but jutted out erratically causing trauma to the internal tissue supporting the joint. Again, this causes pain, swelling and lameness. If left, the flakes would eventually break off and the condition would match that of Louis' hock. Surgery was therefore essential as soon as possible. However, due to the recent increase in our rent and the price of hay which has doubled this year, we simply didn’t have the £2,500 plus needed for the essential operation.

If Lou didn’t have the surgery, he would have been in considerable pain and we would have had no choice but to have him put to sleep. Unthinkable for a two year old who has a bright future ahead of him. In desperation, we contacted the Evening Echo who readily agreed to run Louis’ story in the daily paper and appeal for help. To say we were astounded at the response is an understatement. Cheques and letters of support poured into the Sanctuary over the next few days. Little else got done in the office other than logging all the cheques in and writing acknowledgement letters to Louis’ benefactors. Some of the messages brought tears to our eyes – one that really touched us was from a pensioner who wrote “Not a vast sum I know, but it is truly from the heart”. Louis had come from a life of hell before he found his way to EHPPS; we just wish he had an inkling of the kindness and love that poured from this people for him.

As soon as the monies came in, we booked Louis in for his operation at the specialist orthopaedic veterinary unit at Newmarket who were carrying out the procedure. Louis had his operation on 24 August and was back home with us a couple of days later. The procedure went well, although the specialist has told us that Louis has multiple orthopaedic problems and keyhole surgery may be necessary to his hocks in the future. At the moment, we are adopting a positive and practical approach to Louis’ future management and ensure that we take the very best of care of our special boy.

Winter Hay Appeal

During the winter months, our resident horses and ponies chomp their way through thousands of bales of hay. Due to the site of special scientific interest of the site on which the Sanctuary is situate, our grazing is severely restricted from October through to the beginning of April, which rapidly depletes our hay supplies. Although we buy our hay in straight off the field, which drastically reduces the cost, it is still a huge financial outlay for us to meet each year. A single bale of hay costs EHPPS £3.50.

Our horses eat in the region of 15 bales per day. That's 105 bales at £3.50 per bale = £367.50 per week.

We need more help than ever this year due to having so many horses and ponies. We would be grateful for any contributions towards our winter hay appeal.

If you would like to help, please send a cheque/postal order made payable to "EHPPS" and send to "Winter Hay Appeal" Essex Horse and Pony Protection Society, Pitsea Hall Lane, Basildon, Essex SS16 4UH

Any help would be appreciated.

Meet Murphy!

Welcome to our Horse of the week. Our first horse is Murphy.

MURPHY (aka “DANCER”)
Veteran Black Cob X – 15.2hh

 

Murphy was found running loose on the road on 27 August.  The Police were alerted and they, in turn, requested we collect the horse and bring him back to the safety of the Sanctuary until an owner turned up.  Our Head Groom, Laura Jardine, went out to collect Murphy and was horrified at the condition of his right foreleg.  She immediately called our Sanctuary Manager, Sue Allery, to ask that one of our vets be on standby for when she arrived back with the horse.  Murphy, a veteran black Cob, standing at 15.2hh, had, as Cobs do, thick feathers on his legs.  Through the feathers Laura could clearly see what looked like huge, weeping tumours of some sort.  As soon as Murphy arrived at the Sanctuary, Paton & Lee vet, Jonathan Lee, set about examining the gelding.  To properly investigate the leg, Jonathan painstakingly clipped all the feathers away from the growths.  Throughout the whole procedure, this lovely, gentle lad stood there patiently, accepting his treatment without a murmur.  As soon as Jonathan started to clean the growths the maggots started dropping out.  An anti-parasitic solution called SWITCH was then poured onto the area and the maggots started pouring of out of the growths in their hundreds.  Once the area was totally cleared of the infestation, an antibiotic injection was administered to prevent any deep routed infection setting in and Jonathan felt it was better to leave Murphy for the rest of the night to settle down now he had been made more comfortable.

When we checked Murphy over the following morning, we went to age him (ascertained by examining his teeth) and noticed that all his top teeth were badly broken – his lower teeth were overgrown probably as a result of them being unable to wear themselves down against the top set.  It was clearly evident that this horse had not had any dental care in years, which was more than likely the cause of him being slightly underweight for a horse of his type.  Our staff clipped out Murphy’s three remaining legs which also had small growths all over the fetlock areas.  To add to the poor soul’s irritation, he had a bad case of feather mites, which were causing untold itching on the growths.  As he was scratching them against anything he could find, the growths were opening up and bleeding profusely.

Over the next couple of days we kept the area scrupulously clean, hibi-scrubbing it twice a day and applying cream to help keep Murphy’s lower leg supple.  On Thursday, 2 September, Murphy was hospitalised overnight at our vet’s surgery in order that they could take a biopsy  -  from which we could then ascertain the best course of treatment for Murphy.  For that whole week we were all on tenterhooks as we awaited the results from the lab.  If the growths were benign, they could possibly be removed -  if they proved to be malignant, there was little that could be done.

In the meantime, Murphy had settled in well to life at the Sanctuary and soon made close friends with Hamish, a veteran Shetland pony and also Bam Bam, a two year old who had traveled with Murphy to our vets the week before in order that he could be castrated (OUCH!).  We found Murph to be one of the gentlest, loving and laid back horses we have ever come across.

On Wednesday, 8 September, our vet called with the results.  The good news was that the results confirmed that Murphy was suffering from Proliferative Pastern Dermititis.    We were assured that the pathology report confirmed there were no tumourous changes and that the condition could have been caused by a whole host of things – one suggestion being an infection setting in from a possible case of severe mud fever.  A blood test carried out on 10 September confirmed that Murphy had high liver enzymes, so he was prescribed a strong course of anti-biotics and various supplements to try to repair some of the damage.  Our vets were hesitant still to put him under anaesethetic as it would put further unnecessary strain on Murphy’s liver, so a plan was put into action to remove the excess flesh with Murphy heavily sedated and nerve blocked.  We shall kee you updated as to Murphy's progress. In the meantime, we shall post regular updates on our website’s Sanctuary Diary – http://www.ehpps.org.uk/.

Welcome!

Welcome to the Essex Horse and Pony Protection Society blog. You will be able to keep up to date with what's going on at the Sanctuary, as well as events that are coming up. Please come and visit us!