A couple of years ago someone we knew had been working in Eastern Hungary near the Ukrainian border and had come across a young Cremello Warmblood mare who had been mistreated and was apparently in a pretty poor state. It’s a long story but somehow we ended up putting a rescue operation into place that involved dispatching a horsebox and driver from Germany to pick her up, the trip was apparently very ‘interesting’ but that is for another time. The first problem was that we had nowhere to keep her but a temporary home in Devon was soon found for the year old youngster and she was transported there via Germany
Cremellos are an unusual looking horse in that they have cream coloured coats with blue eyes and are often mistaken for Albinos (which actually don’t exist in the equestrian world).
We decided to call her Marci and this was what she looked like when she arrived in Devon, I think the photos are pretty self-explanatory at showing the abuse and neglect she had been subjected to. She also had three brands on her and was very wary of any person coming near her.
Just by coincidence we had booked a family holiday in Devon and we were not far from where Marci was being kept so two weeks after her arrival we were going to see her in the flesh for the first time. We were aware of how badly she had been treated in Hungary but nothing prepared us for what we saw on that Devon hillside. Marci was a bag of bones and obviously suffering from various ailments. You can also see from these pictures that her mane was matted and that she had been suffering from rain scald. What started as a two hour visit ended up with us being there most of the day and my wife Jan returned during the week to treat her further.
Whilst she was on good grass in Devon we felt her rehabilitation required more intensive treatment to get her back to health and we decided to get her nearer to home as soon as possible. Luckily we found a transporter going from Devon to Cambridgeshire a couple of days after we returned from Devon so Marci was able to hitch a ride on that to the yard where Jan kept our other horse. After a long journey of almost 9 hours she arrived and still looked pretty bad, considering she had been over here for a few weeks feeding on rich grass she should have look better than she did.
In the picture above you can see our yard owner on the right visibly shocked at the state of Marci, the image shows just how poor she looked with ribs showing and an initial assessment revealed she had the following:
- Unspecified skin infection
- Intestinal worms
- Mud fever
- Conjunctivitis (quite severe in one eye)
- Rain scald
- Ticks
- Sunburn due to her pale skin and lack of hair
And this is just what we could see or were aware of so the vet was called immediately and he placed her on antibiotics for her skin infection and antibiotic eye drops for the conjunctivitis, she was also on Bute (bit like Nurofen for horses) and we started a programme of feed supplements to help build her up. This was vitally important as we needed her to be fit and strong enough for the winter, being the colour she is she has very thin skin and not much coat.
What a difference three days makes! The conjunctivitis had all but disappeared, her eyes looked brighter with a bit of spark in them and the ticks had gone. Obviously there was still a long way to go but the early signs were encouraging.
She went out in the field for the first time since arriving and had our other youngster for company, more importantly she seemed to be settling in:
Within two to three weeks Marci started to overcome her nervousness with plenty of handling and grooming every day. She was certainly becoming more trusting as she was easier to catch in the field, when she first arrived it was a two hour job but she now came to the gate when called although I think being tempted with apples and carrots might have had a lot to do with it! She loved being groomed and on one occasion she fell asleep when I was brushing her which was quite funny considering you could hardly get near her a couple of weeks earlier. Here you can see her having her daily bath and wearing her gimp mask to keep the horse flies away from her eyes. A regular treatment for Marci was the liberal application of Factor 30 suncream around her face and nose as she suffered from sunburn due to her pale skin.
Jan worked tirelessly to bring her back to health and I grew very fond of her. She was a joy to be with, the nervous horse that we couldn’t get near was now full of life and enjoyed being groomed and handled. Unfortunately, due to the fact that our yard was for geldings only she had to be moved to a friends yard in Lincolnshire and whilst we would miss her she was going to be with other young horses of her own age so it was with a heavy heart we loaded her into the trailer for the journey.
The following images show her just six weeks after she came to us and I think you will agree she looked a lot better.
I didn’t see Marci for a few months and when I finally made the trip to Lincolnshire I couldn’t believe the difference – the timid, nervous and gawky youngster had growing into a beautiful, confident and calm young woman! As you can see from the pictures she had put on weight and was the picture of health, I’m not usually one to get soppy but seeing her galloping round the field that day brought a lump to my throat, particularly when I recall how she had been the previous year.
These images were taken over the course of a few visits in the following months.
Unfortunately during the summer we received some devastating news. We had a phone call one evening to say that Marci had sustained a serious leg injury caused by a rogue piece of barbed wire. It was not known how long she had been in that state but apparently there was blood everywhere, obviously a vet was called who said that she had to be transferred to a specialist equine hospital based in Newmarket. We live in Hertfordshire and Marci was in Lincolnshire so we had to arrange some emergency transport to Newmarket and Jan went to meet them when she arrived about 11pm.
Marci was sedated immediately for a more thorough diagnosis and there were two wounds, both very large and both becoming infected, on one of the wounds she’d nicked an artery which is why there was so much blood. The decision was taken to keep her sedated until she could have a general anaesthetic the following day in order to try and repair the damage. The surgeon called later that day to tell us that he had performed the operation and that the wounds were severe, apparently she had just missed severing her tendon by 1mm and both wounds were too wide to close by stitching so she would have a cast on for a few days. She was likely to be there for at least two weeks (luckily she was insured). Whilst it was heartening to hear that she had come round from the operation and was back on her feet he did say that it was too early to say how she would be, his exact words were “She was not out of the woods yet, we’ll take it day by day”. Which is exactly what Jan did, she visited her every day, groomed her, changed her dressings and generally fussed over her.
After all the trials and tribulations Marci had been through in her short life we couldn’t believe a freak accident like this could happen, the piece of barb wire was about 3 feet long and was in a patch of long grass at the edge of an 18 acre field – it was nobody’s fault, just one of life’s cruel twists. I’m not usually one to get sentimental about horses but Marci had got right under my skin and I don’t mind admitting that I was worried sick about her as we did not know whether she would pull through.
Two weeks later she was still at Rossdales Equine Hospital and the plaster cast came off. She had lost a lot of weight over the preceding couple of weeks so it was almost back to square one to get the weight on her for the winter again but Jan was very prepared this time – all the feed was in, the bandages, dressings and other first aid paraphernalia were on standby and we prepared a small recovery paddock for her (just put some temporary fencing round a small section of the field) back at our yard as she was coming home to recuperate. I remember we even bought some Manuka Honey which apparently has very good anti-bacterial powers and is an excellent natural product to use on wounds. The good news was that the vets believed there would be no long term damage.
When we arrived for one of our visits she was fast asleep in the stable and we could hear her snoring from halfway across the yard.
This was the first time in two weeks she had been allowed out of the stable and it was just a slow meander round the yard to let her graze a bit.
So there you have it, that is the story to date of Marci who is thriving and although she is back in Lincolnshire it looks like she will be coming to us next month for an extended period. I trust you’ve enjoyed the tale and I am going to leave you with my favourite photograph of her that I believe encapsulates all she has become.
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