Prince
Rescued: August 19, 2017
Early one summer morning we were called out by Almoradí local police to collect yet another abandoned pony they had found wandering the streets.
As Spain has no official facilities to house seized equines, police officers led this little guy into one of their large dog holding pens, literally inside of the police station. Officers actually used police line tape to lead him inside the station as they didn't have a head collar.
As you can imagine, they were very anxious for us to come and collect him as soon as possible because this bold little stallion was making rather a lot of noise.
Believed to be about 8 years old when rescued, we soon decided to call him Prince. That's thanks to a suggestion from one of our dear volunteers, who suggested his afro-fringe looked very much like the late American singer!
Our equine veterinarian Dorothea Dudli von Dewitz quickly determined that Prince had at some stage suffered a severe blow to his eye, which caused haemorrhaging that healed very badly. So his eye now has a thick coating over it and he can't see a lot out of it very well. Luckily it doesn't cause him any pain.
We will, of course, never know Prince's history, but his behaviour tells us a little of his backstory. He is very high-strung, often tries to bite and is very headshy and nervous. It seems obvious that he's had some serious whallops in his time.
Prince also has quite severe swelling on his right stifle and very bad conformation, likely caused by indiscriminate breeding. An ultrasound and x-rays later revealed that both "knee caps" on his back legs aren't a normal shape and he therefore can't lock his stifles. Horses usually have the ability to lock their joints so they can sleep standing up and rest. But Prince is unable to do this, and has to consciously keep himself upright.
As a result, his "knees" (stifles) are working overtime so they're wearing down and very slowly eroding away. Long-term, we're unsure what problems this will cause but for now he is stable.
With time, love and care, we hope he will learn to trust humans again.
As a non-profit foundation staffed almost entirely by volunteers, we rely on your donations to continue our work to save donkeys like Prince, and to cover their ongoing feeding and care costs. Find out how you can help here.
