Captain was one of two horses found in an isolated barn outside Daya Vieja who were left to starve without food or water.  By the time someone spotted them and called us they were little more than skeletons.  We tried to find the authorities to help but no-one wanted to know.  The Guardia Civil simply took a denuncia, the local police did not have the powers and Seprona the branch of the Guardia responsible for animal welfare issues were not answering their phone as they are extremely short staffed.  The mayor of Daya Vieja who did have the power to seize the horses did not want to know when our volunteers visited his house on Sunday morning, would not look at the pictures and said it was an every day matter that could be left until Monday morning.  The only option left available was to buy the horses from the owner which two of our volunteers did in order to save their lives.  Captain aged around 18 was the worst of the two and was in an extremely emaciated state and had an infected leg.  He had to be immediately rushed to the Alicante animal hospital where he had to have surgery on his infected leg.  A puncture wound to the back of his knee had been left untreated, and abscesses, fluid and infection had formed. He underwent an operation to drain the fluid and abscesses.

The other horse who we named Hope while emaciated was well enough to come back to the Centre for care.

Captain spent three weeks in the Alicante animal hospital before he was able to come back to the Centre.  The vets there didn’t know how Captain still managed to stand up as he was so skeletal.  Whilst he was there he put on an incredible 18 kilos although remained stick thin despite putting all this weight on which showed how malnourished he was.   The vets said he will always be lame.  He continues to put on weight and gain muscle tone with good food, and tender loving care.  He is turned out every day with Hope and gazes about as if he can’t believe his luck after being locked away and left starving and without water for so long.  He can now often be seen cantering about the paddocks with Hope.