Fudge
Rescued: September 21, 2017

As soon as we laid eyes on Fudge, we knew he had survived unthinkable events and would be one of our most difficult cases yet.

We’d received a call early one evening from Almoradí police about a pony found abandoned on the streets of Algorfa. He’d been tied to a tree with no food or water, and had shoved his head in a bush in an attempt to keep the flies out of his eyes.

Aged about 20, Fudge was malnourished, dehydrated and weak, had one eye literally rotting in his head and walked with an extremely wobbly gait, likely caused by a neurological disorder.

His condition was absolutely heartbreaking to witness and attracted international attention. We see terrible cases like this regularly, but it never gets any easier.

X-rays performed by our equine veterinarian Dorothea quickly determined that Fudge had suffered a fracture on the first and second vertebrae of his neck, which undoubtedly caused his neurological problems and all the wobbly walking.

We knew Fudge would need to grow stronger before we could surgically remove his massively infected eye. Meanwhile, we also discovered his other eye was also damaged, likely the result of an injury or blow that caused an ulcer, which was never treated and has healed over. We believe Fudge only has about 60 per cent sight in that eye.

We suspect both the eye injury and the massive blow to his neck (you can see a visible scar) are linked and were possibly done deliberately. And then, because he was no good, they likely just tied him to a tree and left him.

Fudge has survived starvation, dehydration and abuse. He deserves everything in the world that we can give him and more. He is a special needs pony, but the good news is his condition shouldn’t deteriorate any further now that he has proper care.

He’s certainly survived a heck of a lot, yet is a very sweet old pony and we absolutely love him to bits.