Malibu
Rescued: November 25, 2008
Passed away: June 17, 2016

Malibu was brought over to Spain from England by his owners some years ago, but unfortunately when the Spanish economic crisis hit, they returned home and didn’t take Malibu with them.

Malibu was a Connemara cross Cob, a cold-blooded outdoor pony who was never designed to live in the hot and dusty climate we have here. He had developed a respiratory problem – Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) – due to being kept in a stable and being fed dusty food, causing his lungs to close up on him.

We took Malibu in on November 25, 2008 and he was in a sorry state. It was only the skills of our veterinarian Dorothea that got him through and kept him alive.

We then imported haylage in from the UK especially for Malibu – it’s a special grass packed and sealed in plastic so it stays moist and dust-free. We also kept him on a COPD steroid to ensure he didn’t suffer too much in the dust.

We did repeatedly try to find Malibu a home in England, where he could have lived outside on fresh grass in the fresh air, but nobody wanted him.

So we did the best we could with him and he had a good life out in the fields with his two little ladies, Ginger and Spirit.

But the summer of 2016 began very windy here in Rojales and that kicked up a lot of dust in our fields, which sadly was just too much for Malibu. He collapsed in front of Rod on the morning of June 17 and died.

He was a great pony, a hell of a character and incredibly strong willed. We will miss him.