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!
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.
