Sirius
Rescued: November 24, 2016
Passed away: August 26, 2021

Late one autumn’s evening, we welcomed another old soul to our rescue centre – an extremely thin 25-year-old horse, whose teeth were in such a bad state he could barely eat.

Sirius was actually kept over the road from our rescue centre on a piece of wasteland. We’d been monitoring him all summer, noticing him growing thinner.

Finally, we were able to team up with a very kind Dutch woman who had been coming regularly to feed this old boy. She agreed to buy the horse from his owner to save his life. It’s something we usually don’t agree with doing, but in this case it was necessary. We can’t tell you the full details of why for privacy reasons, but let’s just say this was the best outcome we could have hoped for.

We shuffled our other rescues around to make space for this boy in our stables, and while doing so we noticed he had a bit of a cough.

Our equine veterinarian came for a check the next morning and our worst fears were confirmed – Sirius suffers from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), a respiratory problem usually caused by being kept in a dusty stable and being fed dusty food.

We suspect that’s why he was given away and ended up wasting away on that piece of land next to our place.

Because he’s an old, unrideable horse with an illness, he was apparently deemed to be of no value. He initially had lots of grass to munch on there but once he ate through it, no one seemed to bother buying him any new food.

Giving his background and condition, Sirius does require extra love and care. He needs to live permanently outside in an area that isn’t too dusty.

He can’t eat any dry forage as the dust exacerbates his COPD, so his alfalfa needs to be soaked before feeding and his Fast Fibre is also fed wet. He also requires a daily steroid to help keep his airways open.

With this proper love and attention, we believe this old boy has many good years still in him. He is an absolutely lovely old horse and in very good condition.