Solo
Rescued: May 6, 2017

Solo was found abandoned on a piece of wasteland in Cartagena, tied up without any food or water. A lovely couple named Andrea and Kevin from Andrea’s Animal Rescue were first alerted to this case by police, but their little centre was full to the brim so they asked us to step in. Of course, we agreed to help.

After Solo was officially seized by Cartagena police, Andrea and Kevin kindly drove him the hour north to us at Rojales – a wonderful example of two non-profit rescue centres working together.

We immediately discovered Solo, believed to be 8 years old at the most, had a face injury from wearing a crude halter for so long.

Solo was also a stallion and we knew we’d have to castrate him quickly as the surgery cannot be done in summer due to the risk of infection from flies. Andrea’s Animal Rescue very kindly agreed to pay for Solo’s castration.

The surgery ended up being more complicated and longer than expected, as it became clear that Solo had at some stage in his young life suffered an internal infection that went untreated.

This showed up in two ways. Normally with a castration, the testicles come out of the connective tissue easily but Solo had adhesion, meaning his connective tissue was adhered to his testicle, making it much harder to remove. This occasionally happens on one side, caused by some kind of damage, but it is very unusual on both sides, as with Solo.

The after-effects of the infection have also shown up in Solo’s eyes. His right eye has quite a large area of cornea damage, making his sight very cloudy – he is almost blind in that eye. His left eye cornea also has some damage but it covers a very small area so shouldn’t give him too many problems.

This once again shows that a pony that looks to be in relatively reasonable condition can bear lifelong scars from mistreatment and neglect, as we’ve witnessed so many times before with our rescues.

In September 2017, Solo was adopted by a kind couple who live in southern Spain. He is now a companion pony to an older horse and lives a very happy and loved life, as he so very much deserves.