Little Faith was found beside a Spanish farmhouse, her foreleg deeply wounded from being badly entangled for days in a rope used to tie her to a tree.
We brought her back to our rescue centre in 2010 but, despite months of intensive treatment, her mutilated foreleg was unable to be saved. Faith then became the first pony in Spain to be fitted with an artificial leg after her front foreleg was amputated in a life-saving operation.
Faith lived happily for five years at the Equihealth Veterinarios clinic in Barcelona, under the supervision of skilled veterinarians. She had companionship, mobility and lived pain-free in five-star accommodation. She really did have the best of everything – as any little pony who has endured such suffering should.
This daring and difficult rescue attracted significant media attention and pushed animal welfare into the public spotlight in Spain.
Faith's journey inspired Sue to write a series of children's books telling the stories of our rescued horses, aiming to raise awareness about animal abuse while generating additional funds to cover the centre's hefty running costs. The first children’s book, Faith: Diary of a Heroic Horse, is now available during our monthly open days.
Faith passed away on October 29, 2015.
"Maybe you can't change the world by saving one horse, but you can change the whole world for the horse that you save." – Sue Weeding, Easy Horse Care co-founder.
The full story of Faith's rescue and pioneering surgery
It was in the summer of 2010 that we found Faith in a dusty yard beside a Spanish farmhouse. A wide red gash cut deep across her lower right foreleg, evidence that she had remained cruelly ensnared for days in a rope used to tie her to a tree.
The rope had wound so tightly around Faith’s leg that blood ceased to circulate, causing lacerations to run so deep that bone was visible. Our veterinarian Dorothea Dudli von Dewitz believed she would die from infection within two days if left untreated.
On August 27, 2010, we brought Fatih back to our rescue centre and began our battle to save her life.
Each day, we would remove her plaster cast, inspect the leg, inject antibiotics, clean the wound, bandage it up, apply another plaster cast and dry it with a hairdryer.
We tried to speed up the healing process with an experimental homemade stem-cell treatment Dorothea whipped up herself. Twice a week she would draw a little of Faith’s blood, take it home, spin out the stem cells in a centrifugal machine, extract the healing cells and create an ointment to daub across the wound.
It seemed to be working. Faith’s wound almost completely healed over.
Then, just before Christmas 2010, Dorothea noticed the skin was healing over, then perishing, healing over, then perishing. Our worst fears were coming true – Faith was developing bone disease.
We had only two options: put her to sleep immediately, or attempt amputation. The latter had never before been done in Spain.
Saving Faith's life with pioneering surgery
On February 28, 2011, Faith underwent pioneering surgery at Equihealth Veterinarios in Barcelona. Two surgeons, along with an anesthetist and a nurse, worked meticulously for five hours to sever her right foreleg 7.5cm below the knee.
We were worried about how Faith would wake from the surgery, how she would react to her bandaged stump and her new temporary plaster cast leg, with its rough chunk of wood fixed to the bottom.
But Faith took to it immediately, actually walked out of the surgery theatre with the leg on. We were just absolutely amazed. She was such a determined and strong little pony.
For a while, we struggled to find Faith a proper prosthetic leg, because nothing of the kind existed in Spain. For a while, she walked atop a very basic artificial leg made with fiberglass and Velcro and leg components from kitchen cupboards.
Eventually, we made a call to America, to Dwayne Mara of the Bayou Orthotic and Prosthetic Centre in New Orleans – the skilled prosthetist who made an artificial leg that in 2006 saved the life of a famous American pony named Molly, a casualty of Hurricane Katrina, who was later attacked by a dog and lost her leg.
It took months of back-and-forth discussions between America and Spain, and lots of trial and error, before Dwayne finally created the perfect leg for Faith.
No expense was ever spared on Faith and she absolutely loved her prosthetic leg because it gave her freedom.
The amputation was the right thing to do – it gave her a wonderful five years. She had companionship, mobility and lived pain-free in five-star accommodation.
But it’s all about knowing when to let go
When it gets to the stage that a disabled animal is struggling and you can’t make it better, it’s time to let go. It wasn’t a decision taken lightly but obviously no one was prepared to see Faith suffer.
Faith had lived happily for years at the Equihealth Veterinarios clinic in Barcelona, under the supervision of skilled Dutch vet Gasper Castelijins, who served Spain’s 2012 equestrian Olympic team.
In October, 2015, Gasper told us that Faith’s good front leg – previously weakened by a severe case of laminitis suffered before her rescue – had began to fail.
On October 29, 2015, we followed the advice of specialist veterinarians and made the heartbreaking decision to have Faith put down.
We believe that every animal that comes to us, because of the pain and suffering they’ve endured, deserves a second chance at life. That's why we decided to fight for Faith's life.
We gave Faith a good five years, which she deserved. She had the best and she inspired so many people worldwide. Faith truly has changed all of us a little bit.
Faith’s artificial leg is now helping another amputee pony in France
In December, 2015, Faith's prosthesis was sent to the Veterinary Teaching Hospital at the University of Lyon, where veterinarian Michael Schramme began fitting it for a 10-year-old Shetland pony named Iris.
Iris had been diagnosed with a malignant tumour in her foot and, like Faith, amputation was the only chance of saving her.
Iris’s leg was amputated on November 20, 2015. At first, Iris, too, walked atop a very basic artificial leg made from two pieces of PVC drainage pipe joined together.
When Iris’s owner contacted us, we knew we had to help, and immediately donated Faith’s professionally made prostheses.
We are so happy that Faith’s prosthetic legs are going to help another little pony and that she and Molly the Pony have inspired other surgeons to continue this work to help others out there.
Thank you
We must extend a huge thanks to everyone who supported Faith over the years. Your donations, support and love for this little pony helped us through many tough times.
She will be greatly missed.
Faith’s carer’s Sue and Rod Weeding, co founders of The Easy Horse Care Rescue Centre in Rojales saw young Cieran Kelso, an 8 year old double amputee from Northwich in Cheshire, with his parents, being interviewed on BBC Breakfast a few days ago.
Sue explained “The TV was on in the background and I heard Winter, the dolphin from Florida with a prosthetic tail fin mentioned. I was intrigued because we had a discussion with Dwayne Mara who lives in New Orleans about this..He makes Faith’s and Molly the ponies prosthetic legs and is friends with Kevin Carroll from Alabama who made the fin for this dolphin. Winter was caught up in a rope in a crab trap and Faith was severely injured by a rope wrapped round her leg while tied to a tree so there circumstances were similar.
The interview was with Cieran and his parents Gary and Gemma. Cieran had both his legs amputated below the knee when he was only 13 months old. He had contracted meningococcal septicemia. Cieran had seen the film “Dolphin Tale” starring Morgan Freeman and Kris Kristofferson and wanted to swim with Winter. After constant fundraising, which incidentally is still ongoing for Cierans future, the couple were able to afford a pair of prosthetic flippers to allow Cieran to fulfill his dream which he did this year.
Sue continued “ I like many others are I’m sure amazed at how brave this young lad is. He has such a positive attitude for one so young. Like Faith he wants to be treated as normal and get on with his life which I’m sure he will. Just because you have prosthetic limbs doesn’t mean you are any different from anybody else.”. Faith and Cieran are both on Facebook and Faith has contacted him and invited him to meet up in Spain sometime in the future. They are going to keep in touch with each other and Faith has sent him a copy of her new book about her and Molly the pony which has been written for children. Also a T-shirt and DVD all about the Easy Horse Care Rescue Centre. Gemma added “ I am sure Cieran and Faith will meet one day soon and become good pals. It would be great to see Cieran walking Faith down the lane outside the Easy Horse Care Rescue Centre, what a photograph that will be!” Easy Horse Care Rescue Centre work closely with Rojales town council. Upon hearing about Cieran the mayor and his councilors have extended a warm welcome to this brave lad and his family when they come to visit Faith and have said they would like to meet them personally.
For further information about Cieran and his dedicated parents go to www.cierankelso.co.uk or search on Facebook.
FAITH - "Diary of a Heroic Horse" Paperback Edition Add to cart.
In the beginning Molly gave Faith hope, now Faith is giving Molly hope
The EHCRC foundation is delighted to announce the imminent launch of their first eBook about Faith the pony. The idea of the book actually started two years ago, Sue had always felt that Faith's story would make a good book.
Two or three attempts were made to create this by people writing for Sue; however it never really felt right, so it was never taken any further. Finally Sue decided to have a go herself, as she realised that really only she and Rod were the only ones who could write it, as they are part of the story.
Initially the story was written as a children's book about Faith and her animal friends at the rescue centre, not really including Molly in America.
Molly the pony, who lives in Louisiana was rescued by Kaye Harris seven years ago when hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, because of a horrendous leg injury as a result of this she went on to have a front leg amputation and became a national figure of survival and inspiration.
She visits children in hospitals who have cancer and are waiting to have operations, some of which are amputations, and soldiers that have lost limbs in the war. When they met Molly with her artificial leg, they think if this little pony can do it, so can I, and for children she shows them it's ok to be different. It was Molly that inspired us to save Faith, who went on to become the first pony in Spain to also have a prosthetic leg.
A deep bond was formed across the Atlantic between Rod and Sue, and Kaye and Glen Harris, which led to Rod and Sue going over to New Orleans to meet these wonderful people and of course Molly the pony.
In America there is already a children's book published about Molly the Pony's story, it became a big seller. People bought the book assuming, as we also did, that Kaye and Molly got a percentage of the proceeds from it. Sadly it is not the case, she gets nothing. The author of this book has the copyright and gets all the money.
Kaye and Glen trusted her and never signed an agreement with her before the book was published, or took legal advice. Like ourselves, they work seven days a week, and at the time were trying not only to recover themselves from being made homeless due to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, but also having to care for the many animals they had rescued, as they chose to stay in New Orleans, risking their own lives, with a group of other animal lovers to save all the abandoned animals that they could.
Having being told the whole story Rod and Sue became determined to somehow help these wonderful people, who are still struggling financially to keep Molly's foundation going, and to keep Molly herself. This is when the idea of the book finally made sense, it was re-written, adding Molly's story through Faith's eyes, as if in her diary.
All of this was made possible by the team at 'Soul Of The Net' Web Design, who created the beautiful design.
This week Sue has been busy in the recording studio laying down the audio tape for the e-book and she would like to thank Richard Haywood and Trevor Lugmayer at Viva TV for recording the audio at their studio in Campoamor.
Initially the book will be available for the iPad, iPod and Kindle and we hope to have it in print within the next few months.
All proceeds from the sale of the e-book will be shared between the two charities – Easy Horse Care Rescue Centre Foundation (in Spain) & Kids and Ponies - Molly's Foundation, Inc. (in America).
- eComic is now available on Amazon
- Kindle e ink – black and white for old kindle
- Kindle Fire
- Kindle Fire HD
- Kindle Fire HD 8.9"
You can buy the paperback edition here.
FAITH - "Diary of a Heroic Horse" Paperback Edition Add to cart
We knew when Faith arrived back home with us at the centre our lives would change forever as we had made the commitment to care for her for the rest of her life. When Rod collected her from Barcelona he was given basic instructions and shown what to do on a daily basis to care for her, but as Faith is such an active little horse we had to make it up as we went along by constantly watching and monitoring her.
She would be out in the yard with her best friend Cookie and would often, when she had the opportunity, take herself out into the fields where she would wander around investigating everything she hadn't been able to do before because of her injury. We had to make her come back into her stall several times a day to take the prosthesis off and check that everything was ok around her stump. She would actually lift her leg up for us to remove her prosthesis.
The prosthesis was off for very short periods of time as Faith would not lie down to rest without it on, she considered it part of her and she knew that with it she had the mobility she wanted, and for her it was complete freedom to go where she pleased. Never once has she wanted it off, amazingly she took to it right from the start, she was just up and away.
Initially we had to use prosthetic legs made in Spain, these were made of a foam and fabric construction with Velcro fastenings, the leg piece was actually an aluminium tube that we got from a hardware shop that's used for legs on kitchen cupboards, and it had a rubber stump that you would use on a chair to stop it sliding. Whilst these used to fit and work quite well they would break down quickly, we were getting through about one every week.
Once again we knew the answer was again with Molly the pony, so after speaking with Kaye we were then put in touch with Dwayne Mara, who made Molly limbs. Dwayne agreed to help us make a leg for Faith based on the design he had invented for Molly, he explained that Dorothea would have to make a plaster cast of Faith's stump and leg which we then carefully posted to him in New Orleans. Interestingly enough Dwayne's business is none stop as the demand for prosthetics in New Orleans is one of the highest in the world, the reason being the famous Creole cooking in New Orleans, which is mostly fried and is very high in salt and sugar causing amongst other things very high incidents of sugar diabetes.
A few weeks later the new leg turned up and initially fitted Faith really well. Throughout the Summer of that year 2011, Faith had several visits from people with prosthetic limbs, that had lost them through landmines, injuries and ill health, all wanting to meet her and give any help and advice they could for her. As you can imagine this was a very humbling experience for us.
The biggest problem we has, was as it got really hot we had to change her prosthetic sock about six times a day because of sweat, and the heat also changed the shape of her leg yet again. We were told this could go on for a while, and is normal for all amputees but would eventually stabilise.
However we decided the best way forward for Faith was for her to go back to the clinic in Barcelona, as they could create temporary legs for her to suit the shape of her changing stump, making sure she was still comfortable as she was so active, as she wouldn't lie down, she wanted to be on the go all the time.
Dwayne worked with Gasper and Claudio, Faith's two surgeons in Barcelona to make a second leg, this time enabling her to bend her knee, thinking she might like the extra movement it would give her. However, upon arrival she tried it on and clearly told everybody that she didn't like it as she refused to walk properly with it on and as soon as another rigid leg was put back on her she then took herself straight back out to get some grass.
Faith is an exceptionally strong minded, determined little pony who knows exactly what she wants and lets everybody around her know.
So after that we decided to keep her in Barcelona for several months and wait for the leg to stabilise more and also we knew we would have to come up with a new design. Up until now all the designs had been based on Molly in America, however Molly is 24 years old and is much less active than our Faith. We knew that Dwayne would have to make something similar to the temporary plaster legs that Faith's surgeons were making, these took Faith's weight further up her leg, so the pressure wasn't on her stump like Molly's were. Rod and I flew to America to meet Molly, her rescuer Kaye and Dwayne, and together we designed a new leg for Faith. It took Dwayne some time to make, as he had to experiment with different materials and fasteners, so it could also adjust for fluctuations in her leg shape, we wanted it to be lighter and much more adjustable, however it's much harder to do this for a horse as it also needs to take a much greater weight and be much stronger, than for a human.
She has now her new leg in Barcelona for about two months and it seems to be the one. Faith's two surgeons and her nurse are all very pleased with it, and they feel that Faith is ready to come back home soon with her new leg.
We are now in the process of building her a new stable next to her beautiful grass garden, funded completely by wonderful people's donations. Faith will be back in the next eight weeks when everything is ready for her here at the centre.
We also look forward to the future release a beautiful book Faith's Diary written by Sue Weeding about Faith's journey.
Faith's Story Part Three
The drive to Barcelona took longer than we thought it would. It actually took 12 hours as Rod had to stop eight times along the way to check on Faith and make sure she was comfortable and to give her a break from the movement of the trailer because of the stress on her damaged leg.
Horses carry 85% of their weight on their two front legs. The back legs of a horse are mainly for impulsion.
They finally arrived at 10.30 the next morning to be greeted by Raquel. Faith's nurse and soon after Claudio and Gaspar Faith's veterinary surgeons. Amazingly Faith did not seem worried at all but that might have had something to do with the treat Raquel gave her upon arrival.
They then took her into a stall with a deep fluffy bed and food.
She immediately settled in and had her breakfast.
The first thing was the examination. This included various scans, test and extensive x-rays to determine her physical health and the best way forward for her. Gaspar then said that he had to watch her for a few days to get to know her to see how she cared for herself and to see if she was physically and mentally able to cope before he would operate.
After making sure she was ok Rod said an emotional fair well to Faith confident that he had left her in the best hands she could possibly be in and then set off for the long journey back home. This time without the precious passenger it only took 8 hours.
Then we all anxiously awaited Gaspar's call which finally came four days later informing us that they were all set for the operation. Because she is a miniature horse he had to get some specialised equipment from England and Germany. Faith was in good spirits and he was confident that all would be well. The team was in place and the operation would go ahead at 8.30 on Monday 27th February 2011. This was an exceptionally emotional time for all of us here at the Rescue Centre.
The surgery took five hours. Gaspar phoned us with the good news that all had gone well. They had fitted her with a temporary prosthetic leg during the operation but did not know what she would or how she would react to it. Amazingly once back on her feet she walked out of the operating theatre using the temporary leg straight away. Everybody was simply amazed at when an incredible little pony she was.
The new leg for Faith was not a problem at all. It gave her freedom. She was in no pain as she had patches applied to the base of her tail to control this. She became quite a celebrity where she stayed for 80 days.
The clinic is very near the university and many of the students and professors came to see her as it has a large veterinary section and many of the students are training to become vets so you can imagine the interest she caused as she was the first horse in Spain to have a front leg amputation.
Faith's progress was followed by all the news papers. There was even a documentary made on her for English T.V.
Finally the day arrive for Faith to come back home to us.
Once again Rod took the trailer back to Barcelona driving through the night but this time he was not alone. Cookie was travelling up to see her friend and have a routine check up. When they arrived the next day Faith was already out and about walking around in her favourite area that has grass. To get to this she had to take herself down a steep slope.
She was looking up at the trailer as they pulled up. Rod then let Cookie out of the trailer and she took herself straight into the stall that she had when she stayed last time looking for her breakfast. It was the same one that Faith had also as it was right by the door so they could always see outside. Faith recognised her old friend and scrambled back up the hill and into the stall to greet Cookie. They called out to each other and nuzzled for a few minutes. After the joy of their reunion they settled down and had some breakfast together then Cookie went off to have her check up with Gaspar. While Faith was busy being visited by many groups of adults and children who had all come to say good bye to her.
Rod, Faith and Cookie finally got away for the long journey back home at 4pm. Rod knew that they had to be back at the Rescue Centre by 10.30am the next morning as the media were all be waiting to see Faith. We had English TV Spanish TV, All the news papers plus several mayors as it was election time and of 
course lot's of our wonderful supporters and volunteers. I actually walked up the Road to meet Faith first as it was a very private emotional moment. She looked wonderful and so full of life, I could tell she was completely pain free and I knew then that we had done the right thing for her. We then drove on up to the Centre where Faith and Cookie were greeted by the media. Cameras were clicking, TV companies were filming as she walked out of the trailer followed by Cookie so proud and happy to be home and thoroughly enjoying all the attention. We then took her through into the garden where she posed once again for the cameras and even Isadora our pig came to say hello and get in on the action. Faith was then taken to her stable and checked over by our vet Dorothea to make sure all was well.
This was the start of a new chapter in our lives about keeping Faith.
To be continued…
faith's Story (part two)
All three of us were kneeling down looking at Faith's leg, devastated that our worst fears had come true Dorothea confirmed that the bone had started to die.
I think at that point all of us knew Faith was a little fighter. We knew that she would never give up so we could not give up on her. There she stood looking at us a perfectly healthy little pony with a leg problem. There had to be a way. This is when we remembered an e-mail that somebody had sent us about a pony in America that had an artificial leg. Rod went back to the house to see if it was still on the computer (as it had come to us a year before we had ever met Faith). Luckily it was still there, so he printed it out and brought it back up to the yard to show Dorothea and myself.
Molly the Pony had survived being a victim of Hurricane Katrina only to be later savaged by a pit bull terrier. The dog ripped into her leg so badly it had to be amputated. This made Molly the first horse in American history to have a successful front leg amputation and seven years on she is still going strong. She is now 24 years old. You can look her up on www.mollythepony.com
We then knew that for Faith, amputation was going to be the only option we had left to save her life.
That night we contacted Kaye Harris, Molly's rescuer in New Orleans. She replied instantly to say she would help us in any way she could. She contacting Rustin Moore the lead surgeon that performed Molly's operation for us and asked his for his help.
The next day we contacted Gaspar Castelijns based in Barcelona (Spain's leading equine leg and hoof specialist surgeon). From previous articles you may know that Gaspar had come to our rescue before with our little pony Cookie. Gaspar was also the vet for the Spanish Olympic dressage team in the London 2012 Olympics. We are so very lucky to have someone like Gaspar as our friend. He also agreed to do everything he could for Faith. Amazingly it transpired that Gaspar had worked with Rustin Moore before in America and they would now work together again for Faith.
It took three weeks for Gaspar to gather all the necessary information and prepare and organise all of his surgery team who had to be available for the operation. This included an anaesthetist, another surgeon and a surgery nurse. As each day went on we were anxiously awaiting for Gaspar's call to tell us that it was time to bring Faith up to Barcelona to his clinic.
On a Monday morning, we received the call from Gasper. He told us that he and the other vets in his team had concluded all their research into the possibility of amputating Faith's leg.
They had all made space in their busy schedules for that week as they were all eager to do whatever they could to help Faith and could we have her in Barcelona by Wednesday!
At last Faith was going to start her journey towards a future where she would be pain free, and able to have as normal a life as could be possible for a three legged little horse.
Tuesday at the centre was a very hectic and emotional day for everyone involved. Faith had to be prepared for the seven hour journey. Dorothea, the vet who has treated Faith every day for the last seven months bandaged all her legs to protect and support them during the journey and made Faith as comfortable as possible in the trailer.
This was very important as we knew Faith would not lie down while the trailer was moving.
Many volunteers and well-wishers turned up to wish Faith a safe journey. It was an incredibly emotional time for Rod, Dorothea and I. As we decided to transport Faith at night when it was cooler in the trailer and the roads would be quieter. Rod literally drove Faith off into the sunset.
All are thought were with our little Faith, for the next 7 hours for the journey ahead.
To be continued...
Article featured in The Costa Blanca News March 2013
Finding Faith
The rescue centre, founded in 2008 have witnessed many horrific sights involving horses, ponies and donkeys. We have had to learn to deal with many horrendous injuries, helped as always by Dorothea our fabulous equine vet. Together we have had to learn new techniques and ways to treat injuries which would have normally resulted in the death of the equine. Here at the centre we try to do everything we possibly can to save the animal. However nothing prepared us for Faith.
We had a call from a lady August 27th 2010 explaining that she had taken a horse in from her next door neighbours to her own home and was trying to treat several injuries, the main one being a leg injury. This miniature horse apparently had been kept tied to a tree, was severely malnourished and in an attempt possibly to break free, had managed to get the ropes wrapped around her legs, cutting off the blood supply and causing severe injuries and lacerations. Upon further inspection of the main front leg injury and trying to clean what she thought was an infection, the flesh simply fell away as it was rotten, revealing the whole of the cannon bone and the joint below, plus the tendons. It was just like looking at a model skeletal structure of a horse's front leg. We went and picked up Faith that very day and then the battle to save her begun.
The journey with Faith has been a long one, and also a huge leap of Faith you might say, by our side we have had Dorothea and many other top surgeons aiding us to save Faith and make the life of this little horse a better one, one worth living. We called her Faith because you have to have Faith, when you see an injury like this, none of us could believe what we were looking at.
The first thing Dorothea did was to clean all around the injury to her front leg, and inject strong antibiotics directly into it, to try to control the massive infections that were already taking hold of her body, without this she would have been dead within 48 hours.
The two main problems we had were trying to support the cannon bone and the joint below because there was nothing to hold it in place. It was in danger of collapsing completely. The second was trying to stop the air getting to the exposed bone and joint, bones aren't designed to be exposed to air, they dry out and die. To solve these problems we had to encase the whole bottom leg in a plaster cast to seal and support it. As well as all this Faith had a huge reaction to the antibiotics, she was so malnourished her digestive system broke down causing sever colic and we had to rush her to the Alicante Horse Hospital where she was stabilised and came back three days later. We then continued her treatment using a different type of antibiotic which was hard to find and very expensive, but that was the one that her body could tolerate in its weakened state.
Once she was stabilised we continued to try to get the flesh to grow back over the bone as quickly as possible before it started to die.
We continued this treatment here at the centre for six months, every night seven days a week, even Christmas night, Dorothea, with Rod and I assisting her would be in her stable from 8 o'clock night with lead lights, for about two hours, cutting off her plaster cast that had been put on the night before so the wound could be checked for infections which were in danger of forming. If there was an infection, Dorothea had to take samples away and analyse them, seeing what infection it was and diagnose the appropriate antibiotic to put directly onto the infected area. To also accelerate the healing process Dorothea herself did ground breaking stem cell treatment, as we needed to get the flesh back over the bone asap, as the bone would eventually die without the protection of the flesh. For this she would come in the morning twice a week to take away a small amount of Faith's blood, then harvest the healing cells from it, put them into a cream and bring them back the same night to apply directly onto Faith's flesh. Then a new plaster cast was applied that we had to dry with a hair dryer. We used the old fashioned plaster of paris cast material because of the healing properties it has.
It was incredible how this process accelerated the growth of the much needed new flesh. Through all of this little Faith stood patiently with her leg held out for us. She knew that we were helping her.
For these six months our lives consisted of Faith and her treatment and praying that we could save her and her leg.
For the first month she was kept in a small area till we got her well in herself, she wasn't allowed to put too much pressure on her damaged leg until we had stabilised everything. After that she was free to wander around the yard which she did with her best friend Cookie and Isadora the pig. Cookie and Faith were inseparable.
Faith was so vulnerable that we had the added worry of every time we rescued a new horse she could be exposed to a virus we might not be aware of, as we didn't have isolation facilities for new rescues or the resources to create them, it was just me and Rod aided by Dorothea.
On top of this we had 25 other horses here to care for upon her arrival and by Christmas of that year we had rescued another 7 more, making it 33 horses, ponies and donkeys that we also had to care for including Bronson, if you've read about him in a back issue of this paper you will know how complicated a rescue that was. All of this was before we had our Charity shops and our wonderful volunteers that help run them. It was not a very easy time, as funding and volunteers were very thin on the ground.
After Christmas 2010 our fears became reality and we discovered that the bone in her leg had started to die and then the battle was really on to save Faith.
To be continued...
Article featured in the Costa Blanca News 2013
Dorothea talks about Faith's Injury
"A catastrophic injury is one that puts in danger the life of the horse because of its short and/or long term consequences. Faiths leg injury was indeed a catastrophic injury: the lack of blood supply to part of her leg resulted in death of a big area of skin, tendons, ligaments and joint capsule, leaving the bone and the joint exposed to the environment. The injury had not been treated for over a week, and infection was already established when I first saw her.
The main goals in the initial phase of treatment where three: controlling infection, stabilizing the exposed joint and speed up the healing of the tissue to cover the exposed bone as soon as possible.
In order to stabilize the joint, the initial financial constrictions forced me to use affordable materials, so in the beginning I used a piece of water pipe to shape a reusable cast for her leg. Considering that the wound needed to be cleaned every day, putting on a new cast this often was too expensive for the person who initiated her rescue. Later, at the centre, she had a fibre glass cast that was changed every day.
To control the infection, wound cleaning, debridement and antibiotic therapy where mandatory. Initially she was on a standard antibiotic therapy that proved not effective enough. A culture of the bacteria gave us a list of the adequate antibiotics for her specific infection, so we started her on these. Considering that she had to be on the antibiotics for a very long time, I chose one with not to many side effects. But as with every antibiotic, there are adverse effects, and Faith did not made it easy, because soon she started having trouble. Her intestinal flora was altered by the medication, and she started to show signs of compaction colic. Once the colic was under control I changed antibiotics again, this time getting a diarreha in return from her. We started her on intestinal flora, and this seemed to work for a time, but soon these new antibiotics showed that they were not controlling the infection completely. We changed again to a different medication that this time worked well (if we don’t consider the fact that she was full of lumps and sores from the daily injections).
To accelerate healing speed, the therapy was based on stem cell treatment. Stem cell treatment consists in using cells from the own body that have a higher regeneration rate than the tissue that need to be treated. In the body, there are different types of stem cells. One of them is the platelets from the blood.
Laboratory preparation of these stem cell suspensions is very expensive and we needed a lot of them, so we decided to try a "homemade" preparation. Basically, it consisted in extracting Faith some blood, and to separate the cells by centrifugation and conserve only the platelets that we used later on a dressing for her wound. For 2 ml of concentrated platelet suspension I needed to extract 150 ml of blood. This was done once a week in the initial 2 months and it did improve the healing speed a lot".
2012-04
Finally a quick update on Faith. We visited her at Equi Health in Sant Cougat, Barcelona a few weeks ago and are pleased to say she is doing amazingly well. She has just had her skin graft where 30 tiny pieces of skin were grafted on to her stump to stop the flesh from protruding. Once she has the proper skin it will harden and the flesh will stop growing which means her prosthesis will fit better and be much more comfortable for her. This is the second part of the amputation that we knew would happen and the whole team in Barcelona are delighted with her progress and we send a special big thank you to Claudio and Raquel who are caring for Faith on a daily basis.
For more information on the Easy Horse Care Rescue Centre call Sue on 652 021 980 or email rescue@easyhorsecare.net and don't forget to follow us on facebook and check out Faith's new facebook page where she will be chatting to Molly the Pony in America.
April was also a very exciting time for Faith as her new leg finally arrived from the USA!
We will be taking it up to her at the clinic in Barcelona very soon but her cast has been taken off and her skin graft has taken so everything is looking very positive and we will of course keep you updated on how she gets on trying out her new prosthesis which will allow her to once again bend her leg and lead a more active life.
We took the leg up to her at the clinic in Barcelona and the veterinary team say things are progressing very well and she is quickly adapting to the new leg which will now allow Faith to bend her leg.
As we took the leg up to Faith, we also took Cookie who was due for her check up with the clinic and surprised Faith by reuniting her with her little friend! Following the visit we were informed that 6 major equestrian surgeons and farriers from all over the globe are coming together and they will be talking about Faith and Cookie's success.
2012-2
The long awaited new prosthetic limb for Faith that will allow her to bend her leg and greatly enhance her movement and quality of life is due to arrive from America any day now. Once here, Rod and Sue will travel up to Barcelona to personally deliver it to Faith's expert veterinary team and see how she is getting on. More news to follow soon!
2012-01
Before travelling to America, Easy Horse Care's Sue and Rod went up to Barcelona to meet wiht Faith who is currently back there with her surgical team and is having a fantastic time wandering around the paddocks and is loved and adored by everyone there!
She is preparing for the second part of her surgery as the team look at ways of improving her comfort when using the artificial leg and to help reduce the pressure points she has when she wears the leg for long periods. There are two potential options being looked at by Faith's vet Gasper including one which could be a world's first if it goes ahead! Once the surgery has been carried out and Faith is well on the mend she will arrive home in Rojales but that will be some months away yet.
2010-08
Just when we thought it could not get any more shocking, a little pony we called Faith arrived at the rescue centre.
Faith was found at a local yard, with horrific injuries to her legs. She had been tied up with a rope around her neck and when she became entangled in the rope it made deep cuts into her legs. The owner did not call a vet or remove the rope, and by the time she was discovered the circulation to her lower front right leg had been cut off, leaving the flesh dead and rotting.
As the dead flesh fell away, bone, tendons and ligaments became clearly visible. Dorothea, the vet treating Faith, says she has never seen anything like it, and doubts whether any other vets have either. She said she would only expect to see such a sight on a veterinary teaching model – not a live horse!
Dorothea had to remove more dead flesh to stop infection taking hold. She estimates Faith would have been dead within two days if treatment had not been started.
To ensure Faith gets the best help possible, Dorothea is in close communication with one of Spain's top horse vets, Gaspar Castelijns in Barcelona. Stem cell treatment is being used to help the wound heal, with healing properties extracted from Faith's blood made into an ointment to encourage the damaged area to re-grow. Even if all goes well, though, Dorothea estimates that it will take a year for Faith's leg to heal.
The biggest worry now is that the bone in her foot will collapse, as it has no tendons left to support it. In between treatments to clean and medicate the wound, Faith is being kept in a plaster cast in a bid to stop this happening.
Despite everything she has been through, Faith is a lovely, gentle-natured pony. As soon as she arrived at the rescue centre, she neighed happily to the other horses, and seemed to know she was safe and would get the best possible care. She is calm and friendly, and stands patiently as the vet and centre volunteers attend to her wounds.
We will do everything we can to help Faith and give her the chance of a happy life, but we do need help. With no official funding, we rely on the kindness of individuals to help our rescue horses, and we need sponsors or donations to help Faith.
Faith's case has been referred to el Servicio de Protección de la Naturaleza de la Guardia Civil (SEPRONA), the arm of the Guardia that is responsible for animal welfare issues. SEPRONA officers are investigating the case.
UPDATE 2010-09
Sadly, Faith's condition has deteriorated. She became ill and was today rushed to Alicante animal hospital with suspected internal bleeding and blockages. She is now undergoing tests to find the cause of the problem.
UPDATE 2010-09
Good news - Faith has been given the all clear by Alicante animal hospital, after the blockage was cleared. She is now back at the rescue rescue centre.
AND - two men have been arrested on suspicion of mistreating animals in connection to her case.
UPDATE 2011-02
Only last month we reported how well Faith was responding to the stem cell treatment on her injured leg. Now, following x-rays vet Dorthea sadly confirmed that part of her canon bone has died.
Without surgery Faith will die.
THESE RESCUES AND ONGOING CARE CAN ONLY CONTINUE WITH YOUR SUPPORT.
