...my treasures do not sparkle they clink,
they shine in the sun and neigh in the night...

 

 

Calenzano (FI), the IHP team rescues an injured mare

13/10/2017

(13 October 2017)

The rescue followed the alarm raised by a number of people. Possible connection with stray horses (WATCH THE VIDEO)

Yesterday afternoon a team of IHP volunteers, together with the IHP vet, went to investigate a telephone report of two horses in the Calenzano area, one of them apparently seriously injured and immobile for two days. We arrived at the spot around one o’clock in the afternoon, and were quickly able to ascertain that one of the two horses had indeed sustained a serious injury to her leg. It was impossible to get close to this mare, as in spite of her injury she did all she could to escape, evidently being unused to contact with humans.

We therefore quickly organised a second visit with the aim of safely approaching her, so that we could also then assess how to transport her somewhere where we could deal with her injury. We were joined by an ASL vet to help with the task of identification.

It took us over an hour to get close to the mare, whose age we estimated to be around 3 or 4 years, and put a headcollar on her – she was extremely frightened. At this stage the ASL vet was able to ascertain that the horse had no microchip and was, therefore, officially a ‘stray horse’.
From accounts given by local residents it would seem that this young mare, together with dozens of others (the number reported varied between 30 and 40) belonged to a person of that neighbourhood who had extreme difficulty in keeping them under control. We are still in the process of verifying further reports that these horses were just left to breed, and that they break down fences, and roam at will in the surrounding areas in order to find food. The deep gash in the leg of the mare tallied with the jagged edges of many of the broken metal bars used to fence the surrounding fields.

With the authorisation of ASL we took the injured mare to a safe and appropriate place for the urgently needed attention to her wound, which at this point ran the risk of septicaemia. Given the fact that she was semi-wild, and badly injured, it took several more hours, into the night in fact, before we could get her onto a lorry. We now have to wait until tomorrow to find out exactly how serious her injuries are and whether she can be saved.

IHP has sent an urgent letter to the Mayor of Calenzano requesting an order for the legal seizure of the horse, and her transfer to the care of IHP, for the obvious immediate health and safety reasons. We are awaiting a reply to this letter. Meanwhile we continue our investigations into the witness accounts we have gathered, which will form the basis of our next moves over the coming days.