07/07/2018

(7 July 2018)
Evelina, our Highlander, the Doyenne of the Rescue Centre, has bidden us farewell at the end of her very long life.
Long before IHP came into being, she had been rescued by the Fondazione Flaminia da Filicaja at the end of the ‘90s. Having traveled from Argentina, along with the other horses in her group, she found freedom instead of slaughter.

Evelina was always the mascot of the place. She had a strong character yet at the same time was able to inspire confidence in other horses. For many years she teamed up with Navajo, a blind horse who lived to the venerable age of 36, as his guide-horse. She then found a new soulmate in Petit, also very old and with badly arthritic legs. With Evelina always by his side, he lived to 35.
But meanwhile Evelina too had grown old, and gradually lost her sight and almost all of her hearing, along with the usual discomforts of old age. It was her turn to find a friend to help her, and this was old, asthmatic Arturo, who became her steadfast companion, and kept her company in the last phase of her life.

Evelina remained a tough cookie to the very end: she coped resiliently with small and not-so-small health issues, not to mention the times we had to lift her back up off the ground, sometimes needing the help of a hoist, because she had had a lie down, or had stumbled and fallen, and her old legs just couldn’t manage that necessary push to get her up again. And once she was back on her feet, she was a peppy, tough old lady once again, and of course with her usual big appetite for dinner.

We have no real idea of her age, but she had certainly seen 30 a good while ago. What we do know for sure is that she left her mark on everyone who came to the Rescue Centre: the volunteers, the visitors, and above all those who distance-adopted her. And it wasn’t only her magnificent whiskers that made her special, it was that everyone knew she was…Evelina, the symbol of our fight against the exploitation of equines, and the horse slaughter trade. This symbol will live on in all of us every single day.

VIDEO: GOODBYE EVELINA

thanks to Elisa Munafò for the video
thanks to Susan Garvin for the translation