02/11/2021

We have been looking after the foal since last August when she was sent to our Centre from the Perugia Veterinary Hospital.

Gin Tonic will not remain completely blind and will remain at the Italian Horse Protection Rescue Centre: the worst risk has been averted thanks to the specialists at the Perugia Veterinary Hospital and the care that IHP has been able to give her since last August, counting on the generous donations of supporters and the commitment of the staff and volunteers. 

The three-year-old pony comes from the Lunghezza seizure (Rome, 2018), a dramatic event after which many animals that after years of complaints were finally rescued from the hands of their oppressor, are still in judicial custody on a plot of land just outside Rome.  

But for Gin Tonic there’s a different future: IHP has accepted the request to continue to look after the horse who during these months, being able to live a natural life grazing hills, has made friends with Grifo, the foal blind from birth, who also comes from the Lunghezza detention centre together with his mother Azzurra and who is now three years old like Gin Tonic.

“Gin Tonic arrived here on 21 August and she was already blind in one eye due to a previous trauma”, says IHP president Sonny Richichi. “She had an abscess in her good eye, probably caused by a foreign body. There was a real risk that she would remain completely blind. The veterinary hospital in Perugia performed a complicated surgery and then asked if we could look after her in order to give her the care she needs: after a long and meticulous period of treatment, we succeeded in saving her eye.  Now we have also accepted the request to continue to keep her here with us at the Rescue Centre, where she can continue to live in freedom.  During these months she has become a good friend of Grifo, another foal who is the same age of Gin Tonic and has been completely blind since birth. He also arrived at IHP after the Lunghezza seizure. Gin Tonic, Grifo and his mother Azzurra were entrusted to the care of different associations following the seizure: surgery, medical treatments, and care have very high costs that IHP is able to bear thanks to the generosity of their donors who once again have not turned their backs”.

Related articles and videos:

Gin Tonic: eye update, 10 September 2021

Gin Tonic arrives at IHP centre: aim, save her sight

Tens of horses abused in Rome: video 2013

Tens of horses abused in Rome: video 2018

The story of Grifo (VIDEO 1)

The story of Grifo (VIDEO 2)