A Second Chance at Life: Star’s journey
We rescued Star in September 2022, not expecting her to be with us for a long time. We wanted to give her a last chance to happiness, because she was in such bad condition we thought her time to cross the rainbow bridge would come soon.We were sent a video of where she was living. It was a tiny space made of rusty bed frames with sharp edges. She had had no food for days prior to coming to us. She did however have a recent sweating saddle patch, showing that she had been ridden very recently.She was very skinny, but if anything, the lack of weight was helping her situation by not adding more weight to her extremely painful feet. They were in such bad shape, she could barely walk.
Star suffered from laminitis quite badly. The bone seemed to poke out of the bottom of one of her feet when she arrived. We brought in the vet, who x-rayed her feet. With these x-rays we knew the positions of the bones. One of our volunteers worked together with a barefoot trimmer from the UK to find a trim that worked for Star. If she didn’t receive constant trimming, she was in a lot of pain. She got her toes trimmed on the ground, which is a backbreaking exercise for the trimmer. But this way Star didn’t have to pick up her feet, as that put more weight on her other legs. Next to trimming, we tried everything to relieve the pressure on her soles. At some point we even tried to put on metal shoes backwards, but this didn’t help. We’re very happy that over time she developed a better sole depth, and in a way that was in line with our barefoot ideology.
Still, Star was a horse with lots of special needs. She lied down more than usual to take the weight off her legs. That’s why she needed extra thick bedding. Otherwise she would develop abscesses on her legs. She wore boots to protect her feet from the ground. And she had a very special diet, as any sugar intake could spur a flare up in her laminitis. To monitor the position of her bones we regularly had x-rays of her feet done. She received natural painkillers and food supplements for horses suffering from laminitis. Sadly, she also had melanoma, which is not unusual for grey horses on the Canary Islands. Luckily this was not causing her a lot of trouble and she gained a healthy weight. She had bonded with a volunteer that took her on short, easy walks.
Unfortunately, despite all the treatment, love and care Star was still in pain and there was nothing else we could do for her. She was very loved by the volunteers and as painful as it is it was best for Star to end the pain and send her over the rainbow bridge.
Star arrived at the finca in September 2022 and passed away on 15th of February 2024.
