When you see Xavi from a distance he does not look like he should be here.
His big strong body, shiny hair and long list of quality breeding in his passport he looks as if he should be in a fancy yard somewhere. But even his posh papers and grace couldn’t save him from ending up in a rescue centre.
11 months before he came to us he had an accident where he fell off a ravine and injured his back two legs severely. He was treated by our vet, so we now know his full history. Anyone who has anything to do with horses will know how difficult it is to treat lower leg injuries. Especially on a big powerful thoroughbred who is kept alone in a small space, knee deep in mud.
Hoping for an easier cure the old owner changed vets (another we know) and was given terrible advice which delayed his recovery more. By the time he finally arrived to us, the woman was sad to say goodbye but could no longer try to help him. For us we know it would have been impossible in that environment and advice to recover totally. 4 shoes on, box rest and far to much food were a very bad combination for this particular type of case.
Since being with us we have removed his shoes. He lives outside in a mini heard and moves freely, also with regular in hand walks with the volunteers. Our climate is dry compared to up the mountains in the north where he was before, which has helped tremendously in the recovery. It is early days but already we see a huge improvement. He is pain free, happy and relaxed and a delight to have around. With time his wounds will improve but he will sadly never look the same again. But we don’t mind he is beautiful inside and out.
Xavi had so many issues with his feet, and previous damage that over time we managed to get on top of and he had some amazing years happy and pain-free. However unfortunately Xavi developed a common abscess which was the start of his decline. He was in pain so didn’t move around a lot and got a blood clot in his leg, this was nearly the end as his hoof burst at the coronet band and hours before we were about to put him to sleep the clot moved and we were once again on a road to recovery. This time even slower as he could not really move from a small soft paddock at risk of lifting off his entire hoof. Eventually, this grew out over the years, but things were never the same again.
Fast forward to now. He lost his fight, and we could see he was no longer happy to be mooching about in his boots, he was laying down more and starting to lose his shine and condition. So we all together with the vets, volunteers, and farriers decided it was time to set him free before he really suffered anymore. So we said goodbye and ran free to an amazing big boy.
