Update on Polly

Polly was admitted to The Horse Trust as a welfare case in February 2014. She was one of three emaciated horses found abandoned and left to die in a field in Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire.

Polly was found desperately weak and half the healthy weight a normal horse of her size should be. She was one of the thinnest horses we had ever seen. Polly was in a very bad way and was suffering from worms, conjunctivitis, with a skin disease called rain scald, as well as weighing only 316kg. Polly’s road to recovery was very challenging. This poor lady was so emaciated that she could not be fed with large amounts of food for fear of her dying from ‘re-feeding syndrome’. Polly had to be monitored and fed small amounts of food so that her body could cope and absorb all the nutrients, without being overloaded with calories in the fear of her body shutting down.

Due to this Polly had to be stabled for her food intake to be monitored, because of this and her previous experiences Polly gets very anxious in a stable. The Knowledge and Skills team have been working with Polly to help her to overcome this fear. This is so her dedicated sponsors will be able to see her when we are open to the public as well as if Polly needs to come in for any veterinary reasons. This training involves Polly having free choice to enter the stable and the door remains open so she can come and go as she pleases and does not feel trapped. Initially this training began with Polly just being near the stable without needing to enter. Inside the stable is a mixture of yummy treats including chaff and hay so that Polly learns that being in the stable is a positive experience. Polly still gets anxious if there is any noise happening whilst she is in the stable and has a long way to go before she will be standing in for any length of time, but we are hopeful that in time this will be possible.

For The Horse Trust to continue the much needed work with horses like Polly, that need our dedicated care and time, we rely on public donations. Please consider donating today.

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