Abandoned foal in ‘critical condition’

A four-month-old foal is fighting for his life after he was found left for dead by the side of the road in Essex.

Keen to live

The RSPCA was called to attend to the piebald cob on 17 February, who had been abandoned without his mother in Ridgewell, nearHalstead in Essex.

According to RSPCA inspector Sarah Elmy,‘Gizmo’ is so underweight you can see “every bone in his body”. He is also riddled with lice and suffering from hypothermia, dehydration and pneumonia.

“He was so keen to live, though, bless him,” said Sarah. “Even though he was lying flat out, he was trying to reach forward and crawl himself along the ground to get to grass. As soon as we propped him up he was nibbling, trying to eat from our hand. It was so heartbreaking.”

Touch and go

In attendance with the RSPCA were the police, a vet and vet nurse and the yard manager from nearby Catley Cross Veterinary Clinic. Gizmo was so weak he had to be carried to the lorry on a rug. He was then taken the clinic, where he is receiving 24-hour care.

“It is touch and go at the moment – Gizmo is walking a fine line,” said vet Carolyn Wise. “But he is eating and trying to live so we have everything crossed he will pull through – he is such a lovely foal. He has melted all our hearts.”