Pandora (Dora) is a 15hh bay mare thought to be in her late teens. Dora was found abandoned, severely underweight and in desperate need of care and veterinary treatment.

 

Dora-rescue-sezure

Dora arrived at The Horse Trust on Saturday 15th September after being rescued in a joint operation between Buckinghamshire Trading Standards and the RSPCA. In addition to being extremely underweight, Dora was suffering from parasitism and an infection, which both required urgent treatment.

She had recently given birth, but sadly her foal was never found.


Our Home of Rest for Horses in Buckinghamshire is at the heart of the charity. It is here that we provide retirement, respite and sanctuary for up to 100 retired or rescued horses, ponies and donkeys.

But after 40 years the stables and buildings had reached the end of their life and become old and dilapidated and temporary maintenance is no longer sustainable or cost effective.

The urgent need to replace these stables to provide safe and suitable housing and create essential facilities for our rescued and retired horses.  is our biggest challenge. 

We had to close The Home of Rest to visitors but of course we can never close to the horses, ponies and donkeys that need our help. New horses continued to arrive. Horses like Dora who was found abandoned, starving and left to die. 

Despite her ordeal Dora is an incredibly sweet natured horse, which makes it all the more sad that in her twilight years she was abandoned and left to fend for herself.  However, with the right care and treatment, and plenty of TLC we were  hopeful that in time she would  make a full recovery.

 

 Dora on arrival

 

Dora-arrival

 
 
 
 

 

Her initial response to veterinary treatment was encouraging but we held our breath. There was a long road ahead.

It took three months but we could see Dora was finally on the road to recovery.

And here we are five months later and Dora is doing fantastically well. She is back to a healthy weight and is a bright and happy horse once again.

Dora remains very popular with our boys and even had to be moved to a new field because retired police horse Warwick was getting a little bit too friendly! Warwick is not the only police horse with a soft spot for the lovely Dora, Pern was also spotted giving Dora an affectionate nuzzle in the field.

The Dora we see today is different horse from the emaciated, sick and nervous mare that was bought to The Horse Trust in September 2012. Dora’s miraculous recovery is testament to the dedicated care of her vets and grooms at The Horse Trust and of course the fantastic support of our donors. 

 Dora is now a healthy and happy horse 

Dora-BeforeAndAfter

At a time when we are closed to visitors and finances are under even more of a strain than usual Dora's terrible story touched many people and we want to thank everyone who responded to our appeal for help. Your donations helped to ensure that Dora is safe and well. 

 

If you too would like to help, please donate today and help us to Rebuild The Trust for horses like Dora. 

£10 pays for wormer to treat horses like Dora

£25 helps towards veterinary supplies for our clinic

£50 buys a webcam, to monitor a sick horse 24/7

 

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