“Pocho” arrived to his new home the 31st of July of 2003, he came from a filthy place, where he lived together with four dogs, a dying pig and a cock.
He was fed with the rests that the drug addicts who lived around there picked up from supermarket´s garbage. There was no running water, and we do not know how he could survive. The pig, who is supposed to be more resistant than a horse, was beginning to be eaten alive by the rats, because he was not able to stand up, and he was euthanized as well as cock. We finally could take “Pocho” and the dogs. “”Pocho” was not not able to move by himself, he needed four persons, one for each leg to help him to go into the horsebox.
Nevertheless, “Pocho” was not going to surrender as easily, he was a survivor, as the majority of the horses we usually rescue. When we arrived to the Retreat miraculously he went out of the horsebox completely alone, and he could walk a few meters until he arrived to his new home. Just there we cut his hoovs because this was an emergency, and we had to do that in order that he could move. He also had mange, ringworn and a pulmonary problem. He had to take baths in order to get rid of the fungus, which was a real odyssey, Leonor received much more product than “Pocho” did (maybe this is one the reasons of her resistance to infections).
“Pocho” recovered very quickly his passion for life, and very soon he noticed a beautiful black mare that belonged to Bongo´s herd, a gorgeous PRE (Pure Spanish Breed), and until this moment he was the only male. He fought an unequal fight until he achieved his real aim. Later, his love for her made him take long sessions of baths and splashes in the river, he that had never seen water so close and of course he hated the hygiene, but his girlfriend loved “synchronized swimminng”, and now lives a calm retreat, but the whole time vigilant of his girlfriend´s adventures, he is not able to separate from her. L.
Now his only serious problem in life is the arrival of the blacksmith once every three months when he cuts his hoofs, and he tolerates this presence with great difficulty.
“Pocho” is now 35 years old and he will live in the refuge the rest of his life.
