CHAI's Rescued Horses: Joey

Tied up in a yard littered with rusty metal and garbage, the small horse, only 2 1/2 years old, was left to starve to death. He was found during a routine patrol in Tel Aviv-Jaffa by members of Hakol Chai, CHAI's sister charity in Israel, who try to monitor the condition of horses and donkeys living in that area. They named him Joey.

He used to pull a cart through the heavily trafficked streets of Tel Aviv, but malnutrition kept him too small and frail for the heavy loads. Every bone protruded. An ill-fitting bridle rubbing against his face caused a fungus infection, the metal bit in his mouth caused permanent scars on both sides of his mouth, and abscesses on his feet swelled up where an infection had gone untreated. Joey had been suffering from gross malnutrition for a very long time.

The person who boards and treats such horses for us reported that he was obviously in a great deal of physical pain. It took a week of proper food before he was able to clear from his system the rope, plastic, and netting he had eaten out of desperation. Thanks to CHAI’s Israeli sister charity, Hakol Chai, today he has real food and fresh water daily, his wounds have been treated by a veterinarian, and no one will ever harm him again.

Led out into a field of grass at his new home in Kfar Monash for the first time, he lowered his head to smell this strange new stuff and his eyes lit up. He nibbled on a few blades, then burst into a leap of joy, bucking several times before settling down to eat. A Welsh pony trotted up to introduce herself and offer her companionship.

UPDATE: July 2012