Help Save A Kaitangata Wild Horse

You may have heard about Kaitangata in the news recently for its abundant jobs and cheap house and land packages. But not many people know that "Kai" also has a resident herd of wild horses in the hills surrounding Kai. My long-time friend (25 years), Laura, has kept an eye on these horses for many years and has even been lucky enough to adopt 3 wild horses, breaking them in and even successfully taking them to events! Over the past few months, Laura and her friends have been riding in the hills and noticed that young Comet, a two year old half brother to her current broken in wild horse, was losing condition and becoming separated from the herd. On a whim they went into the hills on the weekend of 20th August, and found young Comet alone, malnourished, dehydrated, and in some pain. Now this should be a fighting fit, flight animal that gallops away from humans but so poorly was Comet that amazingly Laura was able to approach him, touch him, and with help, was able to halter him. They all then gently guided Comet down with the assistance of other horses to a safe enclosure where a vet was called. Obviously Comet is very unwell with the most likely cause being pointed to a tooth (or teeth) infection that had gradually robbed him of his ability to eat. It is very important to note that this is not a case of neglect, these are wild animals who are prone to sickness and ailments like any other animal and it shows in Comets willingness to go with the rescuers, and lack of flight, that his health is dire. The vet has started a treatment plan and along with Lauras constant watch (even night time visits) they are hoping that he will respond positively. Laura has taken Comet under her charge and taken full responsibility for his health care requirements. Vets, dentists, conditioning feed and covers are not cheap so I am calling on the good people of New Zealand to get behind this little horse and help nurse him back to health. It is hoped that he makes a full recovery and can become a lovely riding hack in the future. Please see the gallery for other photos.

Update 1: Hello all, thank you for your wonderful donations so far. Our huge thanks go out to you. To keep you updated, Comet has seen the vet and had an xray. It is suspected that Comet may have received a kick to the face and has either broken teeth or potentially worst case scenario is a broken bone. Laura tells me that considering he has had little human contact he is coping very well. I will update with more news when the xray results are in. Thank you all.

Update 2: Comet seen the vet again on Wednesday. He had what is called a fistula on his nose from the infected area. In other words, they think he has had a kick to the face that has broken off a small piece of bone, which has then gone rotten and become a foreign body, causing infection and associated pus. The fistula has developed allowing the pus to drain from the infected area. Not all of it was able to come out his nasal passages so it worked it's own way out through his skin. News from the vet so far is that if a foreign body requires removal that he will need another sedation and an operation, so it has been decided that he will be gelded at the same time, this reduces the risk of another sedation in the future. There is a couple of new photos in the gallery of the recent vet visit with scissors in Comets fistula showing how deep it is. We haven't had word on the x-ray results yet but we have other good new is that Comet had a poo! Not very exciting for most people but Laura was worried that his internal organs were failing and he may be unsavable. Comet's poo is fabulous news in that the pain relief is working to allow him to nibble on a bit of grass. Laura has had a visit from a stock feed agent this morning who handed over a bag of feed, took some photos and said to call if she needed anything. This kind of compassion and support brings tears to our eyes, to show that people care and are not afraid to put their hand up for Comet is incredible and we very much thank you. Also the fundraising effort is at almost $700! Almost $100 was raised alone over night! We seemed to have gained a bit of momentum so please share our page for other to see. Will update again soon. x

Update 3: Hello lovely supporters. Thank you all very much!!!! I have had the results back from the xrays, and it's pretty much confirmed that Comet has a broken tooth and it needs to be removed with surgery. I'm not sure yet when that is happening, but we would like Comet to be a bit healthier before a full sedation is done. He has another vet visit before this. His tummy seems to be working, with another poo this morning... yay... 2 mornings in a row!!! He seemed to of enjoyed his brush yesterday too.

Update 4: The vet popped back today to have a follow up. She had decided to have a look in Comets mouth just to see. Unbelievably, when she pulled out a bit of grass and hay three bits of his tooth fell out! Can you imagine the pain of having loose bits of teeth hanging out of your gum! The great new is that the vet thinks that the broken teeth (or tooth) can be extracted and cleaned out by giving Comet a full sedation and opening up his mouth without having to go up the nose and opening things up. Fingers crossed this is the case for Comet's sake. We have uploaded new photos of the xray and teeth! Have a look in the photo gallery and remember that this is an unbroken, wild horse who is now being handled by humans, it's really quite amazing. In the mean time Laura has had a message from the Otago Daily Times newspaper wanting to do a story which would be fantastic coverage for Comet's fundraising effort. Hopefully the story will be out within a week to keep the donations coming in. We hit a high of $200 in 24 hours yesterday which in simply awesome for Laura and her quest to help this wee horse. Thank you all once again for your incredible generosity. Feel free to share our page on Facebook.

Update 5: Sorry for the delay in updating folks but things have been kinda hectic. Comet had made steady progress during his extra week before the operation. He had been getting out of the pen and into the paddock with his half brother Charlie and took it all in his stride. He appeared to be nibbling on grass okay and even had been getting some special feed but progress with his weight is slow as long as those teeth were giving him pain. Luckily the operation day was fine and things got underway. Firstly, he was gelded, this saved another sedation down the track and made good sense to do it at the same time. Then the vet took a good look in his mouth and scraped and prodded to get a lot more of the smashed teeth away. The pain must have been absolutely terrible for Comet. He came through the operation okay and took a while to come around. He got up and started nibbling on a bit of grass but from the photos you can see he is still looking terrible and with his head hanging low he is in a bit of pain still. Hopefully it is now onwards and upwards for him, hopefully all of the bits of teeth were removed, hopefully he can heal well and start to gain some weight. Laura has been working with him on the ground to gain more trust and instill basic lessons which he seems to be enjoying. It is hard to fathom that only three weeks ago this wee man was so close to death. I have added more new photos to the gallery of the operation. Once again Laura and I would like to thank all of the wonderful supporters who have donated towards the vet bill, have donated covers, feed, medicine, supplements and their time to help Comet. We hope that this is the end of the hard road for Comet and he can grow, put on weight and recover. We look forward to showing you more photos as his recovery progresses. Many many special thank you's. A Facebook page is currently being set up so progress can be followed after the fundraising page finishes at the end of October.

24 September: Two weeks after Comets operation to remove the smashed teeth have been relatively uneventful. Progress is slow, at times painfully slow, waiting and watching for Comet to gain weight and precious muscle mass. He has been very lucky not to get any post-surgery infection to date and Laura has been keeping a close eye on him for any sudden declines in his day to day eating habits. After a bit of a struggle to get him to eat "fattening up" food he now seems to like it, which is great. It is a fine line between giving Comet plenty of rest but also to keep him moving to stimulate blood supply, keep swelling down, prevent stiffness but most importantly to try and build up some diminished muscle. In the updated photos in the gallery, you can see Comet now has a nice pot belly coming along but his spine, hind quarters and neck are still painfully wasted and underdeveloped. You can also see a photo of Comet standing next to his half brother Charlie, and what a difference that is!!! Laura continues to work on the ground with him doing basic lessons like leading, lunging and desensitising. The plan at this stage is to keep going with the status quo with a good feed management plan, a little bit of exercise, plenty of rest and relaxation and a close eye kept. Laura and I would like to extend our personal thanks once again for the kindness that people have shown to Comet. Comet is still far from being out of the woods and his long term health remains questionable. Please see the gallery for updated photos.