'Big'George
Arrived at Hope Pastures 1st December 2008
Died 15th March 2010
Big George is a 17.2hh bay gelding who is very elderly and who came to us malnourished - being so big and old he takes a lot of feeding which is very costly.
Although we were full we felt we had to make a space at Hope Pastures for old George as there were fears that he wouldn't make the winter alive in such poor condition. As we were lucky enough to find a place at Redwings for Hilton last summer this meant that we could juggle the stables a little and on the day of George's arrival, staff and volunteers had a lovely deep bed of straw ready for him and a warm feed and full haynet.
1st November 09
Big George has now settled into life in the herd of bigger horses in the top field and seems very happy, he is often seen grazing next to Trigger and Zak.
Recently George became very ill with Colic and it was touch and go whether he would survive-he was in a great deal of discomfort and was unable to eat his hay or feed and so the vet was called straight out.
A new vet called Katie attended who was excellent and gave George a thorough examination, he was found to have a section of gut misplaced and filled with a gas build up, it wasn't clear whether this was due to his gut being too tight or slightly twisted.
It was arranged for 2 staff to stay with George overnight to keep an eye on his condition and to continually walk him gently around the school whenever he began to look uncomfortable.
At around 2am George seemed to settle and slept quietly until the vet visit the next morning.
The vet examined him again and felt the the gut was still misplaced and recommended that we sent him to the horse hospital for referral to be seen by specialists and have access to equipment such as a ultrasound scanner to help diagnose the cause of Georges colic.
George traveled to York Minster Veterinary clinic where he was assessed and stayed for 4 days whilst he was starved and examined daily until the gut went back where it belonged and George was allowed to eat small meals again.
The vets are not sure what will have caused this colic but say it is most likely age related- George weighs 700 kilos and is 32 years old, horses guts are massive and are constantly moving and working and are very sensitive so it is probable that time is beginning to take its toll on George.
This treatment cost us over £1500 but thankfully George is back to normal and on his full feed again, so it was worth every penny just to get him home safe and well again.
George lost quite a lot of weight due to his ordeal but thankfully he is beginning to gain it again.
1st December 2008
He has settled in to our horsy family really well and after an initial quarantine period he went to live in the old horses' field along with Thelwell and Prince, here he seems very happy and is 'leader of the pack' especially at feed times, no way will he let anyone steal a crumb of his feed! this is perfectly understandable seeing how thin he was on arrival. He has three feeds per day and a big bucket of Chaff on a night as he struggles to eat hay due to his bad teeth. When the vet visited George to take a look at his teeth he had a small nose bleed in the morning which was disappointing as it meant that he couldn't be sedated due to the risk of high blood pressure creating a severe bleed, but the vet had a look with the gag on him and we felt in his mouth and found some overgrown teeth with sharp edges which were very uneven. As he couldn't be sedated we decided to wait to make sure the nose bleeds weren't going to be part of a more serious underlying problem-luckily it was a one off and he was able to have his teeth rasped at a later time. George can be strong willed but tries to be a gentleman at the same time and he's a pleasure to have as the newest member of our furry family. George has been very lucky to have a lovely new thick warm turnout rug bought for him by a supporter, it has a full neck which will keep the wind and rain well of him. We also had a very kind donation towards his dental bill and a donation of a few weeks' worth of special weight gain feeds and vitamin and mineral supplements. These gifts have played a big part in helping George gain a lot of weight in his first few weeks with us and we and George are very grateful for this.
We hope he will be enjoying many happy retirement years with us where he will receive plenty of TLC and live out the rest of his days with his new friends.
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Summer 09
Below:
On arrival at Hope Pastures
    
All the above taken Dec 08 when Big George arrived at Hope Pastures. 
Big George one month on
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