It was a moving event for the horses at a stud farm in Schleiden and the Association „Fortuna helps“. When the tenant was found dead on the farm at the end of May a major rescue operation begins. Some of the animals now live in the Ahrweiler district.
Leo the Lionheart has had to go through a lot in recent times. The almost one The six-month-old foal is one of 22 horses and a pregnant mare that have been the death of the tenant of a stud farm in Schleiden from the „Fortuna hilft“ association“ have been rescued. Leo didn't have a name back then. He was only given one on The end of an odyssey that finally led him to the district of Ahrweiler, where he lives today.
Heiress has selected foster homes
A look back at last June: Following the death of the tenant at the end of May on The animals are first examined on site by the association at a stud farm in Schleiden. „Fortuna hilft“ and two other helpers. Prior to this, the chairwoman Klaudia Skodnik contacted the veterinary office so that the horse rescue could be organised. also proceeds correctly. Three foster homes - including one in the Ahrweiler district chooses the heiress of the stud farm, discusses everything with Rebecca Müller from „Fortuna helps“.
The transport takes place on 7 June. Leo arrives with his mother, other mares and foal to a large paddock in the Eifel district of Bitburg-Prüm. But he wasn't meant to be there stay for a long time. As early as July, he and other animals from Heike Holtz and Klaudia Skodnik was taken from the pasture by „Fortuna hilft“ because she was in a poor condition. are. As Leo's ingrown halter is soaked from the rain, the club chairman to remove it.
Leo, his mother Libelle, a still nameless foal who was later given the name Filou and his mother Fidelia will initially come to the municipality of Brohltal - the second stop on the odyssey. The animals are so badly off that vet Dr Elke Mundt-Adam is contacted immediately. Leo has an open wound around the head where the ingrown halter used to be. The now four month old Filou has no muscles, no strength, no energy, is totally emaciated and can't walk properly. And his mum doesn't look much better - also emaciated and unable to give milk. She has a pained face, is impassive, her upper eyelids droop, like the vet realises. Only Leo's mum is not quite as dramatic. She is thin, but not emaciated.
However: all have skin parasites, the hooves are muscle-less, tendons and ligaments are loose. Farrier Ernö Szakaly from Lote-Farm is certain: „These hooves were not made.“ The life of Filou and his mother hangs by a thread. Intensive care and treatment begins, which Heike Holtz and Simone Wagner-Schwab master together. „It wouldn't be possible alone would have been feasible,“ the two women agree. Help with the daily Simone Wagner-Schwab's husband also provides eight hours of care. Filou is given milk five times a day, and the other animals are also fed milk. nursed up. But Fidelia is the one who worries the most. „She had no reserves more, cardiovascular and gastrointestinal problems. We knew for a long time not whether we'll get them through - or not,“ says Heike Holtz, who studied veterinary medicine up to the second state examination and has specialised trauma training, and is a riding therapist. During this critical time, she covers 130 kilometres a day, she remembers.
Thanks to Klaudia Skodnik, veterinary practitioner, physiotherapist and nutritionist, the horses' feeding can be adjusted so that they are fed well as quickly as possible and the deficit can be compensated for. Already in the second week, things are clearly improving and Fidelia is producing milk again. She is given a magnetic field therapy blanket to mobilise her self-healing powers. In the meantime, she has also had dental treatment. Three of her teeth had to be extracted, and only the edges of Libelle's teeth were ground down. Leo's scars are treated with a special ointment and he then receives laser and physiotherapy. At first, he is good enough to endure the latter, but by the fourth session, he no longer feels like it and becomes fidgety. As he is coughing, he is x-rayed. But his lungs and windpipe are clear. The vet assumes that the soft tissue on his head is damaged and the larynx is irritated by the swelling.
„The animals are doing really well again and they're enjoying life again.“ - Heike Holtz
The animals have now left their “intensive care unit“ in Brohl Valley and are now located near Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler. Initially, the new location was still a normal ward in their „horse hospital“, so to speak, but they have since been able to leave it. „The animals are doing really well again and they are enjoying life again,“ says Heike Holtz, who looks after the horses alongside yearlings Fortuna and Puppina. She signed a corresponding contract at the end of August, which also includes reporting the costs - like the other foster homes - to the estate administrator. Together, the horses are a real family and have virtually come to the end of a journey on which they have experienced a lot. And everyone now hopes that the family can stay together. "Horses are not nomadic animals. They are herd animals and need security," says Simone Wagner-Schwab. But what happens next is ultimately in the hands of the executor of the estate.
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