We had received a call from a resident in a village near Nicosia about a horse and a donkey that had been abandoned. Originally we were told that the horse had been roaming the area for about 6 months and the donkey had been there for 2 months.

The local residents had tried to catch both animals but the horse became aggressive when anyone approached the donkey. The horse could not be caught either. After arranging to meet the local Ministry vet, we took one of trailers over the mountains and down to the flatter lands only to find that both animals had been abandoned over two and a half years ago in a totally unfenced area of many hundreds of hectares of cereal crops. As both animals had been unhandled for such a long time and there was nowhere to get them into a smaller area, we were not optimistic about catching them. However, after taking our time the horse was caught and then we got a better look at the donkey. He was a stallion with incredibly overgrown hooves that made it very difficult to walk and it was clear that, although not very overweight, that he was in urgent need of veterinary and farrier attention. It took longer to catch the donkey than we anticipated, despite his overgrown hooves and it also became evident that the horse, who had a very damaged blind eye, was very bonded to him.

Without having any facilities, the decision was made to bring both animals in. The donkey's hooves were so long that he only just fit in the trailer. The problem was where to put them – our Isolation stables are fine for donkeys but not for a large horse and we didn't want to cause either of them any stress by splitting them. Fortunately, some very kind friends came to the rescue and we were able to take the donkey and his friend to their yard where they have horses and, most importantly, somewhere where we could keep them together but away from the other horses.

After giving them time to settle, our vet checked both animals and worked with our farrier to see what could be done for the donkey as he was in a lot of discomfort. With extreme care, the hooves were slowly trimmed, foot pads were put on and painkillers administered. Within 48 hours we could see a big improvement and the donkey started to trust humans a little. After a period of time, the painkillers were gradually lowered and the donkey seemed to be doing well. Unfortunately a few weeks later, the donkey's laminitis started causing severe problems for him and despite our best efforts the decision had to be made to put him to sleep.

We see a lot of donkeys with overgrown feet many of whom have and will come to us eventually. Allowing a donkeys hooves to become long can and does result in the animal being in extreme pain. Sometimes there is nothing that can be done to alleviate the pain or prevent further damage to the bones and tendons and humane euthanasia is the only option.

Fortunately, the horse has settled well and we are hoping he can soon be fostered.