SPANA’s mobile clinic in Botswana travels hundreds of miles every week to treat working animals in remote rural villages.
They recently helped 12-year-old horse Blessing and his owner Mr Segale. Blessing works on Mr Segale’s farm, helping to round up the cattle. He had started suffering from lameness in his front right leg, so Mr Segale had tried resting him, but the problem was not improving.
Our vets examined Blessing’s leg and found that a sharp thorn had punctured his hoof, causing a painful abscess.
The team gave Blessing anti-inflammatories to help reduce the swelling inside his hoof and then carefully removed the thorn and drained the abscess, giving the horse instant relief. They then applied a mixture of sugar and iodine to the wound to help draw out any infection. Following this, they bandaged the foot to keep dirt out of the wound and to make sure another abscess didn’t form.
Mr Segale was relieved to see that Blessing was no longer in pain. He said:
I heard about SPANA from my neighbour after you helped their horse. My horse is really important for finding my cattle. I don’t know what me and my family would do without him. Thank you for helping him, SPANA.
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