George’s journey

Young George is one of the lucky ones. His mum was rescued before he was born, and so George has only ever known a life of kindness, and it shows.

He is a confident, relaxed and happy little foal. At the time of writing (June 2014) he is just nine months old, still with his mum, Peaches and ‘aunty’ Cherry.

At Honey’s Pledge we believe there are so many animals reliant on humans for their care in need of homes, that there is no need for us to breed more animals. Our one exception is we do allow very occasional hatchings of poultry. The reason for this is to enable my young daughter to have some experience of the miracle and responsibilities of new life.

As lovely as it is to have baby animals (we love puppies, kittens, foals, calves, lambs, kids, and so on as much as anyone) there are thousands and thousands of animals put to death each month in want of a home.

Therefore an essential responsibility for us was to have young George gelded (castrated). This is also a practical requirement when caring for animals in a domestic setting. An ‘entire’ male animal needs to be segregated from females and can be challenging to handle once beyond the ‘cute’ stage.

So yesterday was the day. George was very calm although this was his first time in the loose box and first time in a headstall and lead rope. He had a injection to sedate him, and then had a general anaesthetic administered so he was blissfully asleep during the whole procedure.

Sedated

Oblivious

Once under anaesthesia our vet started the procedure, with a vet nurse on hand to ‘top up’ the anaesthetic as needed. The necessary surgery was quickly accomplished and the vet team then waited with us until George came out of his anaesthetic. Now for 24 hours ‘rest’ time with Mum in the loose box to enable blood clots to form and then back out to the paddock to ensure swelling is reduced. George will be monitored closely however he is already racing around back in the paddock, a happy and carefree little man.