Horses are magnificent animals; they are incredibly strong, intelligent, and breathtakingly beautiful. There is nothing as astonishing as a seeing a horse running freely in the wild.
Sadly, wild horses are not as admired in Romania. In fact, horses are captured and kept in bondage. Quite literally, capturers will actually bind horses’ hooves together to keep them from running freely. These chains are known to be very painful to the horse and will actually cause massive wounds around the horse's ankles.
A veterinarian in an animal welfare organization called Four Paws International knew that this was happening in his town and he immediately jumped into action. The veterinarian, Ovidiu, traveled to the countryside where he knew horses were being captured and bound. Upon arrival, he was heartbroken to see two horses off into the distance, one was bound.
Ovidiu and a colleague parked their vehicle a couple hundred yards away from the horses as they didn’t want to spook the already frightened animals. He stepped out of his vehicle and very carefully made his way to the horses. They both tried to run, however, the bound horse was only able to make a couple of leaping strides before he fell to his side.
Heartbroken and ready to save the horse, Ovidiu calmly walked up behind the injured horse and placed a blanket over his eyes to relieve any stress. That’s when Ovidiu looked down and saw the horrifying truth. This innocent horse had been badly bound with chains. His ankles were severely wounded and were bleeding.
Ovidiu was able to get the chains off smoothly. The horse felt the weight of the chains lifted but was hesitant to move, for he hadn’t worked properly for quite some time. Ovidiu assisted the wild horse onto all fours and, with a little bit of help, the majestic animal was able to stand! For the first time in a long time, the horse was truly free!
What happened next astounded Ovidiu and his colleague. The horse turned toward Ovidiu!! Instead of running away, frightened, he turned toward his savior and nudged him with his nose, thanking him for his assistance! Surely, this horse never imagined being able to run freely again, but with the help of the compassionate Ovidiu, the horse was free, just as it was created to be.
We are so grateful for Ovidiu’s compassion toward this horse! There are still many horses bound in chains in Romania, but Ovidiu has promised to free as many as he can. See the full rescue, below!