A lucky miniature foal named Turbo got to experience true freedom for the first time after a unique gift made its way into his life.
And he’s off! (Road To Refuge Animal Sanctuary Facebook photo)
Born with two luxating patellas, a congenital defect, Turbo has very little use of his back end and has spent his life being able to walk only using his front legs. He lives at the Road to Refuge Animal Sanctuary in New Haven, Connecticut, a group co-founded by mixed animal vet tech Megan Pereira, who also runs a horse boarding facility.
“He has some discomfort, but it doesn’t keep him from having the zoomies and play biting and being a foal,” Pereira says in a blog post. “This is not some rare condition that no one has ever seen before. He has permanently luxated patellas, meaning his kneecaps are not where they should be and are off to the side.”
The sanctuary was contacted by an animal mobility company called Walkin’ Pets that saw Turbo’s story online and brought him a wheelchair similar to the ones that have given many kinds of animals a chance to walk.
“The minute we buckled him into his cart, he took off running!! He did amazing. And he will continue to do amazing,” Pereira says. “I am not a crier, but I almost started crying. He was running, bucking – it was all very exciting.”
Turbo has received the first surgery to correct his knees. The procedure is called patellar luxation surgery and is very costly. You can donate directly to the sanctuary on their website and you can follow Turbo’s road to recovery on both Facebook and Instagram. You can watch a video of Turbo here:
https://www.facebook.com/HandicappedPets/videos/1972220576321276
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