Stolly
Lovely Piebald horse Stolly was rescued by the RSPCA in a very poor state. Not only was his environment entirely unsuitable, but he was suffering from a slightly unusual condition which was not being addressed by his owners, meaning he was in a lot of pain.
Stolly suffers from photosensitivity, which means he has an adverse reaction to sunlight. Sunlight reacts with chemicals in his skin causing his pink skin patches of skin to become inflamed, and sometimes even blister. As he is a piebald horse, his skin is dark where his hair is black, and his skin is pink where his hair is white. Photosensitisation can be caused by poisonous plants like St John’s Wort; chemicals from the plant accumulate in the skin and react with sunlight causing painful sores and blisters. Horses will generally stay away from St John’s Wort as it tastes very bitter, and will only eat it if there is nothing else around. It’s quite likely that forage was very sparse in the environment that Stolly was living in, so he had no choice but to eat the poisonous plant.
Liver damage (sometimes caused by ragwort poisoning) can also lead to photosensitivity. If the liver is not working properly, it cannot filter broken-down plant substances from the blood, which again accumulate in the skin and react with sunlight.
Stolly has permanent scarring where his sensitivity was not being addressed
Stolly has a permanent home here at the Sanctuary. To make sure his condition affects him as little as possible, Stolly has to spend a lot of time in the shade during the Summer. We put a bar across his field shelter so he can still see all of his friends. He wears a sun protection rug, complete with a facemask, and lives on a field with as little clover on it as possible - as this is another plant that can trigger a reaction.
Despite his condition, Stolly is a confident pony and is most definitely the head of his herd! If you’d like to know more about photosensitisation, please email education@redwings.co.uk
