25 September 2025

Glorious looks unrecognisable over a year since her rescue

Two photos of Glorious, the left is her at arrival at Redwings with extensive head injuries, the right is her now where she is healed with no visual marks on her face.

Young thoroughbred mare Glorious was so badly injured during a lorry journey from Ireland to the continent that she was initially thought dead, but is now ‘unrecognisable as the same horse’ thanks to our care.

Glorious, as she was named by our team, had sustained crushing injuries after being unavoidably trampled by other horses on a grossly overloaded lorry. She had a large wound on her head, a fractured skull, and injuries all over her body that got worse before they got better as her damaged skin sloughed off revealing deep open wounds.

We shared Glorious’ story with you earlier this year and are now sharing these new pictures of her incredible physical transformation today.

Photo of Glorious the horse stood with a handler, she has wound on her face, rear, and a bandage around her back right leg.

See how Glorious looked when she first arrived here (graphic image warning)

View image gallery

Nic de Brauwere, Redwings’ Head of Welfare and Behaviour, said: “Glorious is simply unrecognisable as the same horse we took in, which is testament to the skills, expertise and experience of every member of staff who has been involved with her.

“Glorious’ recovery from her injuries involved many months of treatment from our experienced welfare vets, as well as other veterinary experts brought in to help."

A photo of Glorious now with no visible marks on her face.

See what Glorious looks like now here!

View image gallery

“Our work goes beyond what can be seen in a photograph though, and once she had physically recovered from her ordeal, she needed the expertise of our behaviour team to help her to recover from her psychological trauma too. Their work is vital in turning a frightened horse into a happy one, which is of course our aim.

“What isn’t obvious from the photos is the severe protective behaviour Glorious has around food. We can only imagine what led an otherwise relaxed and happy horse to be so difficult when anyone gets between her and any nearby food. This turned out to be a much bigger challenge than overcoming her understandable dislike of the handling needed to care for her various wounds."

Learn more about Glorious' training, and see her in action here!

You can read more about how Redwings’ behaviour team is working with Glorious in our Autumn Newsletter here (PDF 4.1 MB).

We launched our Ready to Rescue appeal at the start of the year to raise funds and awareness of our work. To help ensure we are always Ready to Rescue and provide treatment and on-going care for horses like Glorious, please donate whatever you can here.

Nic added: “It is thanks to our supporters that we can provide Glorious with all of the specialist support our behaviour team can provide in a safe, sanctuary home for the rest of her life.”