20 May 2026

Ready to Rescue: Zeus, Hera, Artemis, Hermes, Helios and Apollo

On the left is a photo of colt Hermes when he was rescued. On the right are two photos of the thoroughbreds at Redwings, looking healthy and out on grass.

A group of thoroughbreds, who we took in after their owner was ordered to rehome them following a prosecution case, are showing the extensive care rescuing horses involves.

A 12-year-old stallion called Zeus; an 11-year-old mare called Hera; her filly foal at foot Artemis; two-year-old colt Hermes; three-year-old colt Helios and an 11-year-old gelding called Apollo arrived in February.

We had already given a forever home to four thoroughbreds who were subject to the case when it began a year earlier, which included Harmonia, one of the thinnest horses we had ever seen. Read about Harmonia and her friends here.

A photo of Zeus the horse having a catheter placed in his neck by Vet Chloe.

Our team caring for Zeus

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A photo of two horses; Artemis (left) the filly with her mum Hera (right)

Watch their story here.

Zeus’ story

On arrival, stallion Zeus needed immediate treatment for an infected wound, and shortly after, a plasma transfusion. Redwings vet Chloe Jefferd said: “When Zeus arrived, he was quite underweight. He had some dental issues and a heavy worm burden. On top of that he also had an old wound on one of his back legs that had become infected and had developed cellulitis as a result.

“To treat Zeus’ leg, we put him on pain relief and antibiotics, he had daily cleaning of the leg and some topical treatment as well.

“Unfortunately, a few days into his care, we noticed he had become quiet in himself and was duller than he had been. Some routine blood tests showed he was losing a lot of his proteins, so we decided to give him a plasma transfusion to help.

“Over the next few weeks, following the treatment, Zeus’ demeanour and condition picked up. We saw the improvements needed in his blood results and happily we were able to discharge him, thankfully he was always with his friends in quarantine.”

Photo of two thoroughbred horses eating grass.

Zeus enjoying his new paddock with Helios.

Artemis’ story

Foal Artemis started to show signs of a hindlimb lameness and needed an operation to treat an abscess deep under her muscle.

Redwings vet and Head of Welfare and Behaviour Nic de Brauwere said: “Artemis and her mum Hera came into our quarantine along with the other thoroughbreds and were sedated as part of their routine quarantine tests.

“Sometime after that we noticed Artemis was lame on her back leg. We were worried it might have been for a knock or a bump, so we kept a close eye.

“We offered her medicines, but this was difficult as she was feral and very wary of people, but we did eventually manage to get her to take some pain meds and she seemed more comfortable.

“After a couple of days, the lameness suddenly got worse and we had to re-sedate her to take a closer look. The muscles of her right hind quarters were very swollen under her long winter coat. We got the scanner out and managed to see an abscess building up. In this case it seemed to be very deep under the muscle close to her femur bone.

“We were hoping it might come to the surface naturally, and we might be able to make a small incision and let it drain out, but this didn’t happen so when the lameness continued to progress we decided the best course of action would be to give her a general anaesthetic so we could carefully cut down between the muscles to open and drain the abscess.

“There was a copious amount of pus built up inside that we flushed out. But thankfully because she was under the anaesthetic she didn’t notice any of that.

“A big relief to all of us was that within hours of waking up she was already massively better. We left the abscess open, so it was able to continue draining naturally and every few days we would sedate her again and flush out the wound.

“Despite being largely unhandled, it all went so well that she really hasn’t considered us humans to be a bad thing at all, and she started to choose to come meet people in her paddock. We are confident she will grow up and cope well with life on the farm.”

Photo of Artemis the foal looking poor upon arrival at Redwings

See Artemis on arrival, then her and her mother Hera now at Redwings.

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All the group needed treatment for worms and Zeus, Hermes and Helios needed castrating in line with our standard practice for stallions.

Nic said: “Rescue is never as simple as just bringing a horse – or ten! – into your care. Whilst this is what we’re here to do, it’s becoming increasingly difficult in these financially challenging times, and we need our supporters’ help more than ever.

“These horses’ future is safe and secure thanks to Redwings.

“If you’re able to make a donation towards their continued care and to help ensure we can be Ready to Rescue in other cases like this, we’d be so grateful.”

Please visit our Ready to Rescue page to donate.