Being free to move as you please is a simply priceless feeling. But Turbo, a 3-month-old mini horse, never understood what that was like until the folks at Road to Refuge Animal Sanctuary gave him a sweet new set of wheels.
Turbo was born with a congenital ᴅɪsᴀʙɪʟɪᴛʏ, two luxating patellae, which left him with minimal mobility in his back and two legs.
This caused the sweet mini horse to walk in a hunched manner forcing all of his weight on his front legs.
Turbo’s owners contacted Road to Refuge Animal Sanctuary (R2RAS) of North Haven, Connecticut, for help.
The non-profit organization was started by Megan Pereira, who got tired of seeing so many farm animals ᴇᴜᴛʜᴀɴɪᴢᴇᴅ while working as an animal vet tech. Her sanctuary gives them a place where they can live out their days.
“I lean towards the special needs, the ʙʀᴏᴋᴇɴ ones, the intensive medical cases,” Megan told Walkin’ Pets.
Megan had helped out a goat named Peaches, who got around with a wheelchair, so she figured she could help Turbo and took him in.
After learning about Turbo’s story, the New Hampshire-based Walkin’ Pets mobility company donated a wheelchair for Turbo.
They researched all the options available, and after much trial and error, they finally found a wheelchair that would work for Tubor. The wheelchair was specially designed for horses and had a harness that would support Tubor’s weight and allow him to move around freely.
Turbo was strapped in after he took off running. They even had him fully strapped into his new wheelchair.
“Seeing Turbo ‘walk’ before any assistance and dragging his legs to being in his cart – I almost started crying. I am not a crier, but I almost started crying. He was running, bucking – it was all stimulating,” said Megan.
At first, Tubor’s movements were slow and awkward. But with practice, he soon became a pro at maneuvering his new wheels. He could run and play with his friends in the fields. The other ponies were a little unsure of his new wheelchair at first, but they soon got used to it and treated him just like any other pony.
He has an entirely different spirit when moving along in that wheelchair. It’s a definite spirit of joy. Megan hopes Turbo’s story will encourage others to rescue special-needs animals.
“It’s a road worth traveling – they make a special place in your heart,” Megan said. But Turbo needed more help than he could get from a wheelchair. The mini horse, whom Megan calls her “unicorn,” also required sᴜʀɢᴇʀʏ on his legs.
“My sweet little unicorn is out of sᴜʀɢᴇʀʏ. He had sᴜʀɢᴇʀʏ yesterday on his first leg, and today he had his second leg done & is doing very well ᴘᴏsᴛ-ᴏᴘ. As always, with any sᴜʀɢᴇʀʏ, there is a ʀɪsᴋ of ᴘᴏsᴛ-ᴏᴘ complications. He is nowhere out of the woods yet, but I’m cautiously optimistic!” she wrote on Road to Refuge Animal Sanctuary’s Facebook page.
The non-profit hopes that people will donate to help cover the costs of his sᴜʀɢᴇʀʏ. Donations can be made here and will go toward funding Turbos’s sᴜʀɢᴇʀʏ and helping the other animals at Road to Refuge Animal Sanctuary.
The sanctuary, which rests on 10 acres of land, has rescued 70 animals since 2020. Learn more about Road to Refuge Animal Sanctuary here.
Watch Turbo’s first happy steps in his wheelchair in the video below:
