We have only a few days to save Rocket's life...

Cassandra Lishman is organizing this fundraiser on behalf of Beatrice Elena Lishman.

Donation protected

My name is Bea, I am 18 years old, and this is Rocket. Please read our story.

Rocket needs urgent care or he will have to be put to sleep. He is only 7 years old, is the loveliest horse ever, and deserves a long and happy life. Please help me with his vet bills and save this beautiful boy from an early death.

If just 250 people give £10 each, we can give the vet the go ahead.

But they won't operate until I have the money - and he needs the operation within the next few days. He can't stay on painkillers and anti biotics for much longer.

I have owned Rocket for 3 years since he stopped racing. Buying an ex racer means saving him from becoming dog meat, so we really wanted to give him an extra lease on life.

Rocket raced from the age of 2, and in his last race, at Windsor in 2020 as "Lethal Missile" he won in front of the Queen, and met her afterwards. He was then retired age 4, which normally means being sold as dog meat. But he was taken on by Sophie Spiteri who retrains racehorses as riding horses. So we went to see him, fell in love with him, and bought him from Sophie.

Noone knew then, but soon after that, Rocket started suffering from one problem after another, most likely caused at some point in his racing days, including spavins (arthritis in his hocks), and very poor flat feet. During that time, we made sure he had the best vet and farrier treatment we could. Luckily everything was covered by our insurance at that time. And after 2 years of care and treatment, he was totally sound and fit for riding. In the videos is me galloping him on the beach. Rocket loves life and is a wonderful personality as well, giving kisses and whinnies and generally being a great guy. He has many fans.

In Autumn 2022 we made a hard decision to loan him out, as our place gets very muddy in the winter, is stony, and isn't suitable for Rocket's feet. We found what we thought at the time was a perfect loan home, with a young rider just wanting him for light hacking. Even though quite big at 15.3hh, Rocket is a dream to ride, and will look after his rider no matter their ability.

Importantly, the family had a sandschool so he could be turned out on flat dry ground when the weather was bad. The family had other horses as well, they seemed well, and the mother seemed knowledgable. So he went to them in October last year. They sent videos and updates, and we went to see him in April this year, I rode him and he looked very fit and well at that time.

However, to our shock, 10 days ago she contacted us and said he had suffered from repeated abscesses since June. She never told us anything. She said she hadn't treated them, as he wouldn't let her poultice his back feet (we have never had that problem with him before, he is a pussycat about everything except his food bowl). She claims the abscesses seemed to get better by themselves, so she allowed her daughter to keep riding him. But then just recently one abscess turned him completely lame, and she finally took him to the vet. Initial X rays showed worrying signs he would need an operation. But she refused to do this herself, even though the contract states it's her responsibility to do so.

If she had told us sooner, we could have taken him back before things went too far. But we think the infection got in because she just left the abscesses to drain and didn't clean them. And she waited far too long to admit that she wasn't prepared to care for him.

We both signed a legally binding loan contract, and it was her negligence that means he is now totally lame on both back feet. She should be paying for his bills. She should have been doing loads of things that she didn't do. We will be sending her legal letters, but it's a long process and Rocket is running out of time. And we can't be sure that we'll get the money anyway.

So he came back to us with severe abscesses, hardly able to walk. When she dropped him off she was very aggressive, as if we were to blame. And she didn't even say goodbye to Rocket, though he is the sweetest horse in the world.

She said she had been unable to treat his feet because he had kicked out at her. However he doesn't with us, so we can only assume she was also aggressive with him too. Some people aren't fit to keep horses. Of course we wish we had never loaned him to her, but we can't change the past. We just want to look towards how we can help him recover.

We booked a vet to be here as soon as she had dropped him off. He had a several day old poultice on one foot. When the vet took it off, his feet were rotting and smelly. The vet had to dig out rotten tissue, and poured in iodine solution. The solution revealed he had two holes in one hoof, as it entered one place and came out the other. Then the vet noticed that Rocket had serious thrush on his other back foot, almost certainly caused by being left standing in a mucky stable. So he couldn't walk on either back foot when he arrived.

We tried fresh poulticing daily with sugar and iodine for 7 days as the vet recommended, but he gradually got worse not better. So another trip to the vet and another X-ray and assessment revealed he needs urgent surgery, the antibiotics and poultices weren't enough. The infection has gone into his bone.

After talking at length to the vet, we have 2 choices. But we really can't bear the thought of putting Rocket down, so we are hopeful we can fundraise the money to save him.

The vet says he has a really good prognosis, and the surgery should be a success.

As Rocket isn't insured, the bill for the X rays, diagnosis and operation, all medications and his stay at the vets mean Rocket's bills will be £2,500 not including ongoing care. I will be able to pay for his recuperation, as I have a job and I try to pay for all my horses costs, with support from my parents. But I can't pay this huge lump sum for his operation.

I don't care if he is never fit to ride, I just want him to be able to live out the rest of his life in comfort.

If 250 people give £10