The story of the white stallion and AKI Partner the Six Freedoms-Ghana's attempts to rescue the horse demonstrates the difficulties of horse rescue in Ghana, but also the compassion, knowledge, and dedication of 6 Freedoms volunteers.
In early January 2025, Abu, a motorbike driver from Kokrobite, called Ulla (The Six Freedoms-Ghana founder & director, @thesixfreedoms) about a white horse he had seen lying down and very weak.
Abu picked Ulla up and together they went to check on the horse, along the way, collecting plantain peels to offer him. When they arrived, Ulla saw he had an enormous open, oozing saddle sore, making it hard for him to move and unable to stand. People from the neighborhood said they had seen the horse for at least the last 2 weeks without any care.
He was very calm and immediately took some of the peels, then drank a bucket of water. Because of his weak condition and back pain, he then struggled to stand up and defecate but eventually laid down again. He had no halter nor rope attached. He was just unable to move further.
Ulla was worried he'd colic and asked her very knowledgeable horse friend Eva I. for advice. Eva told Ulla to feed vegetable oil with a syringe and ripe papaya and watermelon to flush his stomach. Ulla and Abu left to buy the supplies.
When they got back, the horse was walking around and grazing on another compound. The water and plantain peels had had a good effect!
He enjoyed the sunflower oil, and along with the fruit, he gained strength and started walking on to the next compound.
Ulla called Dr Enoch, who advised her to monitor the horse for the next 1 to 2 weeks and see if the owner showed up. If he doesn't, Dr Enoch recommended that Ulla make a police case and take the horse to a safe stable.
Ulla contacted the stable in Tuba and asked one of the grooms to take over for the evening and walk the horse to ensure he wouldn't colic overnight.
Then suddenly, a man appeared who claimed to be the owner (later they learned this was not actually the owner, see below), very high on drugs and aggressive. He started battling with the horse, forcing him to get up. Then he jumped on the horse and forced him to walk. At least he didn’t sit on the sore, but just behind, painful enough.
Ulla tried to talk to him, asking him to get down from the horse, but given his state of mind, it was difficult to communicate normally. So Ulla and Abu followed him to find out where the horse lived, which turned out to be the dumping ground that Ulla knew well from another cruelty/neglect case.
By then it was late and Ulla and Abu had to leave the horse. Ulla again spoke to Isaak, the groom from Tuba, and asked him to go there the next day and talk to the "owner" to see if he'd agree to let 6F help his horses--there were at least two other horses at the same location, and Ulla assumed they'd be in just as bad shape as the white stallion.
Ulla called Dr Enoch the next day and they agreed that if groom Isaak from Tuba can get agreement from the stallion owner, he would go to the site for a check-up. But when Isaak went to check on the stallion that morning, there were no horses and no people to be found.
After many unsuccessful attempts to contact the horse's owner, Ulla received terrible news. The groom Cudjo told her that the white stallion had passed away some days before. She also learned that the real owner of the white stallion lives in the US, but he had turned over their care to a man in Ghana.
They still didn't give up. Some days later, Ulla and groom Eddie went to the dump site at Kokrobite beach and found one mare who had given birth the night before. She and the other horses had open sores. Even so, they are used for beach riding daily.
Finally Ulla was able to reach the caretaker of the Kokrobite dump horses, and he promised to call her back the next day - and he did!!! He was very friendly and knew from his grooms about 6F's work, which he said he appreciated very much.
Finally, Ulla was able to explain to someone who had some power about 6F's concerns for the horses, how much pain they are in, and that they need help. However, the caretaker told Ulla that he needs his horses for the Salah festival that takes place after fasting. AFTER THIS, he said, he can take them to his house and let them rest for some weeks. Ulla explained that they would need a minimum of a year of no riding (Ulla told us: "I wish they would never have to do beach rides again!")
The hope is that once they are sent to his house for rest, the caretaker's sons would take care of the horses, and 6F would send Cudjo for regular visits. It buys 6F some time to convince the caretaker that it's time to retire these horses.
The caretaker agreed to meet Ulla at some point in the upcoming days to discuss how to proceed. And that's where this story ends for now. Without strong animal welfare legislation and the capacity to implement it, 6F has to rely on education, awareness raising, and finding kind, compassionate people, who have an interest in horses and want to join their mission to improve the lives of Ghana's horses.