The vets who took in an abandoned foal found abandoned and critically ill on the side of the road are now looking forward to offering him a permanent home.

Tiny piebald cob Gizmo, who attracted nearly £20,000 after the RSPCA raised attention to his plight, was discovered dumped near Ridgewell Caravan Park in Yeldham Road without his mother on February 17.

Catley Cross Veterinary Clinic, based in Wickham St Paul, took him in and have given him medication totalling £4,000 and round-the-clock care.

The bill for the care provided by veterinary surgeon Carolyn Wyse, which also amounts to about £4,000, will be free of charge.

Now a month after his rescue, Gizmo had recovered enough to get to his feet by himself and is on very little medication at all.

Carolyn said: “He has been doing a lot of walking and he had really been enjoying going for a run around on the grass paddock.

“Until today, we haven’t been able to leave him outside because he could never be able to get up by himself but now he has managed, which is fantastic."

See this week's Halstead Gazette for the full story.