Kelsey Allonge alway had a love of animals and was specifically fond of horses growing up, and, as she grew older, was fortunate to have some of her own. Fate brought Kelsey to an interesting point where her love of the animals and desire to care for them would lead to something wonderful.
A wrong turn
As Kelsey and her mother drove to a nearby town for a swap meet, they took a wrong turn and ended up taking a new route to the flea market.
Early in the morning
However, they never quite made it as they noticed a thin horse in a ditch scrounging for food. Given that it was very early in the morning, about 5.30am, this seemed very odd.
Terrible condition
Pulling over to inspect the horse, it was evident that it was starving and barely able to stand. The condition it had been left in was terrible.
Far away from any properties
So far away from any properties, it was as though the horse had been abandoned and so Kelsey felt she had to do something.
Central Illinois Proud
“We didn’t think she was going to make it,” Kelsey later told Central Illinois Proud, a local news station. “We just felt so bad for her, just overwhelming sadness.”
When she returned
Her mother agreed to return home to get their own horse trailer so that they could get the horse some much-needed attention, but when she returned, the foal would not get in and had collapsed in the ditch.
Walking home
With the only other option of walking the ailing animal home, it seemed unlikely it would make it but Kelsey managed to coax it along.
Away from its mother
Somehow managing to get the young horse home, they determined it was about 6 months old, which means it shouldn’t have been away from its mother.
She had been starved
On closer inspection, the horse had swollen joints, eyes and whip marks and had clearly been abused.
“We just felt so bad for her, just overwhelming sadness”
“What kind of person can do that to an animal? Willingly go to bed every night knowing that she’s out there starving?” Kelsey said.
Sunny
Naming the foal Sunny, Kelsey spent the next five nights sleeping next to the horse and making sure it ate and drank properly.
After a week
“I didn’t really sleep real good. Pretty much woke up every hour and just peeked in on her,” Kelsey said. After a week, the foal seemed to be on the mend and it soon transpired that the horse had been released by someone who was incapable of taking care of her.
My pain wasn’t comparable to what she was in
“A life’s a life and no matter how small it is she needed to be saved. My pain wasn’t comparable to what she was in,” said Kelsey.
Kelsey and Sunny
Seeing the bond between Kelsey and Sunny, Kelsey’s mom Cara knew she had to let the horse stay.
6 years together
6 years on and Kelsey and Sunny are still together but Kelsey doesn’t see herself as Sunny’s guardian angel.
She’s a little angel
