A PONY dumped with horrific leg injuries has finally left a specialist equine centre after almost a year of care.

Two year-old filly Elsa was found abandoned on a remote lane, on January 15 last year, suffering with severe burns on her back legs so deep her muscle was exposed.

The RSPCA were contacted and Elsa was taken from Follingsby Lane in Washington into the charity’s stables.

Thanks to painstaking round-the-clock care by staff at the vets at Felledge, Chester-le-Street, County Durham, Elsa survived – and a year after being rescued has found a foster home in Northumberland.

The woman now looking after her said: “To see Elsa now, you would never believe she went through such an ordeal, she is a happy little thing, and her legs have healed so well you’d never tell she suffered so much.

“The team at RSPCA Felledge have done a wonderful job with her. They even took her to Equifest last August where she won Rescue Pony of the Year.”

The wounds to the back of Elsa’s legs were completely exposed, infected and bleeding, causing her excruciating pain.

Elsa, named after the Disney princess because of the frozen weather at the time, was given strong painkillers and examined by the vet, who discovered that the wounds were not fresh.

The damaged skin was rotten and badly infected.

It is not known how Elsa suffered her painful injuries but the vet believed that her wounds were at least three days old.

The team at RSPCA Felledge equine centre dressed Elsa’s wounds with a special solution to create a barrier that prevented further infection.

As her wounds started to heal, the skin became tight and sore, and once she began to go out into the paddock, the staff noticed she was also lame.

X-rays revealed Elsa was in fact also suffering with ‘laminitis,’ causing the painful rotation of the pedal bone in one of her feet, another serious condition for the young pony to overcome.

Lisa Paulin, yard manager at Felledge, said: “When she was first rushed here this time last year, suffering so much from her wounds, we really couldn't have imagined her story would have such a happy ending.

“Elsa is one of many, many ponies cruelly abandoned in this country and her story is a prime example that even with the most terrible of injuries, animals can be determined to bounce back against all odds.”

Elsa's new owner, who did not wich to be named, added: “Elsa settled into my yard so quickly, and she’s so cheeky, she’s really livened up the place.

"I was looking for a companion for my sprightly 24 year-old horse Chico, as my Exmoor mare Honey who’s 23 prefers to take life in the slow lane. Elsa has been ideal, she’s just a calm little pony and takes everything in her stride.

“She’ll be a little small for me to ride so I hope to have her here with us until she’s ready to be backed in a year or two, and then I know she will go onto make somebody somewhere a really super little riding pony.

"For now, she’s happy enough pottering about being cheeky. She’s into everything, her favourite thing is to follow me into the feed room, I’m always shooing her out.”