An abandoned horse found dumped on the side of a motorway has made an incredible recovery - despite rescuers saying she was the thinnest living animal they had ever seen.



Polly the five-year-old mare was found in a field backing on to the M25 in Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire, in February, with two other horses who were so thin they didn't survive.



But amazingly, the 15 hand high bay horse pulled through after being rescued, even though vets feared the worst when they found her fighting for life.



Just six months ago, Polly had zero body fat and was less than half the healthy weight for a horse her size.



But with round-the-clock care from volunteers, she is now the picture of health, and almost unrecognisable.



Jeanette Allen, CEO of World Horse Trust, said: 'It's a miracle Polly is still alive. It's the worst case of horse neglect I've ever seen.



'We rate a horse's weight on a scale from zero to five, with three being a healthy horse.

























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'Polly was a zero – she had no fat on her skin or even around her vital organs.'



When she was rescued by volunteers from the World Horse Trust, the mare weighed 316kg – 50% less than a healthy mare her age.



After six months of love and care, Polly – who stands at 15 hands tall – now weighs a normal 466kg, a whopping increase of 150kg.



Sadly, one of the other horses had to be put down at the scene and the second died a week after being saved.



The healing process was long and arduous for Polly as she could not just be fed up with a lot of food for fear of her dying from re-feeding syndrome.



She had to be fed as little as 7.5kg of plain soaked hay a day to avoid calorie overload and her body shutting down.



Coupled with that, her lack of body fat meant the medical treatment she needed for the worms all three horses suffered with, could have proved fatal as well.



























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Jeanette, 44, said: 'When we first started treatment it could have proved toxic for her.



'It was a horrible Catch 22 situation where we had to treat her worms to stop them killing her but the treatment itself could have caused fatal damage.



'The treatment is absorbed by fat cells and released slowly over a few months, but she had no fat and it would have just swamped her body.'



Unfortunately there is no way of prosecuting the people who neglected Poppy and her two friends so badly.



There were microchips on all the animals but they only led back to a veterinary clinic, and not the owner.



















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