Story By:  Lee Bullen,Sub Editor: Joseph Golder,Agency: Central European News 

An animal association is helping to raise money for an 80-year-old man to continue looking after his horse of 30 years after he suffered a stroke and finds it difficult to care for his beloved ageing nag.

According to local media, Edward Pawlak from the town of Szubin in the northern Polish region of Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship has been caring for Eliza the horse for three decades.

However, the 80-year-old man recently suffered a stroke and has been left with mobility problems.

Local media said that his elderly wife is in hospital while their adult children have all moved away from the family home, which is said to be a small house without a toilet.

Describing the moment Pawlak first met Eliza, he told local media: “I bought her from a trader, she was very thin, so thin and nervous, but I softly spoke to her and she came towards me.

“She put her happy face on my shoulder and we hugged.”

After local media reported on Pawlak’s special bond with his horse, the NGO ‘Ratuj Konie’, which helps horses all over Poland, launched a fundraising campaign to help the OAP.

The campaign hopes to improve Pawlak’s living conditions so he finds it easier to continue looking after Eliza.

Netizen ‘Aurelia Pruszkowska’ said: “A wonderful bond, they must stay together.”

An anonymous social media user commented: “I was moved to tears, I believe that good people surround Mr. Edward and his beloved Eliza.”

Horses have an average life expectancy of between 25 and 30 years although the longest living horse ever was confirmed to be 62 years old when he passed in 1822. Billy was born in in Woolston, Lancashire, in England, in 1760 and spent his life as a barge horse.

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