STUDENTS at Kingham Hill School in the north Cotswolds school have offered a rescue horse the chance of happy life a thousand miles from the Italian slaughterhouse to which he was about to be sent.

Sully is a two-year-old Percheron, a French draught horse with a sad history.

He was found on a French mushroom farm last August, living cheek by jowl in a pen with 37 other horses being fattened up by the farmer for slaughter.

Sully, who had been living in the cramped pen for most of his life, was booked on a shipment to the slaughterhouse in Italy on August 15 last year.

When he was found he was overweight, with badly twisted feet and a gash on his face.

The farmer was persuaded to sell him privately and he was taken to a weighbridge.

Kingham Hill spokesman Steve King said: "The price was determined per kilo - he really was meat on the hoof. The other horses at the farm went to Italy.

On arrival in the UK, Sully went to his rescuer's yard in Lancashire, where he was put on a diet and remedial work started on his feet.

After six months out at grass, he has learned to trot and canter, his joints have lost their stiffness and his feet are almost straight.

Kingham Hill School will be his long-term foster home.

"He is beginning to settle in and getting to know the other horses on site. The students will then start to tidy him up and get him used to being groomed and handled.

"Percherons are very gentle, despite their large size. However, he will need to learn some good manners and get used to having people around him," said Steve.

School chaplain's wife Lucy Savage - who runs the School's Animal Club - is planning to take Sully and some students to some major shows this summer.

"Next year he will be old enough to be broken to ride or pull a cart. It is hoped that this is the start of a long-term project with a horse that has truly been given a second chance," said Steve.