Spring Newsletter 2017 + Jeremy Appeal

The somewhat overdue Spring 2017 edition of our newsletter has been published and is on its way to our supporters either by email or by post.  We have featured Jeremy in there - it is now three months since he's been missing.  His description is being shared via Facebook again so we would encourage people to continue to do so - we still hope that someone somewhere might have seen him:

To send a message or ask a question, please click on the 'comments' link below

St John's Fayre

 Thank you so much everyone for your help and support today at St John's Fayre - thankfully the weather did stay fairly reasonable and we kept nice and dry when the showers did come (due to our waterproof gazebo which is such a big improvement on what we had before)!  With all the local support we were able to raise a fantastic £228.70 for the ponies - thank you everyone!  Thanks to Joyce for looking after and bringing all the plants, Roy for getting everything set up and packed away and Margaret for her efforts with the tombola and manning the stall!

Thanks to Ted, Jenny and John, the girls also have a nice shiny new trough in their field - beautifully modeled here by Star!

To send a message or ask a question, please click on the 'comments' link below

Golden Oldies

It's scorching weather at the moment!  Not as hot as the SE of England but still pretty hot compared to what we are used to!

Star and Topsy are so happy together which is lovely to see and Star nearly has her full summer coat now.  These photos were taken yesterday and today we've opened up a bit more pasture for them - which they are loving!  At many charities these golden oldies are written off but we don't believe in that - they deserve their retirement.

The hay crop is ready to cut but the end result would be a bit too lush for our ponies so we're going to wait just a little bit longer (weather depending of course!).

We're pleased to say that Wolfie and Breeze have settled really well at their new home which is great!

To send a message or ask a question, please click on the 'comments' link below

A New Home For Wolfie and Breeze!

A big thank you to everyone who helped with our big move today - particularly to Margaret, Izy and Catherine...and to Steve and Alison who have given the ponies a new home!  They are such lucky ponies to have a special patch of their own!

Just Arrived!

On our way to find Breeze who arrived earlier!

Here he is!

On our way to find the new field!

Very exciting!

Off to explore their new territory!

Very tall reeds!

Yum!

Lucky ponies!

Our special thanks also go to Ted and Jenny who have been so supportive the last few weeks!

It's been quite intensive with up to 11 ponies onsite and it's so good that the extra ponies have found special homes!

To send a message or ask a question, please click on the 'comments' link below

Moving Day Tomorrow For Breeze and Wolfie

It's moving day tomorrow for Breeze and Wolfie who are off to their new home together.  We are certainly going to miss them - particularly Wolfie who has been back with us and part of the family for nearly a year now.  Breeze is such as presence on the yard and he knows it's his turn to go to his special place now (after Puffin went to his a few weeks ago).  We know that they have a wonderful place to go to - a new pony paradise area for them to call their home.  They were such good boys for their loading practice today, I was very proud of them!

I'm always impressed at how good the ponies are at adapting to and foretelling the local climate.  Frodo is always the first to start losing his coat in the spring, so we knew it was going to be late this year as he didn't start shedding around the time he usually does.  It's been really cold over the last week or so and we've been back to wearing multiple jumpers and woolly hats...the ponies cleverly knew that though and had kept some winter coat to help them stay warm.  Breeze lived by the sea in a much warmer micro-climate before coming back so he's a bit ahead of the others. People often comment how much colder it is up here - especially with the wind that is almost always on the go.  Now the cold snap has passed they are hastily shedding what's left of their winter coats.  They're going to look beautiful once the new coats have fully arrived!

Safe travelling tomorrow Wolfie and Breeze!


To send a message or ask a question, please click on the 'comments' link below

Munchie Update

We can't believe how quickly time is flying by at the moment - summer gave way to the most horrendous weather the last couple of days - gale force winds and driving rain - not pleasant at all!  Wolfie and Breeze's new loan family have been to visit them and thankfully we had the barn to shelter in so that they could meet properly!

It seems like a good moment to give a Munchie update as he's been with us for laminitis rehab since December 2016 (please click on the photos to enlarge them):

December 2016

December 2016

January 2017

June 2017

June 2017

He's made really huge progress and as usual we always learn lots from each case we take on.  Munchie's case is particularly interesting to us because it could have been easy for him to be "labelled" as a classic Cushings case based on his appearance and severe laminitis.  Previous vet tests had come back negative for Cushings...and a negative result was also indicated by iridology.  

In Munchie's case his kidneys were compromised, and for a long time he had been in a situation where he was having just one or two hours of turnout a day (all year around) and spent the rest of the time stood in a yard or stable.  His feet were very distorted from pedal bone rotation and trimming. 

We were very shocked the day he arrived back - he had abscesses in all 4 feet that had not been treated and the pus welled along the coronary bands at the top of the hoof - we started treating these straight away.

Our priority is always to get a laminitic rehab pony comfortable - both with surfaces and natural pain relief.  Laminitis rehab seems to be becoming a specialty for us at the moment!  

It is great to see how far Munchie has come, how his feet are realigning, the internal structures of his feet are developing, and how he's getting more and more turnout even in the height of summer.  Minerals and toxicity - and the knowledge we gained from conducting the Bodmin research last year - have been important aspects that we have taken on board.  Since specifically focussing on this with Munchie he has returned to the colour that he was as a foal, which is really quite extra-ordinary (he's no longer "orange"!).  Our thanks to the ladies at Naturally Animals and ForagePlus for their assistance!  He's still got a way to go but nearly 6 months on we are delighted at how well he is progressing.

So often horses such as Munchie are put onto Pergolide and we are so pleased that we have not gone down that route.  Of course, all horses and ponies are different and some will have Cushings, but perhaps it is all too easy for horses and ponies to be labelled as "Cushings" when other conditions can produce similar symptoms.

To send a message or ask a question, please click on the 'comments' link below

June is here!

 The year is flying by now and we have reached June already!  The "star" of the June calendar is Wolfie, showing off some of his lovely moves when he came back to the yard last year.  We do love Wolfie - he has a very playful nature, he's quite a sensitive chap and although he's not super confident he will always try his best!  He's also a very easy pony to get on with and has lots of friends in his pony herd.

As it's June, it's getting towards the time of year to think of haymaking (we hope!).  The hay field has been set aside for some weeks now and the grass is really coming on!  Topsy and Star have the parts of field that are too wet to make hay from and they are enjoying the extra grass.  They are getting on so well - they go everywhere together, which is lovely to see.

The grass is growing fast now!

Topsy and Star

We also need to say thank you to our Easyfundraising supporters - during the last quarter you've managed to raise £43.49 for the ponies from your online shopping!  Fantastic!  Hazel-Ann is still charging ahead at the top of the leader board...followed by Martin who hasn't been Easyfundraising long but is in 2nd place already!  If you have your groceries delivered each week, please remember the ponies and use Easyfundraising when you do your shopping - it only takes a second and costs you nothing as the donation comes to us (via EF) straight from the retailer!  Since we registered with EF you've raised an amazing £589.30 from retailers!  THANK YOU!!

To send a message or ask a question, please click on the 'comments' link below