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:

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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!

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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!

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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!

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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!


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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.

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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!!

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Bank Holiday Weekend

Frodo and Breeze

As usual...no holidays for us here!!  It's very full on looking after 10 ponies on-site!  We're waiting for the new site and loan family to be ready before Wolfie and Breeze can travel to their new home.  It's quite a challenge for Breeze as he's used to being the leader on his conservation site and here he's got to take his place in the established order...but I keep telling him that it won't be for long.

We've got lots of thank you's from this weekend...a BIG thank you to Thea and her course participants who raised an AMAZING £240 for the ponies from their workshop!  We are so grateful...thank you so much everyone!

We received a cheque and lovely letter from Kate, Alice, Max and Josie in class 4 who sent the proceeds from a stall they ran for P4P at their school - we have sent a thank you card which hopefully they will receive when they return to school after half-term.

 
We also need to thank Paul for coming over to trim Munchie's feet which are looking very smart again.  The toe is the only part that needs attention as the damaged hoof there is like concrete and doesn't self trim like the rest of the foot.  It's going to take about 6 months before his new hoof capsules are complete but we are very pleased with his progress.  Before Munchie returned to us he was only going out for an hour or two of grazing a day - all year around because of laminitis.  Now he's out grazing with the others on the same routine - he just needs to come in for his extra feeds.

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Topsy and Star...and it's 2 months since Jeremy disappeared

We're so pleased how well Topsy and Star have paired up - they look quite happy together, which is lovely to see...older girls grazing happily together.

We're delighted to hear that Puffin is now fully integrated with Polo and they are the best of friends already!

Angela has already made it as far as Blair Atholl on her quadbike adventure which quite impressive - she says she is OK but the quadbike is having some repairs!  Hopefully she'll be on her way again soon...

...And finally it's 2 months today since Jeremy disappeared so we continue to ask people to be on the look out for him...we continue to hope that someone might find him...there is still a £500 reward for information leading to the safe return of Jeremy.

Jeremy the pony disappeared without trace from the Morwenstow/Welcombe area on the Cornwall/Devon border. He was last seen on the evening of Saturday 25th March 2017.

The whole area was searched over and over again and there was absolutely no sign of him anywhere.

Please help us to find Jeremy - he is an Exmoor X, bay gelding, approx. 12hh.

There is a "Help Find Jeremy" page on Facebook dedicated to finding him.  

There is also a "Find Jeremy" page on our main website   

If you think you have seen Jeremy, or have any information about him, or his whereabouts (calls can be taken anonymously), please either contact:

• Devon and Cornwall Police by calling 101, and quoting crime reference number CR022583/17

• People4ponies on 07968 071179, or by email at: people4ponies@yahoo.co.uk

• If anyone wishes to share information or sightings of Jeremy anonymously, they can contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

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Puffin's Move

Catherine and Margaret were a great help this afternoon - helping Puffin to move to his new home.  He was such a good boy loading and travelled well - though travelling a pony really does make you aware of how bad the road surfaces are in some sections!  Once we arrived, it was great that Margaret and Catherine helped with controlling the traffic so that we could turn the horse lorry around and get it positioned at the top of the driveway.

Puffin knew where he was...and this time he had a new friend to meet...Polo the pony...who was very pleased to see Puffin indeed!!

We hope Kate and Jake enjoyed seeing Puffin and Polo when they came home from school!

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