Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone!!  For lots of our supporters today is the first day of their 2015 calendar... and the star of this month is "Little" Ginger out in the snow!  I do keep thinking "Was there an avalanche after this photo was taken?" - there was so much snow on that tree!

"Little" Ginger (so named because there was another bigger pony also called Ginger staying at p4p at the time) was not a wild pony and was not owned by p4p - she came to stay temporarily with p4p due to slightly different circumstances.  Ginger had been out on loan with a family in the local area and was coming to the end of her stay and her owner had not been able to find her anywhere to go.  Ginger was an old pony, and an experienced riding pony, and was very loved by the people who had her on loan.  When Ginger's owner first got in touch (this must have been in 2009), p4p was full, and anyway, Ginger should have been able to find another loan home fairly easily with her super riding credentials.

Then, in January 2010, Cilla was contacted again about Ginger.  She still hadn't found a new loan home,  and although it was winter she was spending all her time in the stable due to laminitis.  Something sounded a bit worrying about the situation so Paul and Cilla agreed that Ginger could come to p4p temporarily.

When we met Ginger at her loan home she was very perky and cheerful looking over the stable door.  Her loaners were worried because Ginger couldn't go out on the grass but she also wouldn't eat hay and things had got to the stage that she wasn't passing much manure at all (quite a worrying sign for a pony!!) and she was losing weight.  They had called the vet out to see her and the vet had looked at Ginger and administered liquid paraffin...but it hadn't really helped.  Getting Ginger out of the stable it was obvious that she was desperate to eat the grass - she was quite clearly very hungry but she was obviously having big trouble with her teeth and she couldn't eat properly.   Why had the vet not looked at her teeth???

Ginger and the horse dentist

Anyway, Ginger came back to the farm and the horse dentist was called straight away - he kindly agreed to come out to Ginger as an emergency case the next day.  He found that Ginger had lost some teeth (as elderly horses do) on her lower jaw but the corresponding teeth on the upper jaw had grown so long, a bit like walrus tusks, and had bored holes into Ginger's lower gums.  The only way she could close her mouth was to line her upper teeth up to fit into the holes in her lower gums.  The dentist made her much more comfortable - after her first treatment she was able to start eating hay straight away.  Obviously the dentist couldn't do too much at once and came back a few more times at appropriate intervals.


 Ginger's feet had obviously been effected by her previous laminitis and these needed a lot of work and attention too.  Ginger's carers did love her very much but they just didn't realise what was wrong and what they needed to do to help her...and although they did try to do the right thing by paying for a vet to visit, unfortunately they didn't seem to be experienced either.

Before (left)... and Right - Ginger's front feet much improved

Ginger was quite a character at the yard. As an older pony she was a good companion to Mousie (who also stayed with us temporarily) and they were often found out grazing together.  Ginger was also quite a flirt with the younger boys!  Ginger was the only pony we've met who would make the most extraordinary roaring noises at the other ponies - visitors couldn't believe the noise and quite often would comment about it and ask "Did we have a donkey out in the field?"!

After a lot of care and rehab, Ginger went back to her owner in 2011 who had found a good, small livery yard close to home where there were knowledgeable horsey people who were willing to lend a hand.  Ginger seemed very happy there amongst all the larger horses - who obviously needed a good, retired, pony companion to keep them in line!

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