Topsy

I thought it was time to have a Topsy update as she hasn't been on the blog for a while!  Now supposed to be 36 years old she is looking amazing for her age...and astonishing considering she is a Bodmin pony!  She stopped eating hay about 3 weeks ago - chopped foods and grass were still fine.

Bill the horse dentist came to visit - she had her teeth done and Bill said she might or might not start eating hay again.  Topsy has been grazing lots of different grassy sections that the other ponies are not allowed on - she'd done a good job...so on Saturday morning she cunningly managed to break into the sheep field!  Topsy went into the sheep field and the sheep went into Topsy's field (the grass is always greener!).

Ted and Jenny have kindly allowed her to stay in this field now - she still comes back for extra snacks and to see the others.  When Wolfie ran towards her section of field she hid behind the barn and peeked her head out from around the side of it.  She will still have an occasional canter about and a chase of the sheep but she's retired from high jinks!

Early this morning it was Wolfie who made the attempt into lusher pasture.  We found out yesterday that the electric fence wasn't working (Wolfie was chewing on it!) and the search for the problem led to the discovery of several breaks unintentionally caused by some strimming.  These were fixed but frustratingly it still wasn't working.  So the electricity stayed off overnight.  But...how did Wolfie get through...
...Did he jump the fence...No!
....Limbo through it like Frodo....No!
.....Take the whole lot down and run through it...No!

......He undid the handles with his mouth and walked through the human gap taking Dan with him!  Now that is an impressive skill!!!!

So tonight, the electricity is back on, thanks to an epic effort today by Jenny, Ted and John...and Margaret helped get things done on the yard whilst we were trying to fix the fence!

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Wolfie Day 2

Today was Wolfie's day to integrate with the herd in the field.  Rocky is being super protective of Babe so they were put in a different section to make Wolfie's life a bit easier!  Wolfie already knows all of the other ponies except Arthur, who is a laid back sort of chap...after a 10 minute run around the herd got down to the important pony business of eating grass together!

Racing Arthur

A short film of the first run around...

It hardly seems like summer at all!  The last 2 evenings poor Frodo has been shivering in the rain and cold wind.  He had plenty to eat but still felt cold...so he has been very pleased to wear his little rug that Catherine bought him a couple of years ago...after an hour he was much more comfortable and dry again so he could go back to being without it again.

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Wolfie

We received very sad news on Monday night - Scooter the horse, who one of our loan ponies (Wolfie) has been companion to for nearly 10 years, had very unexpectedly had to be put to sleep after becoming very poorly all of a sudden.  Obviously devastating for his family and everyone.

Wolfie needed to come back to us, so HUGE thanks today to Paul and Jane who at extremely short notice helped us come to the rescue and bring Wolfie back to the yard.  Wolfie grew up with most of the ponies at the yard - he knows Bobby, Rocky, Frodo and Dan so it was nice for him to come back to familiar friends.

Our thoughts are with Helen and Andy who have had such a traumatic 24 hours, completely unexpectedly losing their faithful horse and then having to part with Wolfie, who was very much part of the family and has progressed so much in confidence since he's been with them.  Thank you to both of them for providing Wolfie with such a loving home for the past decade.

Comments:

 Kate Hedden said...

Thank you so much for helping my mum and Andy out at such short notice. They have been devastated losing Scooter but are so relieved that Wolfie was reunited with friends before he became too distressed. It's made their grief a little easier to bear. It's so nice to see him happy and with old friends. Kate X

30 June 2016 at 20:47

 

 people4ponies.co.uk said...

Hi Kate, thank you for getting in touch - we are so sorry about what happened - we know how much Scooter and Wolfie have been loved and very much members of the family. It was good to see how they have all integrated together again and Wolfie's been dealing with things well considering all the changes he's had in such a short space of time. He's come on so much with his confidence in the time he's been with Helen! They are welcome to come and visit him if they would like to. Faye x

30 June 2016 at 22:39

 Kate Hedden said...

Wolfie has blossomed. I remember coming to visit him at the yard before mum got him. I remember how nervous and skittish he was. He would flinch and jump. In the last 10 years he's become a different pony. He's so much more confident and his amazing character has come shining through. He's actually a very cheeky chappy who loves to be loved!

Mum is definitely going to come and visit and I'll come with her when I'm next down. It will be good to get a cuddle!

Thanks again for all your help and for making it a little easier for mum and Andy.
Kate x

1 July 2016 at 07:19

 

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Bodmin Update and Continuing The P4P Blog - St John's Fair

We have decided to continue our blog with the everyday news for our ponies...Bodmin is still being monitored and updates will be published when necessary on the ongoing blog posts - we will add "Bodmin" update to the posts when this happens.  Thank you everyone for your support, letter writing and pressure that you have applied to get action for ponies on Bodmin Moor.  The results of our testing now need to be collated and published - this will happen on our website and blog...it has been very interesting project to run with some very interesting results!

In the meantime it's time to catch up with the P4P ponies, volunteers, and events...

Saturday was our first big fundraising event of the year at St John's Fair in Witheridge. We usually take ponies who walk in the parade and meet the public, but with this year being so busy, the ponies stayed at the yard!  We had a stall in the main street and it was the first time we've used our new gazebo which we were really pleased with!  It was so windy we could add a side to stop the items on our stall being blown away.  A big thank you to Margaret, Roy, Joyce and Gill who helped with the stall.  The tombola in particular was popular and thanks to everyone's support we raised £181 for the ponies.  Big thanks too for the items donated by Thea, Julie and Jenny...and to Catherine and Victoria for looking after the ponies whilst we were at the yard!

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