Jeremy Still Missing

It's a sad anniversary today because it's a year ago today that we have our last memories of Jeremy the pony - it remains so incomprehensible that a pony can disappear without a single trace.

And he's not just in our thoughts at P4P - he was a beloved family pony.  He had been helping a family so much through their ups and downs with their continuing battle against cancer - they are all so brave and it's so unfair - they have had to deal with so much already and then the loss of Jeremy as well - he is a member of their family.  Moving him to live with our other ponies on a conservation site was meant to be a paradise where his family could come and see him whenever they wanted...and yet what seemed like a perfect idea turned into a nightmare.  Not knowing what happened to him is the hardest thing of all.

I'll repost his info below in the hope that someone might have some information regarding him:

Jeremy the pony has 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. He is missing, possibly stolen. The whole area has been searched over and over again and there is 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.

You can contact us at People4ponies on 07968 071179, or by email at: people4ponies@yahoo.co.uk  or Devon and Cornwall Police by calling 101, and quoting crime reference number CR022583/17

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Mini Beast From The East - Day 2!

Brace yourselves for an overload of photos of ponies in the snow!  I've taken so many photos today we have enough to keep us going for years for calendar photos!  

The girls' field with their tracks + nose shovelling in the snow

Topsy looks so beautiful in the snow - and very much Devon pink in colour!  A very wise old girl she knows exactly what to do to find grass in the snow. She came into the barn today and allowed me to remove all the massive snowballs from her fetlocks and tail.  Meanwhile...in the main pony field a snow drift was causing quite an excitement...as was Star!   

Looking very handsome!

What's this?

Testing the drift...

Right...just plough through it!

Nose to nose

Looking even more handsome!

Frodo decides to plough into the drift!

Arthur investigates whilst Frodo wades in the drift.

Spot Arthur!  The best place to roll seems to be in the drift itself!

Very snowy!

Munchie nose ploughing!

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The "Mini Beast From The East" Strikes!

We woke up to snow already on the ground this morning...by late morning snow started falling and became heavy for the duration of the afternoon - this photo of Rocky shows just how snowy it's been!  As always, they don't have to stay out in the snow, they can get into the barn or stable, but they are happy to stay out in it all.

Star and Topsy were definitely pleased to have their extra feeds - this time the snow was forming snowballs on their tails and fetlocks.

This morning it wasn't quite so snowy so they all enjoyed a trip out into the fields.  Munchie and Frodo rolled and did their best at doing "snow angels"!  I'm not sure the marks were very angel-like but they enjoyed themselves!

 It's a bit of a contrast to yesterday when Muddy came to visit!  It was getting increasingly colder but no real snow - he rode out in his headcollar yesterday and came to see Frodo and Munchie.

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Surprise Visit!

Look who dropped by on his hack today...we had a surprise visit from Muddy and Tasha!  Oh my goodness he's looking extremely handsome and beautiful...and without a single trace of mud or being rained on at all - so smart!  He and Tasha make a great team together!  They've moved house and so live nearby now.

 
Munchie in particular was so pleased to see Muddy and they spent a long time sniffing and grooming and generally squealing and biting/licking eachother - they spent so much time together - buddies reunited - they are half brothers.  Bobby and Rocky made their way over too - not quite believing their eyes at who had appeared!  Tasha said she took Muddy to Chumleigh Horse Show last year and they won some of the in-hand classes including smartest pony - he does look very smart indeed!

Following on from our previous post, I also received an update today about Holly who was the fourth pony who went to Horseworld and she is also happily rehomed as a child's riding pony.

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Goodbye Tinker

Puffin (left), Tinker (skewbald centre), and Woody (right)

I'm afraid we've had some really sad news - Tinker, one of the original P4P ponies has sadly been put to sleep this week.  Tinker was one of the 2004 foals (born 11th May) and was born to Bella - it's very likely Apache was his dad.

Tinker was born on a conservation site in West Devon and grew up there with his other foalie friend Puffin and the other P4P mares residing there.  That December, Tinker and Puffin came back to Horseford and here they grew up with other P4P foals born that year - Jaffa, Toast, Smarty Pants and Winnie. Cilla's diaries note that "These six foals spent the winter and spring 2004 - 2005 together, being handled daily and using the stables and pens, yard, garden and back yard and the little grassy bit through the bottom gate.  They were quite hilarious to watch and loved their 'out playtime', tearing about and, when the gate was open, leaping over the log that we kept below it. The pens at the top of the yard caught full sun, no wind; and they would all go back in and go to sleep together in the sun, often with their heads resting on each other's backs. They interacted with whichever adult ponies were in at the time. We gave them all sorts of things to play with and look at - washing on the line, rugs to walk on etc".

Foals investigating - Tinker nearest the camera

After being gelded in the spring of 2005, Tinker went to a foster home as companion for a bigger horse. Unfortunately in autumn 2006 he developed laminitis while he was there; he had to come back to Horseford for rehabilitation - which was successful but of course he would remain prone to this.

In the spring of 2007, Tinker was one of 4 ponies that went to Bristol Horseworld - he went there with Bella, Frosty and Holly.  Horseworld were hoping to benefit from the experience of rehabbing a wild, traumatised pony such as Frosty, Bella had already had her initial handling at P4P and could be caught in the field by people she knew, Holly had also had basic handling with Vanessa Bee, and Tinker was the fourth of the group to go to find a new home a little further up the country.

We know the staff at HorseWorld really loved Tinker - he had a wonderful temperament.  Sadly Tinker became very unwell recently and their vet advised that he should be put to sleep.

The staff say that Frosty and Bella are very happy in their loan homes, which is good to hear.

My clearest memory of Tinker being at Horseford was that if he was in the lower stable, he was too little to be able to see over the door so he had a special trick...He would rear up and put his hooves on the door so he could peek over to see what was going on!  Being little he would quite often be stabled in the pen in the yard instead so he had a good view all around.

It's always sad to lose a pony - run free little Tinker...Misty, Brenda, Gus and Mrs Brownhead (Tess) are over that "rainbow bridge" too.

Thank you so much to Cilla for looking through her diaries today to help me put together Tinker's story. 

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A Belated Start of March!

The snow provided quite a distraction from us posting March's calendar photo!  It seemed rather funny that the day this photo appeared on our walls, the actual weather outside couldn't have been more different - without even a hint of green in sight!  Things are returning to normal now - a few snow drifts still about but the roads are mostly clear.

This photo was taken by Cilla back in 2006 at the conservation patch where Eb and Apache live now.  On this occasion the excitement was caused by Basil and Muddy being reunited with their friends...one of whom sees to be Jaffa Cake...Cilla might be able to give us a clue as to the other mystery pony in the mix!  Pony action shots are wonderful - you can really see their spirit!

 looksattheflowers said...

The other pony is Ebony. This was 19th May 2006 - found it in my diary. Eb and JC were already there, saw us coming and were waiting to greet Basil and Muddy, and off they all went on a rapid tour, then back again a minute later with super accelerated bursts and high jinks!

8 March 2018 at 13:33

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Day 2 Of The Snow!

We certainly had plenty of snow as part of storm Emma yesterday and it's stayed pretty cold and arctic like today - with snow falling and strong winds.  There was also a layer of ice on the fallen snow which made it difficult to walk through - and very difficult to get the wheelbarrows through too!  The handles were all frozen up too so very chilly. 

Archie very bravely offered to come over and help today - he lives nearby and could walk over so his efforts were very much appreciated.  He opened the field gate for the ponies this morning and they were still keen to go out so we got some lovely photos!  With Archie's help we sorted out all the haynets for this evening and refilled all the water bowls again.  We worked out a good technique for moving the full wheelbarrows through the deep snow - a team effort with one person pulling it through and the other one pushing the barrow through.

It just amazes me how much ponies will chose to stay out in these condition - obviously they are very well adapted.  They have plenty of food on offer - both out and under the shelter, and they have free access to go in and out of the barn and stable as they wish...but I think it's the first time I've seen icicles on our ponies before!

Icicles on Star

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Late Night Hay And Water Run...The Snow's Piling Up Out There!

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