Photo Gallery

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Melody came to us on 19th June 2021, she was so emaciated due to neglect. Every bone in her body was showing, it made you want to cry just stroking her. Melody is so gentle and loving and I will never understand how someone could ever do this to an animal, let alone one with her loving personality.

We gradually introduced her to hay, grass & hard feed, being careful not to give her too much too soon. She now has a wonderfully round belly on her! She still has a really long way to go with building up muscle and putting on more weight in the right places but we are moving in the right direction. We are hoping she can put on a lot more weight before winter comes!

Her feet were extremely long but after a few visits from Dave the farrier she is now looking super smart and feeling  a lot more comfortable!

Melody Update - 25.01.2023 - Melody is doing so well, we believe she's coming up to three years old now. She has weight and muscle improving in all the right places. She has now worn a saddle and taken to it very well, she likes to keep busy so going out down the lanes is great for her mentally as there is always something new to see.

Melody Update - 11.06.2023 - Melody has been doing very well, she is a clumsy pony and likes to charge about in her field so we have had a few heart stopping moments when she is charging towards us wanting to play!

Melody Update - 07.11.2023 - Where do I begin... this pony just keeps on surprising us, with such a bad start in life you would expect her to hate humans, in her case its the opposite, she adores attention and has been coming along brilliantly with her ridden work. She has so much energy all the time that the riding really has helped with her clumsiness when out in the field. Her balance is getting better and better each week. She is currently living with Merlin in her field and coming in over night in her cosy stable, which she loves!

We received a call from a rescue centre in Wales saying they had just bought in a herd of shetlands, did we have any space for some of them?

The next day we were in the horse box making the six hour round trip to Merthyr  Tydfil, we ended up being able to offer two of them a home, Toffee & Fudge.

We believe they are around 2/3 years of age. Unfortunately they had been living with a stallion in the herd so fingers crossed they aren't in foal!

Other than this there isn't much we know about them or where they came from. 

We got them home and did the usual quarantine away from any others until they had had a worm count and been wormed. These two have a been a dream from the start compared to others we have had. 

Toffee ( Skewbald ) doesn't like to go anywhere without Fudge ( Bay ) but as long as she is within eye sight she's happy to be groomed, led around, have her feet picked out. 

Fudge seems like she has already had a domesticated life, she craves attention and is just always next to you giving you a nudge when your in their field. They behave nicely for Dave the Farrier now and don't mind the odd pedicure!

Fudge Update - Fudge gave birth to a healthy, happy little filly (girl) on the 1st May 2022, although being very young she managed really well and is thriving as a mum!

Fudge Update 14.07.2022 - Fudge and her foal (Whisper) are doing really well, she is a excellent mum and looks after Whisper perfectly!

Toffee Update - 12.12.2022 - Toffee is enjoying lots of fuss and attention from visitors, she has been joining in on our rescue events, she is very patient with all the children and will happily stand and be groomed for hours!

Fudge Update 22.12.2022 - Whisper is now 7 months old and still drinking from her mum, so we have decided to start the weaning process.

Toffee Update 03.02.2023 - Toffee has started having tack on and being long reined, she has taken to it very well and is enjoying exploring the lanes, she does however like to stop and refuse to move so she can have a good nosey around at everything going on sometimes.

Fudge Update 05.05.2023 - Whisper has been weaned for a few months now and Fudge is thriving with all the spring grass coming through.

Toffee Update - 07.11.2023 - Toffee has now been backed and start letting children ride her, she has been out in the horsebox on a few adventures and behaved like a superstar!

Well what can I say about our little surprise, Whisper...

Born on 1st May 2022, Whisper is Fudges daughter, she is the spitting image of her! It also seems she has taken all her mothers best traits as she is inquisitive, kind and gentle.

She is growing and getting stronger everyday!

Christmas 2022 - Whisper has been part of our Christmas grotto experiences with her mum Fudge, we decided she should wear the elf outfit as she is super cheeky! She absolutely loved all the fuss and attention she received from all the children.

Whispers adventures continue, she has been out to her first ever horse show with her best friend Princess, she even got a pretty green rosette in her class "Judges Choice"

She has also been joining in on our rescue session and has got a lovely thick coat ready for winter!

The little old man aka Shadow

Thank you for all your votes on helping pick a name for this gorgeous little soul.

Shadow suits him perfectly as he follows my daughter around everywhere. 

A huge amount of you are asking about his story. We don’t know a great deal about his past other than he was found in Wales in a really poor state.

We bought him home on the 4th May 2021 after taking one look at him and falling in love.

He is a older gentleman going by his teeth, they are extremely long and need some serious attention from the dentist. 

We have our vet booked in to come and investigate.

His feet hadn’t been touched in a very very long time and were in terrible shape, luckily we have a brilliant farrier who actually came with me to collect him. After letting him settle for a week in his new home, Dave the farrier worked his magic and gave him a excellent pedicure! 

His frogs (the soft middle part of the underneath of the foot) is severely rotted away. We can only assume where his been stood in deep muck for such a long time. 

It will take a while for this to heal and we are treating them everyday. But have no doubt he’ll be comfortable enough to gallop around his new paddock in no time. 

The insides of his back legs have also seen better days, his coat is matted and stuck to his skin making it sore and uncomfortable. As his new summer coat comes through this will help break away the muck from the skin. Massaging the area daily will help bring this along.

Shadow has unfortunately got over 15 puncture wounds around his backend, again we don’t know the true cause of this but we assume they are dog bites. 

I can only imagine how scared and hurt he was when this happens and it breaks my heart to think about it.

They are being treated and starting to heal with no infections.

His coat is very shaggy and certainly doesn’t look like it’s ever seen a brush but he is loving his daily grooms, he is super tolerant and pricks his ears up when he realises its grooming time. 

Some ponies take years to get to where he is already, he is such a trusting little guy considering what he has been through. 

He has been given a ivermectin wormer and we sent off a worm count a week after, we are awaiting the results to see if he needs another type of wormer. 

Shadows a very quiet little pony who seems to keep himself to himself, so his “mental wounds” will take longer for him to heal than his “physical wounds”. All we can do is give him love and time to realise he is now safe and in a forever home. 

Update - 23.06.21 - Shadow is doing great! His feet are now in great shape, he is worm & lice free. His teeth have been rasped back which will help him put on weight now.  He has bonded with our oldest horse Bess, they are happily living a quiet life together in a paddock full of yummy grass! They both have breakfast and dinner as keeping weight on isn't easy for either of them, they even share their food, it really is the perfect match!

Update - 24.08.21 - Shadow has settled into his new home perfectly, we are keeping regular checks on him and he is so loved and happy!

Update - 21.01.22 - Shadow is doing really well in his loan home, he keeps a big horse three times his size company. He had his teeth done on our last visit to see him.

Update - 14.10.22 - Shadow is happy munching away in his paddock and finding shelter in his very cute custom built miniature stable.

Update - 03.03.23 - As a old man he does get a bit stiff so his new mum is trying him on some new supplements to help with his joints.

Zeus is a welsh mountain pony standing at around 11.1hh, he's approximately 3years old and a dapple grey. 

He was part of a large gather carried out at the start of April 2021. 

In Wales they don't seem to cull the wild ponies as they do in other areas of England. This means that the interbreeding and reproduction of ponies is totally out of control. 

Luckily there is a Charity that goes up and takes it upon themselves to help with this situation. 

Once they have been bought in and castrated they aren't then allowed to take them back and release them back into the wild. The commoners won't allow this and there are laws in place that mean this isn't possible. 

Therefore every year there are so many stallions needing homes, Stallions or newly castrated geldings are the hardest to rehome as it takes a long time, sometimes never, for them to settle down and loose their "stallion ways" meaning they generally can't go with mares or other geldings for a while. Which if your short on space when trying to rehome a rescue pony makes them undesirable. 

We took Zeus and another "Merlin" together and we are lucky that they are quite happy to live with each other, sometimes there is the odd argument but they have settled down and Merlin has taken his place as the more dominant leader.

He is very quiet and gentle. We've managed to get a head collar on him and lead him around a tiny bit. He is pretty nervous of humans so it'll take a while!  We have turned them out in a big paddock and will slowly continue to work with them, but have no intention of rushing them!

Zeus Update - 25.01.23 - Zeus is doing really well, he is now around 5 years old and has been introduced to riding! He has been brilliant and seems to be enjoying his light work, we are hoping to continue with his training, watch this space for a super pony in the making!

Zeus Update - 07.11.23 - Zeus has enjoyed summer out on the lush grass, he has been a bit tricky to catch  but he is now coming in over night in his stable which he can never wait to get into so has been easier to catch lately.

Merlin is a welsh mountain pony standing at around 12.2hh, he's approximately 5years old and a dapple grey. 

He was part of a large gather carried out at the start of April 2021. 

In Wales they don't seem to cull the wild ponies as they do in other areas of England. This means that the interbreeding and reproduction of ponies is totally out of control. 

Luckily there is a Charity that goes up and takes it upon themselves to help with this situation. 

Once they have been bought in and castrated they aren't then allowed to take them back and release them back into the wild?!? The commoners won't allow this and there are laws in place that mean this isn't possible. 

Therefore every year there are so many stallions needing homes, Stallions or newly castrated geldings are the hardest to rehome as it takes a long time, sometimes never, for them to settle down and loose their "stallion ways" meaning they generally can't go with mares or other geldings for a while. Which if your short on space when trying to rehome a rescue pony makes them undesirable. 

We took Merlin and another "Zeus" together and we are lucky that they are quite happy to live with each other, sometimes there is the odd argument but they have settled down and Merlin has taken his place as the more dominant leader.

He is very inquisitive and we've managed to get a head collar on him and lead him around a tiny bit, but if he doesn't want to do it, its not happening! He is strong and flighty! We have turned them out in a big paddock and will slowly continue to work with them, but have no intention of rushing them!

Merlin Update - 25.01.2023 - Merlin is doing so well, he is happy and healthy, can still be a little wary of new people but is really taking to being ridden, when under saddle he is calm and forward going, wanting to see what is round every corner! Fingers crossed he continues this way and becomes a great little riding pony.

Merlin Update - 07.11.2023 - Merlin is a superstar, he has been separated from Zeus and paired up with Melody, it took about a week or so for him to settle in with his new field friend but is now enjoying her company.  He comes in every night in his stable and loves his dinner!

Princess is the daughter of Cinders, she is around 3 months old (august 2021) and the most cheeky little thing!

She was super tiny when she came to us and had something called foal heat.

Foal heat is when the mare (mum) comes into season whilst feeding. It turns their milk sour and therefore gives the foal they are feeding the runs. Because her poop was so acidic it made her loose a lot of the hair around her bottom.

We had the vet come out and take swabs to check everything was okay as usually this clears up after around 10 days. It had got to 14 days and she was still very runny. Typically the day after the vet visited her runny poop stopped and she was solid again! Better to be safe than sorry I guess!

Her swab results came back a week later and everything was fine and she's healthy and happy again!

We couldn't decide on a name for her for quite a while so decided it would be nice if our local Primary School - Wyke - named her.

The name was picked at random out of a hat and Princess was the winner! So thank you Alice for choosing her name!

Princess spends most of her days charging around annoying her mum and napping! She has such a great character and i have no doubt she will make a great child friendly pony one day!

Princess update - 25.01.2023 - Princess is coming up to 2 years old now, she is as cheeky as every and doing really well! She has been involved in some of our events and even been dressed up as a pumpkin for a photo shoot! Her education is on going and having fun is always at the heart of it.

Princess Update - 06.06.23 - Princess is besties with Whisper, they love having fuss from the children and adults that come to visit us, anywhere Whisper goes, princess is only a few strides behind!

Princess Update 07.11.23 - Princess went off to her first show at the end of the summer, this was only her second time in a horse box, after a few treats of bribery she loaded really well and travelled like a saint!

Cinders is a bigger Shetland cross type, she came to us with a 2 week old foal at foot. She is very protective and can be aggressive. We believe she has already been covered again so could be in foal for next year. We are feeding her lots of condition supplements to help her with this as feeding a foal whilst growing another isn't going to be good for her body!

We aren't sure on her age or how many foals she's had previously but are guessing she's around six years old.

She has been wormed, had lice treatment and we've had the worm count back - she's all clear now! Her feet are in desperate need of attention but without being able to get a head collar on her and handle her safely we cannot see to these just yet. We are working hard to gain her trust but with no "nice" human contact before us its going to take a long time!

We chose the name Cinders because we are hoping she will get her fairy tale ending after a tough start to life.

Cinders Update - 05.05.2022 - A year has been and gone since Cinders arrived with us and no foal, which is a relief! She is doing well and her foal Princess has now been weaned successfully.

Cinders Update - 25.01.2023 - Cinders was lucky enough to be turned away with three of her friends in to the most luscious field for the summer of 2022, after her foal Princess was weaned. We felt it was important that she had some time to just be a "horse" after spending all of her life breeding one foal after another. She started coming back into education throughout winter of 2022 and she is doing very, very well. She is loving fuss and attention, comes to your call in the paddock and now walks on the lead like a dream!

Cinders Update - 03.03.23 - Cinders is like a completely different pony to the one that first arrived with us back in 2021, she adores people, never shows any signs of nastiness and just gives her all with everything she does!

Cinders Update 13.06.23 - Cinders is really enjoying being ridden, she goes out a few times a week and sometimes refuses to turn around to head home, she just wants to carry on with her adventures! She has been out in the horse box visiting  new places, she has been to her very first horseshow, which was also during a huge thunderstorm with lots of noises and flappy scary things going on, she didn't bat a eyelid just behaved like the perfect pony she is!

Cinders Update - 22.10.2023 - Cinders has been checked over by our inspector and given the go ahead to be added onto our license which means she is now able to start giving pony rides in our events.

She is always first at the gate to come in and is really enjoying life.

Cinders Update - 07.11.23 - Cinders has had lots going on, she has become a unicorn offering rides at our events, she has  also been a spooky Halloween pony on a sponsored ride for the RDA, there is nothing this little pony can't do!

Truffles came to us with two other ponies, Cinders & Princess.

She is completely wild and had been a part of a herd that had been forgotten/abandoned by their owners. 

They were left on a mountain with no food/water or shelter. We believe she is around two years old, and we also believe she is already in foal.

When ponies are left wild like this without any kind of monitoring of the stallions, unfortunately they become reproductive machines. They are covered again and again almost straight away after giving birth which means their condition just drops dramatically. 

Imagine trying to feed a baby, whilst growing another baby inside, with no real source of food or water.

Truffles is only a baby herself and still isn't fully grown. This could have a huge impact on her body and the foals chance of survival.

We will monitor her really closely and work on making her tame. That way if and when she does give birth we will be able to get in and help her if needed.

We have had a head collar on her a few times now and she will happily stand for scratches and brushing, its going to be a long process but we will get there!

We have wormed and treated for lice and had worm counts back, she's now all clear and healthy!

Truffles Update - 08.08.2022 - Truffles is doing really well, she's been with us long enough now to know shes definetly not in foal. She enjoys coming in for a brush and going out for a walk.

Truffles Update - 25.01.2023 - Truffles has been in her new loan home for a few months now, she is best friends with a Horse much much bigger than her and her new mum dotes on her! She is settling in well and we are getting regular updates on her progress.

Truffles Update - 03.11.23 - We have been out to visit truffles and see how she is getting on with her new home and life. She is looking fabulous and seems very happy, her new mum has been doing lots of liberty training with her and taking her out as a hacking companion. To say she has landed on her feet with her new mum is a understatment.

Pumpkin came to us along with another pony called Rosie, after their keeper contacted us asking if we could take them on, as she couldn't cope and look after them anymore.

Pumpkin was lethargic and could barely lift his head, he wouldn't even take a polo from my hand when i went to meet him, two days later we went back to collect them and bring them home. 

Unfortunately before I could get to him the owners dogs had escaped and attacked him. With no energy to fight them off,  Pumpkin took a pretty bad hit.

I had suggested to the owner when I first visited that he looked like he had worms, you could see every bone in his body but he had a huge pot belly, pretty sure sign.

The lady decided to worm him but didn't check amounts and gave him over three times the amount that was needed, we believe this caused huge damage to his gut. 

We got him home and the vet was called straight way, we cleaned up all the gunk from the wounds and treated them awaiting the vet. 

When the vet arrived they took bloods to give us a better idea of what was going on inside, these results didn't come back very clear and we were no further with our guessing game as to what was wrong.

A worm count was sent off to see what was going on there, it came back with an extremely high red worm count, the vet advised us to leave it a little longer and do another worm count in a couple of weeks as he had already had a lethal dose of wormer.

After a couple of weeks of trying all sorts of food for him we managed to find what he liked, he was a very fussy eater, we were just desperate to get some weight on him! His wounds were healing and he seemed to be a little less depressed!

He was turned out in a paddock with his friend Rosie and bought in every night to a nice cosy bed, we were feeding three times a day along with constant access to hay! He gradually lost his pot belly and started to gain some weight, the photos on the right were taken 25 days apart.

Although he was making progress something still wasn't quite right, we had a Ridiologist come out and see if she could help, the results came back that he had great damage to his kidneys and liver.

We added a Probiotic to his feed and after a couple more weeks we could see a improvement to his personality. 

Every time we thought we were getting there with Pumpkin a week would go by and he would take three steps back with a different problem entirely. 

We had the vet out many times to oversee his progress and access his condition and after a very long eight months we were advised there wasn't anything else we could do. 

He was happy in himself but you could tell he was in a lot of pain. We made the toughest decision to let him fall asleep in a safe place he knew as home where he was so so loved. 

We haven't ever lost a pony before this, we had always managed to bring them back to good health. This just shows what affects years of neglect and damage can do and why it is so important to ask for help before its too late!

Pumpkin left a hole in everyones heart and we miss him everyday, he is no longer in pain and hopefully galloping around up in pony paradise!

Rosie came to us along with Pumpkin, she is a much bigger shetland cross. Although her feet and teeth needed doing we couldnt see physically much damage. She was very nervous and tried to bite a lot.

We sent off a worm count as soon as we bought her home and it came back with the highest count I've ever seen! We treated her for the worms over a period of time as too much wormer too quickly can be lethal. 

A few weeks later all the worms were under control, her feet and teeth were all back in good shape. 

The vet had checked her all over and everything was good!

We had to just try and get round her "personality" this didn't take long, once she realised she didn't have to fight for food and she wasn't going to go hungry anymore the biting stopped and the ears went forward! 

She is now such a happy little pony, she still has her moments where she gets a bit anxious but she's getting better and better everyday. She has been with us for almost three years now and in the last year we've introduced her to riding. She's taken to it perfectly and loves to go out and about hacking. 

She has two little pony shares that visit us weekly, they catch her from the field, help with mucking out, spend time grooming her and go off on adventures riding.

Shimmer & Spirit were no longer wanted because they had become  "nasty & uncontrollable"  as soon as we arrived to collect the ponies we could clearly see they weren't nasty through any fault of their own, more that they were terrified where they had been abused and beaten.

It took three hours of patients and bribery to load them into the horse box to bring them home.

After a six hour journey home we turned them straight out into an isolated paddock.

The next day we went in with a bucket of food and they couldn't get away from us quick enough, they were literally trembling with fear.

They had worm counts done and treated for parasites.

Weeks and weeks went by and we still didn't have much luck with catching them, although they had come round to taking treats from our hands. 

We eventually got hold of them and managed to get their feet and teeth done.

It took almost 4 months to be able to get to the stage where you could walk up to them and put a head collar on. 

We are now four years down the line and you can catch them straight away, groom without them trembling, load them into a horse box ( Spirit has to go first, then Shimmer will follow)

Shimmer has also been ridden a few times and although a little spooky at times has seemed to enjoyed it!

Children can happily groom and make a fuss of them if they aren't too loud and make sudden movements.

There is still a really long way to go before they become great children ponies but for now they just want a kind quiet life. 

They are currently in a loving loan home, together, being spoilt rotten..

We regularly check up on them and they both seem extremely happy!

Cilla arrived to us around seventeen years ago, in the middle of winter. She was in an extremely poor way. She had huge bald patches all over her body and every bone was showing.

We had the dentist out for her straight away as she couldn't eat very well and was dropping all of her feed. 

We weren't sure on her age but knew she was a older mare. The dentist put his hand in her mouth and without even trying pulled three teeth out straight away. We couldn't believe it! We asked his opinion on her age ( you can tell a lot by a horses teeth ) and he thought she was early 30's!!

So we gave her the age of 30, rugged her up to keep her warm and carried on feeding as much as possible.

By spring she was looking so much better, she had lost her winter coat and her lovely black summer coat was coming through. All was good......

One morning we walked up the field as normal to check on the ponies and we saw Cilla grazing with a foal stood by her side! We honestly couldn't believe it, we had no idea that she was in foal.

We bought them both in and checked them all over, everything was fine. This brave beautiful little mare gave birth naturally at 30years old on her own with no problems! We name the foal Buckaroo as he was so feisty! At six months old we weaned him off her and found him a lovely home.

After this Cilla's condition was completely back to how it should be, she would charge around the paddocks doing  Zoomies on a daily basis! She certainly didn't act her age! 

We had her for nine wonderful years before one day she laid down and didn't want to get back up again, she wasn't in pain she was just tired and we knew she was telling us she was ready to go.

The vet came out and she fell asleep peacefully, it was a super sad moment but at the same time if i could ask for them to go in anyway it would be like that.

Just under twenty years ago we were asked to help and take on a little pony named Ruskin. 

He had been badly neglected and had zero trust in humans. It took a long, long time to even be able to catch him, he had been castrated incorrectly so needed another operation, his feet were overgrown and in awful shape, his teeth had never been checked and he had trouble chewing his food, he had a belly full of worms, the list goes on....

After years of bonding, building trust and taking it slowly with him he eventually came round and if you met him today you wouldn't believe its the same pony!

He is now so full of life and adores children,  he has even been a unicorn in our pony parties many times!

He is now retired as a unicorn but instead  has a couple of his very own pony shares that come along each week to help care for him and take him riding.

He is the reason we started rescuing ponies

Ted & Alf came to us in June 2023, their owner couldn't give them the attention they needed anymore, they are a super little pair of ponies.

Ted is five and Alf is two years old. Alf can be a bit of a handful as he's still quite young but we have been working on his leading and adding in some obstacle courses to get his brain working to use up some of that energy!

Ted Update - 07.07.23 - Ted has suffered with laminitis so is on a very restricted diet, he comes in everyday to spend some time off the grass and goes out for daily walks to try and keep his weight down.

Ted Update - 10.10.23 - Ted has been doing really well on his new diet and has even been out to his very first show! He loved meeting lots of other horses.

Ted & Alf Update - 07.11.23 - Ted & Alf are doing really well, they have been part of our rescue events and as long as they are together they are very happy to have lots of fuss and attention from visitors. 

Gem came to us on 11th September 2022. 

Gem was extremely malnourished and under weight, we had to be very careful with what she ate as too much too soon could be even worse for her.

We will send off a worm count for her and go from there with her rehab.

Gem update - 14.09.22 - Gem is settling in well, she is on a new diet and has now trots over to you whenever your near. She is enjoying coming in her stable every night and having a groom before bed. She still has a very long way to go, hopefully we can get enough weight on her before winter.

Gem Update - 10.10.22 - I have been putting off writing this as we are all so devasted about her loss. Gem took a turn for the worst a couple of weeks ago and lost all feeling in her back end. She laid down and wouldn't get up again, we tried everything we could but after the vet had visited and had no response at all from tests.  Basically her system had just given up and started shutting down.

We didn't want her to suffer anymore so decided the kindest thing to do was to have her put to sleep, she was only with us for seven days, but that was long enough to get attached to such a kind little soul.

I hope she is up there galloping over the rainbow bridge, pain free and happy! 

I'm glad we got to meet Gem and feel happy that the last seven days of her life were filled with love and security.