Pony Updates

10/10/06

A lot has happened since our last update, we have all been very busy! First off we have some very happy news…. we have homed our first two ponies Socks and Star. It was practically a year to the day that they arrived at our centre and is our first success, we are very proud of them and what we have achieved with them in that year. Having read an article in the Tavistock Times Mandy who has given them a home got in contact with us wishing to have 2 ponies to keep her horse company. We did a home check and were very happy with it and they moved a couple of weeks ago. ITV filmed them going to and arriving at their new home. We were sad to see them leave as they have become such a part of our life and were always somewhere trying to cause trouble when we are at the centre but we are of course very pleased to have found them a fantastic home together. As well as Marco the horse they are keeping company they also have two other field companions who are goats, they were quite intrigued and didn’t know quite what to make of them to start with but they certainly weren’t scarred. ITV should be airing their reactions!

They behaved impeccably during the move, they loaded on to the trailer perfectly and Star was very keen to investigate his new surroundings when coming off, Socks was a little more hesitant but once he’d seen Star munching the grass on the verge he soon decided to follow! We let them out in their new field and they were relaxed straight away. It just goes to show how important it is to home them in pairs as they help each other stay relaxed and not panic in a new environment. Reports from Mandy are that Star is as cheeky as ever and Socks is a little less boisterous whilst settling in but I’m sure it will be no time before he is back to his nosey self! Socks, Star, Marco and the goats are all getting on very well. We will be visiting the shortly to check on their progress.

We attended Tavistock Pony Market on Friday 6th October and we have two new arrivals. There were no ponies unsold at the end of the day though many were going for just the reserve price of 8 guineas (1 guinea = £1.05). A supporter of ours brought two ponies and donated them to us. Our main aim is to take on ponies which are unsold at the end of the day however we will also accept donated ponies so long as we have enough capacity for them. Please look at our constitution for further information on our policy of taking on new ponies.

We will be at Chagford sale on 12th October, this does unfortunately mean we will not be able to watch the ponies’ moment of fame though I am sure we can record it and watch it later!

One of our new arrivals is called Archie, he is a bay colt and about 3 months old. He is very sweet though very scared having been through the drifts, separated from his mother and put through the sales. Today he allowed us to feed him hay and scratch him all over so he is settling in now and slowly recovering from the shock. Having an established older herd has helped him regain some stability.

Our other new arrival does not have a name as yet though I am sure it will not be long! He is also a bay colt and looks very much like our pony Basil! He is a very cheeky and brave foal and seems to have very little fear, incredible when you consider what he has been through!

We hope to have photos of our new foals shortly.

Today (10th October) we had Horse and Pony magazine visit us. They hope to do a feature on us around about February next year. They took lots of photos of our ponies. We will keep you informed as to when this may be published.

We have also recently had articles in local publications such as Herald Express, Western Morning News, Express & Echo and Devon Life and we would like to thank them for their support.