Lils' Story

So last Friday we went to pick up Lil from World Horse Welfare. She is a 4 year old, 13hh black and white (actually more white and black) Gypsy Cob mare.  She is one lucky lady!!

Eli drove with her trailer, I had huge fun sitting in the back with her twins, Billy and Ted who are approx 21 months old and most entertaining!! That left Jo map reading.........Not her specialist subject. Still we made it in time, despite Eli and I having phone sat navs that disagreed with our planned route and each other! Eventually I silenced mine and went on sense of direction, and the vague map of Britain that lives in my head. 

When we arrived Jo filled in the paperwork, while Eli ran around after the twins, and I hung on to Prudence, while re-filling my coffee beaker from the WHW office kitchen! Good job WHW are so professional.....we managed to look like the not far off pikeys that we are. Having imprisoned the twins in a buggy and Pru in the truck, we professionally stood back while Lil was loaded and hurried off before they could change their minds!! 

The trailer was completely devoid of partition or hay, and Lil was travelled loose (as per WHW instructions). She trotted around the trailer for a bit, which we could feel even in Elis' Land Rover!  What I found most disconcerting was when she stood with one eye firmly pressed up against the little window at the front of the trailer. 

After a while she stood quietly and I went back to playing with food with the twins. Yes they ended up covered in chocolate spread, with sweets in their ears, while I wore Prudence on my head, trying to stop her being fed too many treats! We went back a completely different way, and ended up for a brief stop at Burger King, pretty much blocking the entrance for anyone else.  As Lil was loose we had all the doors closed and it was looking like a sauna so I opened the jockey door and fed her a carrot, but was worried she might make a break for it. As we weren't too far from West Meadows at that point I figured if she escaped she would probably end up there. Not an improvement from where she came!!

Lil was rescued with 70 others from a Gypsy Cob dealer in Wales, 2 years ago.  Back in 2012 he was banned from keeping horses and fined £44,000.  But that didn't stop him and by 2016 he had a herd of 70 again, that were tethered all over the place in appalling conditions.  They don't mess about in Wales it seems.  The local council removed the ponies and had him prosecuted again.

The ponies went to various rescue centres. WHW have several more from that rescue, that are ready to be re-homed. As I said....She is a lucky lady.  If it was Suffolk County Council, she would still be tethered and would have had foals by now!!

When we got home, Lil came out of the trailer calmly, just a little sweaty from the sauna effect, but not in the slightest traumatised.  We turned her out with Polly in a paddock-pen between the Biggies and the Minis. She had a drink and a roll and calmly started munching on the grass. Having watched them for a hour or so, we left them to it.

The next day was lots of children and lessons. We moved the fences around so Lil was with the Minis when they came back. Dora stormed into the field all gung-ho, marching up to Lil, full of wrath. Lil gave one squeal, struck out with her front leg and with that Dora stalked off sulking.  Mini just doesn't care whats happening.  So that was that.  Thing is, Dora thinks she is the boss of the Mini field, but in truth neither Mini nor Polly care what Dora thinks...They just do their own thing. Lil is very similar......No big show, just indifference.  So Dora has no-one she can bully.  By the next day they were all grazing very close to each other.  I would say Lil has settled in very well.

We brought her in with Polly when all the children had gone, and gave her a groom, foot clean, fly spray and some carrots. All of which she took in her stride. She seems very laid back at the moment. No doubt she will test the boundaries when she has her feet under the table....

This Week We Have Been Mostly Fencing! And News From West Meadows.

Yes, now we don't have to put hay out, our time is taken with moving fences!! With no rain in sight, we have been moving the ponies along the field, opening up new grazing, and closing off old grazing.  In the hope that it will rain, and the grass will grow back for the Autumn.

Along with the sun, we have had oddly cold nights still (3c) and chilly North Winds.  Yes, us English Are obsessed with the weather!! 

We have been given permission by the landowner to graze the 12 acre field, which has been planted with a thousand trees, but left with 20m clearings, in which one day, in about 10 years,will contain Teepees for camping. We are now able to graze the circles.
So Jo and I set off on the tractor to explore.  Wow....It was like being on Safari....without Lions etc.  We actually got lost! Some of the trees are pretty tall.....some are stunted.  The grass is high everywhere.  Having hunted high and low for the clearings, we found 5.  Unfortunately, they have a lot of ragwort in them.  We had hoped to move the Shetlands straight away, but we have a bit of work to do first. And Jo picked up a tick!!!! And so we continue to move the Shetlands around.  Although Sweet Pea seems to be sound, we don't want to risk her running about with Dora yet.  Its times like these I agree with tethers, which would be handy to graze the little 'uns for a few hours while we are there.

Of course we wouldn't leave them tethered overnight.  I don't agree with that at all.  Equines being prey animals, get stressed if they are unable to run away at the first sign of danger, real or imagined.  Which brings me on to a brief update from West Meadows in Ipswich.  The girls from Voice of The Horse Facebook Page, worked long and hard to get the majority of....dare I say it.... The travellers ponies,off tethers last year.  Despite the Admin of the group getting asbos for harassment, the council did indeed fence the wasteland/water meadows in Papermill Lane, Bramford, so that 80ish mares could run free. However, the owner has 40 or so mares on land close to West Meadows Traveller Site, that he rents off the council, so its been hard to monitor these ponies. All through the Winter there have been reports to the RSPCA and Redwings Horse Sanctuary of distressed ponies.  Unable to go and check we have pursued the council about the amount of plastic hay wrappings strewn over the field. I spent a cold Winters afternoon lurking on the A14 embankment, dodging police cars and taking pics. As the council are keen on Ipswich becoming a centre of excellence for re-cycling plastic, this seemed a good place to start!! Anyway, after a council visit 2 weeks ago, this week reports have come in that two Redwings lorries were parked in the entrance of the Site.  The same night, the shelter that houses the Colts waiting for the Meat Truck, was burnt down.  There only seems to be about 15 ponies left on this site.  This can only be good news!

In other news.... We have lots of children coming to ride at the weekend with Eli teaching them.  Its all good fun and we are planning a 'Pony Day' with lessons, stable management, a picnic, Pony Painting and a Gymkhana.  
Charlie joined in today in-hand.  Fully tacked up i led him round. Then Jo took over the leading while I walked alongside, leaning on the saddle.  He was pretty chilled and quickly got over the fact I wasn't by his head.  This is extremely good progress on his behalf.... We will continue.

Daisy and Dora giving lessons

Charlie with Jo...Learning to go without me.

Polly and Scrumpy in our lovely wild flower meadows

Prepared For Snow and The Plight of the Papermill Ponies

They promised snow.  A whole weekend of snow! It never happened. But at least we were prepared. The bigger ponies were given rugs with fillings. We stuffed all the water pipes with straw and covered them.  We moved the little ponies into a rambling area around the tack room and between the barns so they had loads of shelter, and dragged their hay bin round. It did try and snow. Some of it even layed for about 5 minutes. 

Meanwhile over xmas I joined a facebook group called Save The Papermill Ponies. The group is trying to highlight the plight of the gypsy ponies that are tethered in and around Bramford village near Ipswich, and are attached to the West Meadows Traveller Site. Now I grew up nearby, and all my childhood played with the gypsy children and rode their ponies.  In those days they were well cared for despite being tethered. By the way my biggest gripe about tethering is that it takes away the horses freedom to flee.....as stabling also does. 
Anyway, I thought I would go and check it out for myself. There are about 50 or so ponies on the Water Meadows near the River, but I never got to those.  I started with a field of just 6. They had water, but were just stood on droppings. Two fillies were actually tethered together. One mare had lost an eye. I was slightly shocked when I saw that, as usually the eyelid is stitched over. This was just a gaping socket. One of the double tied fillies had really long feet.  There was one moulding round bale of hay in the field......which none of them could reach.  Having then rashly broadcast a live video stream to Facebook, I dished out some carrots an gave them an armful of hay each.  
I then became very rash, and made my way up the hill towards the Traveller Site. There is a very large enclosure there with maybe 40 ponies in. I wanted to get close enough to get some long lens pictures. Seeing a man in the enclosure I jumped down into a ditch to hide. Imagine my horror apon looking down, to see a hoof sticking out of a pony shaped mound of sand.  Scrabbling about I uncovered a hairy foot. Thankfully I had enough wits about me to take a couple of pictures, before legging it. By this time it was getting dark and I had no desire to come face to face with an irate traveler. I didn't want to lose my camera for a start.
I think I was in shock for about 10 minutes, then I had to stop the car to throw up (Sorry too much info). That knocked my dry January on the head. 

I'm pleased to say I have had about 3000 hits on the video and loads of shares. The dead pony in the ditch has been reported to the authorities. And best of all finally the constant nagging of the Group saw 10 ponies removed on Thursday.
Hopefully now the owners have seen that they WILL lose the ponies and therefore money, they may step up their care of the others a little.  And the girls of the Save The Papermill Ponies group will continue to check on them, as will I.

Polly Ready for The Snow

Yes this was IT

Below is the link to the video i took.  The first few seconds may give you neck ache but it does right itself quickly.
Many thanks for looking and sharing.

https://youtu.be/9GazCOto_b0

Blossoms Rescue Centre

I hope a few people have watched the video of Charlie (real name Sparky) by now, and have seen what a lovely pony he is.  He is sweet, affectionate, cheeky, trusting, nosy, and funny.  Not to mention he has fantastic conformation and stunning paces.  If if wasn't for http://www.blossomsrescue.co.uk/, he wouldn't even be alive.  Please check out the website.  This isn't a huge rescue centre like ILPH or Redwings.......but a small concern run by one dynamic lady called Sara Higgins.  They also rescue dogs, cats, chickens.....if it is in need of rescue, rest assured Sara will be on it. With a a few voluntary helpers, Sara looks after all the rescue animals herself....on a shoestring.  Trust me if I lived closer I would be helping. 
So if you can help in anyway please do......If you check out the site, you can donate......or if you live nearby, maybe take on a rescue pony or dog.
Believe me it is way more rewarding to see an animal that has had a bad start in life develop into something special.
Does this look like a rescue pony??????