Wednesday, 15 January 2014

Ruby


Ruby is a Bodmin moor pony, she had lived on Bodmin moor for 20 years producing foals every year since she was young herself.  She has seen and been through every weather condition imaginable and has made it to a grand age of 20+. We now want to give Ruby the best chance we can for her future which is why your support means so much to us……

Ruby came into the South West Equine Protection rehabilitation yard in November 2013; We had been monitoring this pony for about 2 months after we received a report of her being in poor condition, she was living in Davidstow woods where there is not much grass and not much chance of building up her condition being left in there.  Ruby was still feeding her foal from 2 years ago, therefore any goodness she was taking in, her foal was taking away from her to maintain its own weight and condition. Ruby seemed to have a very poor body condition, she looked to be in foal again and was losing condition quickly.

The farmer was culling his herd at Christmas due to there being no money in keeping and selling ponies from the moor any more. Once SWEP heard of her fate we spoke to the owner and agreed to take her in straight away. Ruby spent her first few days in the corner of the field, she was just too terrified to even look at us humans let alone have anyone approach her or touch her. We persevered and have allowed her to fully settle before working on her trust issues. She will soon settle fully and no longer be so frightened and we can work towards bringing her around to maybe even like human attention and get her a lovely home to live out her years.

Ruby currently shares her field with our older mares and seems to have taken a shine to them both, we know Ruby will be a fantastic pony when our dedicated staff on our yard have worked their magic.

Thursday, 9 January 2014

The moorland ponies over Christmas and New Year

Recently, I visited long ash and the areodrome area of the moorland and checked on the ponies, they were wondering about enjoying the sunshine,  with all this terrible weather at the moment I wanted to ensure all the foals were managing to maintain a good body condition.  I took some photos of the ponies I saw and they were all in very good condition, one had a slightly mucousy nose but I checked on her the following day and she was looking better.  One pregnant mare had slightly long front hooves so we will be keeping an eye on her and making sure she gets seen to if needed. The owner was contacted and he will be taking her off the moor once her foal is born to deal with her feet. Otherwise overall the 20+ ponies I saw were very happy munching away on the grass and bushes.

Here are some photos taken over Christmas and New year.
mmm warm and cosy
Now this bit of twig is something else





ooooo itchy itchy lip