Category Archives: Life and Times

My experiences before and after rescue

It’s My Birthday!

What a day I have had! It began with a special hay net (she stole the idea from a lady on the internet) and I made short work of it I can tell you.

My Birthday Haynet

Then she made me pose in my new headcollar, which was a present from Aberystwyth University. I have friends in high places you know – well, north places anyway – and I speak to them on Twitter. The colour was NOT my choice – maybe I will be an ambassador for a blue sort of university next time.

My New Headcollar

I spent most of the day outside – which is what I like doing mostly. I am allowed out when the winter weather is mild, but not when it is freezing. At 4 pm my guests arrived! as well as the staff, Tawny and Bramble came:

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Not to mention Winston and William, the stable yard cats!

Winston

William

It was time for my cake, which I shared with Bramble and Tawny. Look at me blowing out the candle!

I am blowing out the candle!

It was a yummy cake made of apple and carrots, so we all enjoyed it while the staff ate something called mince pies (what?):

Mince pies

When they got around to the mulled wine, I thought I had better see what they were up to, and I tried some

Just a Drop!

We have a party for my birthday each year. It doesn’t mark the day I was born, but the day my new life began. I am a second-chance pony and my first life was not too happy. I can’t remember a thing about it now, but she says people shouldn’t forget what happens when owners don’t understand the kind way to keep a pony like me.

If you would like to see what happened to me, please follow this link. And if you ever see a pony in poor condition, do something – please.

Escaped! With a donkey or two, some family and friends…

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We all need to escape sometimes. My particular sort of escaping is usually under her arm as she opens the gate. I tear off into the field with the long grass and I see how many greedy mouthfuls of grass I can stuff down me before she catches up with me again. I have been known to trot off up the farm lane, but if I’m honest, I don’t like being too far away from my friends, so I usually wander back myself. Escaping is OK, but I don’t want to be lost and lonely.

My friends Hannah and Chico fancied escaping – well Hannah fancied it and Chico got roped in as well. I don’t know whether she was after some greener grass, but Hannah’s idea was to walk right around Wales (a seriously long way). She trained up Chico on the way (hehehe) and he had some of his own ideas as well. Sarah and she and I met up with Hannah and escaped with her for the day. She had nearly finished her walk by then and she had some very diverting tales to tell. Chico is a cool guy who doesn’t say a lot, but he had got Hannah organised by the time they reached our patch – and by now they had another donkey called Flo, in tow. Well, I should say Flo had Chico in tow – seemed he had found the woman of his dreams…

You can read about our escape with Hannah earlier in this blog: https://hooveswho.com/2013/11/03/donkey-walking/ but I have some excellent news! Hannah has written the book!

Hannah made quite a number of discoveries on her journey and she shares them in a very honest and fearless way. Guess walking makes you brave, donkeys make you forget yourself and family make you proud.

Don’t take the word of a pony though – even if he has been immortalised in print. Go and buy a copy – you too can escape!

http://seasidedonkey.co.uk/

No Utopia for Uthopia?

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So the famous dressage horse Uthopia is to be sold at auction.

Old age is a bit of a lottery for any horse or pony. We commonly live until we are in our thirties these days and who can guarantee our welfare needs for a lifetime? At fifteen years of age, a horse like Uthopia may be older in his joints than many. Although he is immaculately cared for at his current yard, dressage is hard on the joints and his particular recipe for wellbeing might ideally involve an easier life in the future.

Who will buy him? Perish the thought that he is sold abroad to some up-and-coming competitor as a ‘schoolmaster’. Imagine the change! He will be used to travelling, but not to his new rider, a different climate and whatever demands being a schoolmaster will put on his ageing physique.

And even if he remains in this country, with the UK’s comparatively favourable animal welfare law, his future is not assured. The above scenario could also happen here, but who will look after him when he can no longer work? Celebrity seems to have little say in the matter: Hallo Dandy, who won the Grand National, ended up as a welfare case, as did 2000 Guineas winner Brigadier Gerard.

How many owners can claim, hand on heart, that they will take responsibility for their horse throughout its life, in sickness and in health? It’s amazing how many people still imagine that there are rolling acres and a warm stable somewhere, just waiting for their horse when he is too old to be worked or wanted any more.

Though it’s unlikely I will ever meet him, I wish Uthopia the best of luck. He is offered a retirement slot where he lives now – please someone, let him enjoy it!

Storm Frank and the Woodpecker

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The back field is our driest one, so it’s usually Hooligan’s during the winter. Luckily, he wasn’t in it when Storm Frank hit us with his worst last week. The old ash tree in that field is over 140 years old – not bad for an ash, we think.

The old ash tree

Ash trees tend to grow in a forked shape if they are left to their own devices, and one part of the tree must have broken off in the wind.

Broken bough

However, it had help! You have heard me tell before of the plentiful wildlife there is on this farm. We have foxes, badgers, an otter, the odd hedgehog (though not many, thanks to the badgers) and plentiful bird life, because of all the trees. One of the most interesting of these birds is the woodpecker (lesser spotted) which makes its home in the old ash tree. We often hear it hammering away and now that the branch has fallen the inroads are plain to see.

Prospecting for a home.

And right in the middle of that huge broken bough is a prime example of woodpecker engineering.

The doorway.

The nursery.

We horses were fortunate not to be near that tree when it crumbled. Storm Frank has gone to terrorise someone else and we guess the woodpeckers will have to look for a new home!

It was a funny old year.

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Well, 2015 has been and gone and what a strange thing happened to me! As you know, I always have my say about animal welfare. I am a great pony for the social networking and I have made a lot of new friends and found loads of old ones as well. I do not discriminate! I am a friend to elephants and cats, giraffes and border terriers, carthorses and miniature Shetland ponies, lions and tigers.

It was the lions and tigers which got me into trouble actually. A tatty circus act came to our district, using lions and tigers to do tricks. They said their act was about care and conservation but I wasn’t fooled! This was a circus and I didn’t think it was very fair, or natural for the animals to be used in that way. It’s supposed to be a free country, so I recorded my disagreement with the use of live animals in circuses on Facebook and what do you think? Facebook suspended my profile! I am back now, but they have cramped my style because I can only be a ‘pet’ (as if!) and am not allowed to have a profile at all. So please accept my apologies if I haven’t been in touch with some of you – I miss our conversations but Facebook won’t let me do it any more.

Keep in touch in 2016 – I am still on Twitter as you know and at least we can have conversations on there. I hope you all have a good time – a safe, warm and comfortable year, with company you love and someone to feed you good things and protect you from harm.

Happy New Year!

Look out! It’s my birthday!

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Today is my official birthday, when I celebrate the beginning of my life here. I have a good life now, but I did have a bit of a false start – you can look at my story here.

https://hooveswho.com/2013/12/12/its-my-birthday/

This year’s birthday will be unusual because I am not expecting any visitors. I shall have my cake as usual, at 4.30 pm, because that is the time I was collected from the side of the road. I shall also have lots of edible treats which I will share with my friends, Hooligan, Paddy, Bramble, Tawny and Tabitha (as long as she doesn’t make rude faces).

The thing is, I know I will always get one visitor, every single day. It’s usually the same one, but sometimes it’s Sarah or Joanna or Steve or the other Sarah (Happy Birthday Auntie Sarah!). They never fail to come. Even if I don’t need anything, they check that I am OK in the field – at least twice a day.

Not all ponies and horses are so fortunate. Some owners don’t bother in bad weather, or if they are late home from work. Some owners forget they have a horse when it’s the winter and sadly, many of my poor friends will starve this winter on their tethers or in wet, muddy fields.

If you are reading this, please look out! Don’t forget that all animals need to be checked twice a day and if you see a neglected one, do something! The RSPCA rescued me and you can report a poorly animal to them. But there are other organisations as well – Redwings, World Horse Welfare and the British Horse Society all have networks of caring people who can help a horse in need.

Here’s another film which explains a bit more about how I came to be here, and where she gets very serious about it all. I had fun that day, nibbling the front of the BBC lady’s cream cashmere jacket. She seemed to take it well.

Luck

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Luck can be good or bad and some say you make your own. As the recipient of some extremely good luck once, I doubt that statement.

But luck in sport – how does that work? We are great rugby supporters in this household and we have been watching the World Cup unfold. For the duration (being a Welshman) I wear my red headcollar and when I tweet in support of the brave lads, I always use the hash tag.

#wearinmyred

Wales fought a hard campaign and were heroes throughout. What is more, they were well-behaved heroes and were not always accorded the decisions they deserved. Luck played its part in their last match against Australia. It seemed as though they would prevail and just before half-time, a drop goal seemed to say that luck was on their side. I am honoured that my tweet featured on the roof of the O2 at that point.

Just imagine – my name in lights with the best outside-half in the world. I thought I would burst with pride!

The rest is a sad tale of bad luck and disappointment. For the ‘home’ teams, well. The luck of the Irish certainly didn’t make it to Cardiff and Scotland were truly robbed by a ref who should have gone to Specsavers.

Keep up the good work you brave British rugby players. Remember what Mr Gatland said: It’s not a matter of ‘if ‘a home side beats the All Blacks, it’s ‘when’.

Good luck!

A most excellent day

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Yesterday, I had a day out. It all started with a bath on Thursday. I behaved pretty badly, all things considered, because it did not suit me, at that moment, to have my feet scrubbed. However, by yesterday morning I had thought it through. A bath usually means a trip out somewhere – and I am a very sociable pony.

There was a bit more polishing when I came in from the field yesterday morning, then it was best hat on and off for a walk up the lane. What? No trailer?

Shanks’s pony

We arrived at the church car park, to meet some very nice people, who gave me a soft mint, which is STILL stuck around my teeth today. They were in charge of some very smart cars with ribbons.

Various modes of transport

It was then that unfamiliar things began to happen. She worked a double plait into my mane and hung one of my shoes, all polished up on a pretty ribbon, in the plait. I felt a bit girlie I can tell you, but whatever! They kept telling me I was good, so I went along with it.

Wearing my shoe.

Then we continued down the road into the church yard. I liked it in there! There was plenty of grass for me to eat and some flowers which I wasn’t allowed to eat.

Off to church.

After a bit of muffled music and some shouting, some people came out of the door. It turned out to be my friend Jane and her new husband Dave! They had got married! And my shoe was a good luck token for them.

Hope she didn’t break a fingernail!

Naturally I stayed a while longer so that my many fans could say hello and I could get some more grass. I also had a very important official photo-call with the bride and groom (he wasn’t really dressed like any other groom I’ve met and he didn’t have a brush).

Official photo-call.

After a while, the people all got in their cars and went off up the road. I said thank you to the vicar and his family for allowing me to attend.

Thanks Trevor!

Then we walked home. Weddings are my new favourite thing!

Photos by Sarah Smith

Dear Mr Cameron

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I understand there is a precedent for some people writing directly to the Prime Minister with their concerns about the country. Let me make it clear right now that I am not a spider, but a small skewbald pony.

What is more, I am a pony with a passport! Trouble is, there is no database for my passport details to be logged, so my passport does not really serve much purpose.

What with you being a town boy, perhaps I had better explain some stuff. The EU (sorry) says we ponies have to be identified because over in mainland Europe they want to eat us. And all that is a tad irrelevant here, because nobody in the UK wants to eat us because we are companion and work animals in this country. But a database is such a good idea for other reasons – and it works really well for the cows and sheep so there’s no reason why it shouldn’t work for us too. It could regulate our sale and purchase and help to protect us from unscrupulous dealers (you’ll have heard of that persistent character Fly Grazing Bill, who has been in and out of your place a few times!). You see, I am a lucky pony, with a good home, but many of my poor friends are neglected and starving and action is rarely taken against their owners because there is no way of identifying them.

Anyway, sometime, when you’ve got a minute, could you sort it out please? If you want any help, just let me know.

Many thanks and good luck,

Tim

You learn something every day

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This is my current field companion Paddy, short for Paddywack.

He came to live here some years ago now, in semi-retirement, having been Elin’s busy Pony Club pony. He is bay and bigger than I am and sometimes we do have misunderstandings because he speaks slightly differently from the rest of us. Paddy is an Irish pony and he is very wise.

A couple of days ago she arrived in our field wielding a strange engine on a stalk. She set about the brambles with this thing and it was so noisy, I really thought we ought to be tearing around the field pretending to be scared (as you do). But Paddy said we shouldn’t. He said we would wait just around the corner from her until she switched the thing off, then I would see why. I stood behind him, just to be sure I was safe (I mean seriously noisy).

Well it turned out she was in bonfire mood, so soon she was clearing the cut brambles, adding them to a pile of hedge trimmings, which we had already investigated thoroughly, and setting them alight. We are used to that sort of thing – it takes her out of herself in early spring and autumn and she has to have some amusement.

But the thing is, as soon as she had finished cutting, Paddy said ‘Come on Tim!’ and we were soon digging into the lovely bits of grass which had been hidden under all those brambles. I would have found them sooner or later, but Paddy just knew.

After next Saturday when clearly, we shall be standing in different corners of the field (or pitch), I resolve to stick with my friend Paddy. His old Irish mammy taught him some good tricks!

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