LauraWheeler
Well-Known Member
My life was abit of a mess. I had not long lost Lucy and The horrid one was, well Horrid. Everything seemed to be a battle and to ad to it my OHs daughter wanted to ride. I had let her sit on Herbie afew times when he was in a good mood but that was it. She was barely aloud to breath while sat on him incase she upset him. She realy wanted to ride properly so OH and I toyed with the idea of getting another pony for her to ride.
Trouble was we couldn't affored to pay for a pony and who in there right mind would give away a pony safe enough for a child to ride
I looked online everyday and put the word out that I was looking. But most people laughed at me. It seemed hopeless.
Then one day I saw an ad for a new forest pony free to a good home. He sounded wonderful, The only thing that made him free was he had had laminitas. That didn't put me off as I had been dealing with Lucys laminitas for about 10 years.
I emailed the owner explaining about my expereance and why we wanted another pony. But she phoned back and left a message saying she had already given the pony away.
I felt gutted and had resigned myself to the fact we were never going to be able to find a nice pony for free.
About a week passed by when my phone rang. It was the owner of the pony asking if I was still intrested. She said she had given it some thought and I sounded like the perfect home so she had told the other people they couldn't have him.
We went to go and see him. When we arrived we found the sweetest fluffyest pony I had ever seen. I rode him in the field and he was a star. Despite not having been ridden for a while. OHs daughter had a sit on him to and we all fell in love with him. So the deal was done. We got the pony for £100 including his saddle, 2 bridles, 2 headcollers, leadropes, grooming kit, firstaid kit, bag of feed, bale of hay, hay nets, feed and water buckets, Basicly he came with everything.
When I got him home I put the weight tape on him and it showed he weighed 469kg
He is only 14.1hh
So he was imideatly put on a diet and I worked out an excercise plan to help him shed the extra weight.
After a week he suddenly went lame Everyone paniced that it was laminitas again. But I put a poultice on his foot and the next day there was puss and he was vertualy sound. 
Phew it was only an abcess. But sadly that wasn't the only one and we had three bad ones all in a row He had a couple of months off due to this but thanks to his diet he was slowly loosing weight. Then just as I got him sound again the snow came That ment another nearly 2 months off.
But as spring came the snow melted and we were able to crack on with work. He started loosing lots of weight and was looking much healthyer. We spent lots of time hacking on the forest and OHs daughter was becoming very confidant and even started riding him off the leadrein. Controlling him all on her own, even walking over poles.
One day we went on a very long hack. I took him back to the area of the forest where he was born. I think he recognised it as he seemed to change once we got there as if he knew where he was.
I started online showing and he has done rather well.
He was a star when I took him to his first proper show since he was a youngster. He took it all in his stride as if he had been doing it all his life. I was so proud of him even if he did come last. The judge said he wasn't fat enough but I don't care. I'm not risking him getting laminitas again so I can win ribbons.
He's such a lovely pony who i'm thankful for everyday. He's reliable and dependable (even if all he ever thinks about is his stomach
). I think he was the ultamate bargin pony and i'm so glad his owner desided to give him to us.
It's been a fantastic two years.
Here's to many many more
[youtube]3gIro0jatk4[/youtube]
A little video I made for him. All the photos are in order from the day he arrived upto the show I took him to the other month.
He never realy gets the credit he deserves. He may not be a world beater but he's one special little chap.
Thankyou for reading my post and watching the video. xx
Trouble was we couldn't affored to pay for a pony and who in there right mind would give away a pony safe enough for a child to ride
I looked online everyday and put the word out that I was looking. But most people laughed at me. It seemed hopeless.
Then one day I saw an ad for a new forest pony free to a good home. He sounded wonderful, The only thing that made him free was he had had laminitas. That didn't put me off as I had been dealing with Lucys laminitas for about 10 years.
I emailed the owner explaining about my expereance and why we wanted another pony. But she phoned back and left a message saying she had already given the pony away.
I felt gutted and had resigned myself to the fact we were never going to be able to find a nice pony for free. About a week passed by when my phone rang. It was the owner of the pony asking if I was still intrested. She said she had given it some thought and I sounded like the perfect home so she had told the other people they couldn't have him.
We went to go and see him. When we arrived we found the sweetest fluffyest pony I had ever seen. I rode him in the field and he was a star. Despite not having been ridden for a while. OHs daughter had a sit on him to and we all fell in love with him. So the deal was done. We got the pony for £100 including his saddle, 2 bridles, 2 headcollers, leadropes, grooming kit, firstaid kit, bag of feed, bale of hay, hay nets, feed and water buckets, Basicly he came with everything.
When I got him home I put the weight tape on him and it showed he weighed 469kg
He is only 14.1hh So he was imideatly put on a diet and I worked out an excercise plan to help him shed the extra weight.
After a week he suddenly went lame
Everyone paniced that it was laminitas again. But I put a poultice on his foot and the next day there was puss and he was vertualy sound. Phew it was only an abcess. But sadly that wasn't the only one and we had three bad ones all in a row He had a couple of months off due to this but thanks to his diet he was slowly loosing weight. Then just as I got him sound again the snow came That ment another nearly 2 months off.But as spring came the snow melted and we were able to crack on with work. He started loosing lots of weight and was looking much healthyer. We spent lots of time hacking on the forest and OHs daughter was becoming very confidant and even started riding him off the leadrein. Controlling him all on her own, even walking over poles.
One day we went on a very long hack. I took him back to the area of the forest where he was born. I think he recognised it as he seemed to change once we got there as if he knew where he was.
I started online showing and he has done rather well.
He was a star when I took him to his first proper show since he was a youngster. He took it all in his stride as if he had been doing it all his life. I was so proud of him even if he did come last. The judge said he wasn't fat enough but I don't care. I'm not risking him getting laminitas again so I can win ribbons.
He's such a lovely pony who i'm thankful for everyday. He's reliable and dependable (even if all he ever thinks about is his stomach
). I think he was the ultamate bargin pony and i'm so glad his owner desided to give him to us.It's been a fantastic two years.
Here's to many many more
[youtube]3gIro0jatk4[/youtube]
A little video I made for him. All the photos are in order from the day he arrived upto the show I took him to the other month.
He never realy gets the credit he deserves. He may not be a world beater but he's one special little chap.
Thankyou for reading my post and watching the video. xx
