Our new (rescue) pony...and the cruely of people. :(

grumpyoldmare said:
I am not trying to be critical here but have you had a vet give the pony a good going over? The only reason I am asking is that I have a slight suspicion that this poor chap might in fact be considerably older than the sellers stated? It sounds as though they were very inexperienced with horse care, so might not have been aware that weight loss, is just one symptom of problems associated with some older equines?

It could be that he looks as he does due to health problems associated with his considerable age or not being on a good worming programme? If it is true that they had him for a few years, then this weight loss due to lack of feeding could not have be sustained for that long surely? The pony would have died of malnutrition some time back? Or if they havent wormed him in all that time could it be severe worm damage?

Hope this doesn't offend you - just felt it might be worth mentioning but forgive me and ignore me if you have already checked all this out.:)
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No vet has looked him over, but we're on good terms with ours so we gave her a call working hours this morning to take some advice on feeding etc.

He is who he is, if it's worm damage bad enough to cause that if he was being fed then we've not got a chance, but we'll try feeding him first.

We did think he might be ancient or really ill, but they had another horse who was greying out still, and he was as bad, though not as dirty.

We do have some pretty knowledgable equine professionals on our yard and their opinion is the same as ours - his teeth age him younger than 13 if anything, NOT older, though we're not dentists - who's booked to come beginning of next month anyway.

Not offended at all, you are just as concerned for his health as we are. :)

Lets hope he turns out as well as the before and after of Saffy! Wow!

Today he did eating and chilling (and check out his trimmed toe!)

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Just found the advert post. The only pic up when we called was the summer one and head shot. :-( And they didnt clean him because he was so caked in filth it took us 12 hours to get it all off.
 
Big hugs and this thread made me want to cry too!! Teasle says a blog would be great and I agree would love to see how he changes over the summer with a bit of TLC!
 
TheHairyOne said:
We bought him as 13 - he could be but his teeth could make him younger, certainly not older.

We honestly didn't realise quite how bad he was until we got him home, the minute they walked him out we looked at each other and knew we were taking him home cause of his weight and the rest didn't really matter. We knocked the price down cause of it (yes, we paid for him) shoved him on the truck and left.

We left another horse there, (not for sale, we did ask and we'd have had him as well), we've done what needed to be done regarding that. ;)
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I'm assuming you've been in contact with either the WHW or RPSCA to inform them of the condition of the pony you've bought, and the threat to the one you've left behind?
 
Well done for taking him on, sure you'll have a cracker.

But, re the teeth, our 25yo does have much younger teeth than his age - not saying yours will be that old - but just an fyi. I think he still may have the 7yo hook on his teeth.
 
amymay said:
I'm assuming you've been in contact with either the WHW or RPSCA to inform them of the condition of the pony you've bought, and the threat to the one you've left behind?
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Don't have much faith in the RSPCA having had some personal experience with them in the past as well as what I have read on here. WHW have been told and I sincerely hope can help.

We'll never know how old he really is, we will take one day at a time and hope every day gets a little better than the day before. :) Time will tell!

And he'll be even warmer as of tonight as his rugs with necks arrive! We had rugs to fit a 14.2 cob, but not an emaciated one. He's wearing 5'3's atm that normally go on a 13.2 new forest. :mad:
 
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Well done OP for getting him out of there. FWIW I would have been guilty of lining pockets too because I would not have left empty handed.
Personally I refuse to sit back and let the authorities do their job every time. Especially when in your heart you know that quite often unless the animal is dead on its feet or the owner not very convincing then the animal will stay there!
I say this through experience as people are very cunning indeed. They remove animals and shove somewhere else or away from view. The animal is still suffering while good meaning folks try to work out where they are and then get the authorities involved again.
The RSPCA are an ass, again I say with experience. I know for a fact that animals suffered and by the time they did show up, they had been moved. But they didn't give a rat's arse that the animals were cold, starving and being neglected.
So OP I am with you on this entirely. You got this little chap out and you have informed WHW who I think are one of the better organisations to deal with equines as well as the BHS.
I hope they take the matter seriously and go and check on that other horse, especially after seeing the state of this little fella :(
He looks a real sweetie and I can't wait to see him after a summer on his back I bet he will look smashing :)
Well done and best of luck to you and Saxon x
 
why oh why are some people just so cruel, b****ds. Are you going to report this, I think I would if it was me just for the sake of the poor pony and any other that might be hiding in some stable you didnt get a look at.
 
jesstickle said:
Bless him. The state of his poor frogs :eek: I can believe he's been standing in his own filth from looking at them.
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was going to say that apart from the frogs the feet look like they should be pretty good - they're a nice shape.

TheHairyOne said:
Yes, they should have been paying us to take him away, we'd probably have bought him even if he wasn't anything like as advertised, he obviously may be different when he has any weight at all, but we're used to a bolshy big cob so that's fine. :) However, we couldn't leave him, from everything I had heard about the RSPCA (and as someone else said here) he's not bad enough to have been seized. As it is we've spoken to right people and can now say that they do have some money to feed and look after the other one, if it was money, or they may be given the knowledge to look after them properly, so maybe a good thing has happened for 2 horses, not just one.

On the plus side for him his feet *looked* dreadful, but our farrier was surprised by the hoof quality once he'd been trimed up. There's no infection anymore (though there obviously has been) and he believes the frogs should grow back ok, his feet just need to walk on different surfaces and be exposed to the air to stilmulate growth and healing.
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then you said this... ^^ IMO "bad" behaviour is usually manageable with patience - we all know how bolshy cobs can be when they're feeling good about life! :D:rolleyes: and his routine and feeding etc can be adjusted to help suit him as he fills out and shows his personality.

he sounds a sweetie, and I think Saxon suits him.

marydoll said:
He makes me want to cry, but now its for all the right reasons, well done op i can wait to see him in the summer, please give us updates :)
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and this ^^ :D
 
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