Video of rescue ponies

[TessieL]

Hi
I thought you might like to see this video of my rescued ponies. They were both destined for slaughter, and were in a terrible state when they first came to me. But now they are happy, healthy and totally wonderful. They are the reason I decided to set up Last Angel Equine Defence. For more info on what we do, please have a look at this post....http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/1502510/an/0/page/4#1502510
And please, if anyone needs help rehoming a horse, or is concerned about the welfare of any horse, pm me and I will do my very best to help. Hope you enjoy the video....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKX-PZzU6fY
xxx

 

[PoppyPony]

beautiful video i love that grey!!

 

[Agent XXX999]

Um - I think its lovely what you do but that palomino is lame? I would say in his fronts and back? Sorry for not being so positive but for someone who professes to worry about animal welfare you are trotting around on a lame pony?

I sound really horrible but I am trying not to be!

Beautiful horses though!

 

[dingle12]

i agree pony is lame you need to get a vet to look at him/her sorry to sound horrid but it could of been going to the slaughter house for a reason.

 

[piaffe]

Im afraid I agree too about the pony being unsound. But most importantly, the majority of the time, horses are sent to the slaughter house for a good reaon and, it is often the last resort and i do not think "saving" horses is actually, always the right thing. sorry.

 

[TessieL]

If she was lame on the day that video was taken, which was two years ago and she is absolutely fine. I obviously wasn't aware of it at the time. If people think a pony should be slaughtered just because it cannot be ridden then it is a very sad state of affairs....

 

[piaffe]

[ QUOTE ]
If people think a pony should be slaughtered just because it cannot be ridden then it is a very sad state of affairs....



[/ QUOTE ]

I dont think any of us said that. However, if a horse can no longer be ridden then sometimes it is safer and kind for the horse to destroyed rather than passed on from home to home of all those "do gooders" who promise to keep the horse as a pet and make matters worse for the poor animal. Sorry but i have seen it happens a few times.

 

[dingle12]

i never said that i said get a vet to look at her

 

[rcm_73]

I'm afraid I would also agree the pony looks unsound and a tad uncomfortable through her back. If it was two years ago then I'd be surprised if she was still lame & you haven't picked up on it. I think it's great that you saved these ponies though especially if you can keep them for the rest of their days.

 

[Judie]

Have you killed the link because I can't see it?

 

[Agent XXX999]

Oh god, please dont get me started.....

The horse was clearly lame and you chose to post it on a public internet forum - so IMO you therefore still didnt realise...or you would have pre warned or not posted it at all.

If a horse is in pain or crippled or unrideable or dangerous or unhandleable or lame or has not teeth or whatever, there is a reason for having it PTS. I know ideally a slaughter house is not the perfect option but sometimes it is the only opion or they get sent there by people with no emotinal attatchment to the horse.

Horses are too expensive to keep as pets or if they are crippled or dangerous, especially if they are your business and not pleasure. Nice as the idea is, people who do not have an emotional attatchment to whatever horse they are handling tend not to think 'oh lets send the horse off to a lovely field in Somerset' they think of the quick and easiest option.

I am sorry but that palomino is/was clearly unsound and IMO sould not have been being ridden. If you have only had 2 years experience since you didnt notice that (and it was clear lameness, not just comig short every few strides) how do you expect to be able to handle rescue horses - some of which might have deeper problems than being lame - e.g. dangerous horses or those with specialised care issues.

Sorry for the rant but IMO it takes very experienced people to care for these types of horses - people who can handle all types of horses and dont just see a fluffy palomino.

I am really sorry for not being more positive but I do find it hard not to say something when I see underlying problems wich could/have been detrimental to any horse that people have asked opinions of.

 

[TessieL]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
If people think a pony should be slaughtered just because it cannot be ridden then it is a very sad state of affairs....



[/ QUOTE ]

I dont think any of us said that. However, if a horse can no longer be ridden then sometimes it is safer and kind for the horse to destroyed rather than passed on from home to home of all those "do gooders" who promise to keep the horse as a pet and make matters worse for the poor animal. Sorry but i have seen it happens a few times.

[/ QUOTE ]

It may not have been said directly but that was the general opinion. I am afraid. As I said the pony is fine, the video was taken two years ago. Obviously my whole purpose is not to let an animal get passed on from home to home. If a horse cannot be ridden but it is not in any pain, and a person keeps the horse, it is being done a good turn, and the person cannot then be seen as a 'do gooder' who is making it worse for the animlal. The people who make it worse, are the ones who get rid of a horse just because it cannot be ridden. I would never got rid of a horse that couldn't be ridden, because to me, horses mean a lot more than just being able to ride them.

 

[piaffe]

you need to copy and paste the link into your browser. should work then!

 

[piaffe]

But you, yourself, were trotting around on that pony who is cleary (in my opinion, but hey, what do i know) unsound? And then use it to make a video about the importance of giving horses a better life?

 

[Agent XXX999]

PS Just had another look and the grey looks lame too

 

[sleepingdragon10]

[ QUOTE ]

If a horse is in pain or crippled or unrideable or dangerous or unhandleable or lame or has not teeth or whatever, there is a reason for having it PTS.

[/ QUOTE ]

Good god,don't let SWUO hear you say that!

She's basically unrideable with dodgy teeth but does just fine being loved and groomed and cuddled everyday. Heaven forbid such perceived failings should lead to her being put down just because she doesn't fit into the "rideable" category

 

[Agent XXX999]

I didnt say it should be, I said that there is a eason for it being PTS - generalised. I tried to list all of the reason why people would make that decision!

 

[Skhosu]

Agree with sleepingdragon. Don't think an 'unrideable' horse should be pts, dont agree with theory of 'I can't ride it, so I'll not risk loaning it, I'll just put id down'
Personally I couldn't see the lameness although pony did have its head very high.(and I am half blind!) Think you are trying, and that is to be commended but are you sure you have the experience to deal with more rescues?

How did you get them from slaughter?

 

[TessieL]

She is very prone to laminitis but I have an excellent vet, who has never once said that she should be put down, and I think he is the one who would know. He has told me when to exercise her and when to rest her. I obviously did not notice it that day. I should have noticed.
The grey was not and is not lame. Thank you to the people who can see that I am trying to do a good thing.

 

[Skhosu]

Does the video show you riding the grey at all? I may have missed it but I didn't think it did..
Any recent pics OOI.
Are these the only two so far?

 

[TessieL]

[ QUOTE ]
Does the video show you riding the grey at all? I may have missed it but I didn't think it did..
Any recent pics OOI.
Are these the only two so far?

[/ QUOTE ]
No the video doesn't show me riding the grey pony as he wasn't broken in at the time. We are actually not about taking on ponies into a sanctuary as we would have to have land to do that, working on it but it may take about a century of fund-raising! What we are doing is matching foster homes and forever homes with horses in need. The horses are based all around the UK. So these two are the reason behind why I set it up in the first place.
Thank you !

 

[Skhosu]

that's what I thought...so why did people comment that the grey looks lame???!

 

[TessieL]

[ QUOTE ]
that's what I thought...so why did people comment that the grey looks lame???!

[/ QUOTE ]
I really don't know xx

 

[dingle12]

i never said the grey just the other pony i dont think the grey looks lame at all, all i said is some horses and ponies that end up at the slaughter house should be there.

 

[Skhosu]

'some horses and ponies that end up at the slaughter house should be there. '
shall have to disagree with that..........
anyway, isn;t it nice someone is trying to help.
nice looking ponies, any more pics/videos?

 

[siennamum]

There's a field near me in Bristol where herds of hill ponies go prior to slaughter. I do think that at least they get a few weeks of lush grass but still feel sad driving past. I also want to go and have a nosey as I'm sure there are lots of animals which were pets & have come to a hard end (quite what I'd do then is a mystery

)
Your palomino pony looks a good age, very steady though could be ideal as a safe PC pony. Absolutely love the grey pony, how old is he/she now.
Well done for making the efort, sort of thing I would love to do if I had the time and money I'd have acres & acres of hopeless cases

 

[Rambo]

I think there are too many people being far too hard on the OP here...

Neither of these ponies looks mistreated, or particularly lame to me. The palomino perhaps has a slightly choppy stride at times and a high head carriage. Both of these could be symptomatic of stiffness through the back, but neither pony is exactly hopping lame is it

Give the OP a break...not everyone believes that horses should just be ridden and if they can't be they should be shot

 

[sojeph]

Must be losing my touch but I don't see a lame pony. I see a pony going round with his head up in the air and with a choppy stride which can make them look odd . Watching the pony from behind - his bum and tail are swaying from side to side in quite a relaxed manner. No, I just don't see it

Two very lucky ponies IMO.

 

[Agent XXX999]

Um – that horse is definitely lame and there is a bit of the grey walking and to me it looks lame, though it is hard to tell, but I would look twice if it was mine. She has also said he was lame!

I have at no point said that un rideable horses should be shot. What I did say was there are reasons for people having horses PTS (you see it on here all the time!), and if there is no emotional attachment (such as if they have come from a dealer) to the horse they often end up in the slaughter house. I hate the thought of it but its life and it is not going to stop! I also said lame ones should not be ridden (unless of course advised to by a vet, though I have never heard of a vet suggesting that a horse gets ridden with lami)

I also questioned TessieL’s ability to handle ‘rescue cases’ because of what I have seen and merely pointed out that if she cant notice lameness how does she expect to have the experience to handle other rescue cases, or know that the ones she re homes are in the right place…

I know everyone is jumping to her defence but I really do feel like I have to put my point across! I never said that the horses looked poor or unloved, or that she was doing the wrong thing.

Rambo, are you forgetting that a

slightly choppy stride

Can indicate all sorts of underlying problems in the feet and legs, such as navicular? Twinned with high head carriage and the fact the pony is lame in front and behind – and considering where it came from – I would say that the pony had issues.

My first pony died two years ago (from a broken leg, ironically) at the grand old age of 38 so I am not a heartless cow! I also broke a horse in for a man who bought him from our local slaughter house as a 3.5 year old – the horse passed a 5* vetting prior to arrival and IMO did not have a reason for being there – so I know that there are exceptions…but I would advise anyone thinking of going down the ‘rescue route’ to have a vetting – at least then you know what the problems are, and can asses whether you can afford to manage them (not just in a financial state, in a physical one too)

I also said in my first post that I think it is great what she is doing – she just needs to be doing it for the right reasons and be confident that she has the experience and knowledge behind her otherwise there is bound to be problems which might be detrimental to the horses involved – which would completely contradict her intentions.

 

[siennamum]

You wouldn't want to see my sons charging around the place on my aged pony then, she has chronic fused spavins in both hocks, and some serious sacro illiac issues.
Doesn't stop her loving her work and being a wonderful 1st pony, she's probably the most energetic thing in our field. Would hate to think of her being consigned to a slaughter house, she's given 25 odd years of loyal service and taught countless small children to ride, she deserves a life of luxury & comfort till she doesn't want to get out of bed in the mornings.
If someone saw a pony like her at the sales, I would like to think they might rescue her and give her a few years of comfort, sound or not.