There are many horses and ponies over the years that have really touched our hearts with their progress and one such success story is little Freckles.

In February 2013 Penny Ha’Penny was called to attend a sick horse in Sling Lane, Malvern. We attended within an hour of the call to be confronted with 11 horses starving and emaciated. Another welfare agency and Vets were called, one horse had to be carried away on a hoist as he was unable to walk due to being so weak (he passed away the following day) it was then granted that the worst cases would be removed by Penny Ha’Penny and the remaining five would be monitored by the other agency while still in the owner’s care.

We arranged transport for the five horses but unfortunately overnight another pony died of starvation. The remaining allocated four ponies were removed by Penny Ha’Penny and the Vet even followed the trailer back to our yard to ensure the very weak ponies survived the two mile journey. Freckles was one of these four. Freckles’ name was actually chosen by a local person after an appeal in the local paper. After the first weeks of being kept in the barn, fed on carefully monitored diets and exercise restricted to help their recovery, Freckles and her friends were finally allowed out into the fields in the day and put back in the barn at night.

After many more slow weeks of care and small regular feeds the ponies got stronger and their characters started to come out. Freckles gained weight and her coat became smooth and shiny.

Freckles was a really cheeky little pony and soon got the attention of a horse lover and owner who was looking for a project pony and companion for her own horse. Freckles was matched to the home as an ideal pony to learn and grow in the experienced home. Freckles started the next chapter of her life in a new and loving loan-home with all of her needs fulfilled. The loan home have supported her in her development and Freckles has since been trained to be ridden and has started jumping with her child rider.

One phone call changed this pony’s life, without PennyHa’Penny’s intervention she most certainly would have died and now she is a very happy pony in an incredibly loving home and will never be mistreated again.

N.B. Even under supervision of the other welfare organisation Freckles’ previous owner continued to neglect the remaining horses (two of which had foals) so Penny Ha’Penny had to once again step in and remove ALL of the remaining ponies, some still live with us and others have been re-homed and have success stories of their own.

https://www.malverngazette.co.uk/news/10325909.gazette-readers-name-rescue-horses-freckles-and-ceiriad/