by Dartmoor Pony Training Centre
For
everyone who has expressed an interest, here is the list of ponies that
are most urgently needing homes. Here are the most important things
you need to know, PLEASE READ ALL OF THIS INFO BEFORE GETTING IN TOUCH, THANK YOU!
These
are totally un-handled Dartmoor Hill Ponies straight off of the moor.
Older ponies especially are not a job for novices, and even experienced
horse people, if you havn't worked with un-touched ponies before, should
really buy this excellent book by Sarah Weston, No fear, no force.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/No-Fear-Force-Handling-Semi-feral/dp/1870192893
We
are a small, completely volunteer run, organisation who rescue and
rehome ponies here on Dartmoor, we have children and jobs so please be
patient in waiting for a response.
These ponies will make
anywhere from 11hh to 13hh, obviously because we cannot know the exact
age of foals it can be hard to tell the small from the young, we cannot
gaurantee the final size of any pony because we are not psychic lol!
The
foals are born out on the moor in approximately May, but obviously
there is no way to gaurantee an exact age, they will mostly be about 6
months old.
We are acting as go betweens to enable farmers to
re-home ponies directly from the farm, we do not have the facitlities or
money to take in any other ponies at the present time so feel this is
the best use of our resources.
The ponies will cost £50 each to
cover the cost of microchipping, passport and vet call out. We arrange
this and get it all done.
Ponies are reserved on a first come
first served basis to avoid any ponies getting left behind if someone
backs out, all payments are non refundable. We will provide you with
the charity bank account number so that the money for ponies can be
transferred directly to the account we pay the vet from.
You will
need to organise and pay for your own transport from near Widdecombe on
Dartmoor. Their are several good local transporters who are
experienced with these ponies and do excellent rates, nationwide, for
shared loads. Paul at PC transport 07860 261144, and Brian at
Willhayes 01392 832466.
We
are aware that the situation here is far from ideal, but it is a very
complex and diffcult one for all involved. The zoo meat scheme takes
over 800 ponies, mostly
foals every year, it ensures that they have a humane end, on the farm,
with as little stress as possible, it is carried out by a skilled
professional and they do at least have a use as food for big cats. We
work with other groups to try and improve th problem in the long run,
but in the meantime we try to save as many as we possibly can. Keeping
the farmers on side and remaining non judgemental is vital to the
continuation of our work. We appreciate your understanding on this
point.
Having
said all of the above, Dartmoor hill ponies, if trained gently,
patiently and with understanding and love, will make the most amazing
friend for life, they can ride, drive, do agility, they can do
anything. They are calm and gentle and loving, healthy and hardy. They
will reward your good deed a thousand times over. So anyone
considering taking on one (or more lol) of these gorgeous ponies, THANK
YOU, they can't say it, so I'll say it for them xxx
1-First
is this lovely grey roan yearling filly, as you can see it would appear
she has had some handling lol! She is very friendly and tame, she will
make a very easy project for someone a bit less confident. RESERVED
2- Red bay yearling filly RESERVED
3-Mealy bay yearling colt.
RESERVED
4-Bright bay yearling filly.
RESERVED
5-Black colt foal with a star
RESERVED
6-Bright bay filly foal
RESERVED
7-Dark bay colt foal.
PROVISIONALLY RESERVED
8-Light
iron grey colt foal, appears totally sound now, so probably just pulled
something on his way in, one of the nicest and biggest of the bunch
HAPPILY RESERVED!
9-Iron grey filly foal, the one on the left obviously lol!
RESERVED
10-Iron grey/roan, with mealy muzzle, filly foal.
URGENTLY LOOKING FOR HOME
11-Dark iron grey, filly foal.
RESERVED - Soozi
12/13-Gorgeous pair of coloured colts! I have more pictures if anyone wants to see them.
BOTH PROVISIONALLY RESERVED
WARNING,
the following ponies only have until Thursday, so you may not want to
look at them if you are feeling a bit emotional. Thank you x
14-Bright bay mare, 12 ish, not sure of exact age, could be in foal, had lovely coloured foal this year.
RESERVED
15-Dark bay mare, 12 ish, not sure of exact age, could be in foal, had lovely coloured foal this year.
RESERVED
16-Looks
shouldn't matter, but this girl is very funny looking and has long
feet, she will hard to re-home :( she looks definitely in foal, she is
probably about 6 ish, she had a lovely dun skewbald foal who sold at
auction this year.
PROVISIONALLY RESERVED
17-Dapple
grey mare, about 11ish, may be in foal, but doesn't look it, she didn't
want to have her picture taken lol, she is behind the big white
stallion in front, couldn't get her head and body in the same shot, very
pretty but a bit of an escape artist apparently.
RESERVED
18/19
Older bay mare, 12 ish, probably in foal, needs work on her feet and
her filly foal, the one in the middle with the mealy muzzle. PROVISIONALLY RESERVED
RESERVED - KIM
20-
Last but not least, this stunning boy is a 5 year old Stallion. Please
read ALL of the following information VERY carefully before getting
touch. This boy, like all the others is a TOTALLY UN-TOUCHED feral
pony, who until last week was running free on the moor and has been
since his birth. We are arranging to have him castrated but this is
going to cost £130 which is a lot for us to afford on very limited
charity finds, so we would be VERY grateful if a prospective owner, or
any other kind souls could contribute towards this cost. We are
basically just two volunteers, we have jobs, I have two actually and 3
children and almost 30 ponies that we care for at our organisation. We
get no money for the work we do re-homing these herds and most of the
time we don't even get to cover the cost of our substantial diesel
bills. Our reward is seeing these ponies leaving for happy homes where
they have chance instead of in pile on the back of a meat wagon. Anyone
considering helping this lovely pony needs to have the facilities and
experience to deal with a mature feral pony who will still be thinking
and acting like a stallion for a while. The techniques we use, as
championed and taught by Sarah Weston in her "no fear, no force book"
can transform a pony like this safely, into a friend for life. But
subjected to any force or aggression, in even experienced hands, he could
easily become dangerous simply because he felt the need to defend
himself. So as you can see he needs a very special home, I'm sure there
is one out there waiting, could it be you ??
So there they all
are. This is just the first herd and the most urgent. Once these are
re-homed we will have another herd to find homes for, some of whom will
be halter trained and handled more. So please keep in touch. Thank you
so much for looking at the ponies, Sarah x Any queries, or to reserve a
pony please contact me at sarahedwardstooke@hotmail.com
