Shetland Pony Sweep Helps To Rehome Rescue Horse In Scotland
12 years ago
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Posted
16th March, 2012 17h50
World Horse Welfare Shetland pony Sweep has helped to rehome a horse called Silky who was brought into one of our centres as a foal in an extremely poor condition.
Silky arrived at our Belwade Rescue and Rehoming Centre in Aboyne, Aberdeenshire in January 2011 with her dam Rona. Both were exceptionally underweight, riddled with worms and covered in lice and rain scald.
To give both Rona and Silky a chance of survival, Silky was gradually weaned from her mum and slowly introduced to Sweep to keep her company. Unfortunately, after battling for two weeks Rona lost the ability to get up even with the help of staff at Belwade Farm. She was therefore put to sleep and a post mortem examination found that she was so infested with worms that the gut was badly damaged meaning she was unable to absorb the necessary nutrients and was consequently starving to death.
Silky, however, responded well to treatment and made firm friends with Sweep. In the space of less than six months Silky more than doubled in size and quickly grew in confidence. In January this year Silky was successfully rehomed as a youngster to a family in Aberdeenshire. Caroline Heard is Assistant Manager at Belwade Farm and said: “The transformation during her recovery was tremendous. When she was ready to be rehomed, Silky was unrecognisable from the poor foal which arrived in our care at the beginning of last year. Her character completely changed as initially she was very scared of humans but Sweep helped her to become a lot more sociable towards us.
“Sweep and Silky adored each other; they would groom one another and spent all of their time together in the field. Sweep allowed her to relax and therefore eat without worrying. This was extremely important as Silky was very underweight and we didn’t want her to be put off her food because she was unhappy.”
Sweep had previously been called into action to help another rescue horse called Polly in 2010. Polly arrived at Belwade Farm riddled with worms which had caused colic, and she had a nasty injury to one of her hind legs due to a barbed wire incident. Sweep once again befriended Polly and became an important ally as she restored Polly’s confidence and helped to give her the will to live while she was receiving vital veterinary treatment.
During this year’s Rehome a Horse month in March, World Horse Welfare is urging how important it is for people to consider rehoming one of our horses in order to free up space in our centres so we can continue to help more neglected and abused horses like Polly and Silky.
There are many benefits of rehoming one of our horses compared to buying, which include:
- You know exactly what you are getting - All of our horses are fully MOT’d and come with health records, microchip and passport. You also get a frank and fair assessment of the ability and temperament of the horse.
- Rehoming one horse helps another – When you take in a rescue horse, you help other horses by making space at our Rescue and Rehoming Centres.
- Feel-good factor of transforming the life of a horse – Rehoming one of our horses is an immensely rewarding experience.
- Our horses come with a safety net – We rehome a horse for life but in uncertain times it is reassuring to know that you can return the horse to us if your circumstances change or if your child outgrows it.
- A lifetime of advice and support – When you rehome one of our horses you have the full breadth of our 85 years of horse experience at your disposal.
All of the wonderful horses and ponies available for rehoming now can be viewed on the World Horse Welfare website at
www.worldhorsewelfare.org/rehomingMore from
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