Newsletter No 65 Fforest Uchaf Farm. Maindy Road, (Maendy) Penycoedcae, Pontypridd. R.C.T, Wales. UK. CF37 1PS Tel; 01443 480327 info@pitponies.co.uk www.pitponies.co.uk www.visitpitponies.co.uk www.sponsorapony.co.uk www.fosterapony.co.uk
Open to visitors; May/Oct=Sunday 11am – 4pm. Weekdays 10am – 2pm. Closed Saturdays Nov/April= by appointment, Adults £4:00 OAP/Children £2:00 or £10:00 per car. Groups/Schools/Clubs by appointment. Special needs visitors please telephone to discuss your needs.
NB All visitors. It is always advisable to telephone 01443 480327 or 07798584735 before you visit.
PROVIDING TENDER LOVING CARE TO NEEDY HORSES & PONIES
Queenie/Darcy arrived recently. Thrown out with the other rubbish from a busy City Centre . She was picked up by the animal wardens and taken to a holding pen for the statutory period. Very skinny and her mane & tail were thick with thistle burrs that had probably been there since last summer. With Councils a date is soon set to meet the knackerman and there is little room for compassion. All the abandoned Horses & Ponies that end up
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in the Councils hands and are not claimed within the statutory period get put down. It is a very sad business but together over breeding at the bottom end of the Horse market, changes in the economy and passport regulations have brought this about. Last winter was particularly difficult. We have tried to help as much as possible. At least Winston, The wild bunch of seven littlies, Bonnie + Puzzle and Queenie/Darcy are safe. The name we gave her on arrival was Darcy. However with her previous gypsy connections we have decided to give her the old Gypsy name of Queenie. What do you think? She is very timid but really sweet once she trusts. I am sure the others have already whispered to her that she is safe here as she is becoming quite friendly when we take visitors out or go out in the pastures to work. As with all the new arrivals we isolate for a short while and treat them for external & internal parasites. The outpouring of several species of parasitic worms from little Queenie was immediate and dramatic. Whilst we know they are not a pretty site we thought you would like to see what ÂŁ10 worth of proper wormer can remove. The white strangles are easily seen here but trust us when we tell you that if you could see this in full colour you would see dozens of small red worms also. The outpouring went on for days and the effect on her was equally immediate and she obviously felt a lot better & stronger for losing them. A few sessions with Patricia the Student Horse Hairdresser has improved her coat and she now looks really good. She is still quite thin and her long fluffy coat is hiding her sticky out ribs.
Bonnie arrived on 15th April. Apparently found by the Police when they stopped a lorry. She was shut in the back with other Horses & Ponies and it is suspected she could have been there for up to Bonnie & Puzzle amongst the Daisies.
Queenie who was very down in the mouth & listless when she came. Worming her properly showed why!
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two weeks. The driver/owner was arrested. She was discovered up to her knees in mess, desperately thirsty and hungry. Obviously very pregnant she was brought to us. Pictured top left she is having her first of many small
feeds as we are trying to get some goodness in her system with concern for the unborn foal. We managed to feed her up and get her looking much better. We handled her enough that if she was having problems with her labour we could intervene. It has been an anxious wait for the arrival. However she had her perfect foal on 4th May. He is such a cutie. We have called him “Puzzle� She has a little field all to herself and a nice dry shelter with a deep bed to have foaled in. It is lovely to see her so proud and safe. He is strong and healthy. We have, apart from continuing the feeding, left her and Puzzle alone. Soon we will begin to handle them both. Gallery
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Arnie showing he is not going to be too easy to school for riding. People like his colour but it is going to be a special home for him as he is a real panicker. Sapphire (One of the seven littlies from the Cemetery) & Patricia meeting visitors,
Spice all rugged up and treated for her Sweet Itch problem for the summer. Hopefully she will be a bit easier to keep rugged & treated this year. Spice has a real knack for destroying her rugs & face masks.
January Icicles hanging from the gutter. Gallery
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The Yesterday-Today-Forever stature overlooking the Scotwood Bridge in Newcastle. A tribute to coal miners & their ponies.
Lots of broods of Hens & Chicks this year.
Do you remember imagining as a child?
A six year old girl (Maddie), a rocking horse, a dog food bowl for a hat and a sunny day? What is she imagining?
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Jake & Winston soon made friends. They are pictured here back in the winter playing over the fence, quite soon after Winston’s arrival. It seems they have something else in common. Both ponies make an absolute mess of their stable beds. They are bedded down on Barley straw with added wood shavings when it’s very wet outside. Both of them make a proper job of digging the beds over and scatter the bedding in all directions. Each morning Angela has to re-make their beds completely. They are the only two ponies that do this. Why is a mystery? Give a car is still working well for the ponies and we have had further donations since your last newsletter. Please keep telling your friends, neighbours work colleagues etc. It seems to be one of those schemes were everyone wins. Users say it’s easy to use and no hassle. It’s good for the environment as items are properly dealt with and of course the real winners are the Ponies. Let us know if you want or need any flyers or posters.
Give as you live is a free to use system where those of you who shop on-line can register at http://www.giveasyoulive.com/ and sign up it’s totally free to use. It’s totally secure. It only takes seconds to get started. It’s a search engine but when you find what you were looking for from the 2,000+ stores and click through to shop. The ponies get a small commission from the store and you get your item at the right price.
Used stamps income is quietly rolling in and working for the Ponies.
Thank you all who are saving them and all who have already sent some to: The Pit Pony Sanctuary C/o Fords Farm, Horsey, Norfolk. NR29 2EL. Please stamps only! If you send anything else it has to be posted on to the Penycoedcae Centre.
New additions to the Sponsor scheme are Rocket the lonely little one-eyed grey pony from Porth. Geraldine one of the seven little ponies dumped in a Cemetery in Wales. She was the one with the damaged eye. She has been called Geraldine in memory of a dear lady Geraldine Cadogan who died recently and remembered the Ponies in her will. Jake enjoying the sunshine. Summer Shows we have committed to go to Roath Park Festival on 6th July, Better 4 Business at London’s Olympia on 9th & 10th July. These are both donated sites by the organisers and we thank
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them. We are looking at more possibilities and will let you know. If any of you live nearby we hope to see you. Anyone want to help?
Donations have recently been received in memory of; Dawn Aubrey Ward, Geraldine Cadogan, Mr J A Sims Mrs Sheila Jewett, Miss Margaret Claric, Peggy Maxwell, Mrs Pamela Edwards, Mrs Blower, Mr Norman G Long, Mrs Ivy D Lyne, oO-0-Oo Miss C A Roche’s pony Polly,
Letters from Friends of the Ponies. N.B, Not our words, thoughts or opinions and printed as written warts & all.
Martyn from Bristol wrote, I heard about you in the Best of British magazine and am enclosing a one off donation. I was born and raised in Cwmtillery 100yards from Cwmtillery Colliery. We used to have pastures on our hillside-fields that provided enough grass and troughs of water. All the Monmouthshire pit horses & ponies during the summer miners holiday came there. As a gang of boys we were up the “farm fields” where the horses were to make affinity with them every day, after them being the other 50 weeks of the year continuously underground. As I am from a mining community I thought it only right to donate to you my cheque for all the use at haulage that the animals were sent to do. Their welfare is now becoming a reality. Many thanks for setting up a dedication to such animals. #
A Vale of Glamorgan horse trader who has hundreds of Gypsy Cob ponies has been found guilty of 57 animal welfare and cruelty charges. Tom Price, 48, from Wick, was convicted of causing unnecessary suffering to 18 horses by magistrates in Cardiff. The animals were found at five different south Wales locations, including 12 apparently "left to die" in a Bridgend barn. He will be sentenced in July, following the RSPCA prosecution. Two of his sons, Thomas Hope Price and Tony John Price will also be sentenced on the same day. At earlier hearings, Thomas Price admitted 42 charges, including causing suffering to 18 horses, while Tony Price admitted two allegations of failing to meet welfare needs. Their father, Tom Price, was the director of Glamorgan Horse Traders, which deals with horses across the UK, Europe and the US. The RSPCA, which brought the cases against the Prices, estimate they may have as many as 2,500 Gypsy Cob ponies. "These particular horses were suffering or their needs were not being met but there are hundreds of other horses across Wales and England which may not be suffering but are just being left to illegally graze and indiscriminately breed. It really is a massive problem that we struggle to deal with day after day. In November last year, Price senior was handed an anti-social behaviour order to prevent his Horses fly-grazing and wandering onto roads in the Vale of Glamorgan. He was also banned from selling or transferring ownership of a horse if his ownership details were out of date. All three members of the Price family were given bail, and will be sentenced at Cardiff Magistrates Court on 5 July.
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