Newsletter No 72 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.sponsorapony.co.uk Open to visitors; May/Oct=Sunday 11am – 4pm. Weekdays 10am – 2pm. Closed Saturdays Nov/April= by appointment, www.visitpitponies.co.uk 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
Some volunteers for a day. A very, very, wet day. 9 Gentlemen and one Lady B-sky-B engineers came to help the ponies. Top left; many hands shifting stone into the Dumper. Top right; Stopped for lunch. Bottom left; picking up stone off the track. Bottom right; colourful vans. They also did some painting & creosoting inside, out of the rain. Nice folks who worked hard and did some good work for the Ponies. Many thanks’ Boys & Girl.
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It is with great sadness that we have to inform you of the death of Beauty. She had been here for many years and we will all miss the tired old Pit Pony that she was. Beauty had a very harsh life and has struggled for some time with arthritis in her knees etc. Regular pain relief kept her comfortable for a while. Beauty died here at the Centre without fear, pain or distress. If she could we are sure she would have thanked you for your support in her old age and kindness to provide her retirement and continual TLC at the centre. She had a good retirement with love and kindness from people and her two special four legged friends Blackie & Dylan.
Top; Beauty enjoying her freedom on the high summer pastures at the Centre. Bottom Left; Beauty and Blackie who adored her. Bottom right; pictured in the spring grass. Beauty and Dylan who took over after Blackie passed away and became her constant companion.
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Sadly we also lost Bren recently. He is pictured here at his best escaping across the pond. Prone to laminitis we had to keep him off the best grass. Bren had other ideas and kept us on our toes. He passed away free from pain & fear at the centre. Inset is Bren & Jake in the snow.
Plans have been submitted for new small private coal mine on farmland in the Afan Valley. The application is for a small private, licensed mine on land just west of Penhydd Waelod Farm. The application has been submitted to Neath Port Talbot Council by Rhys Jeffreys, who is applying for the exploration of an existing airway from old mine workings leading to coal mine development. If given the go-ahead, we will have to wait to see what sort of transport underground he plans to use. The applicant is known to us and has been involved with the use of Horse underground before. Grand Bonfire Night Draw raised a magnificent ÂŁ3210:00 for the ponies. 1st Prize; Barbara Bruce of Dorset who kindly donated her prize to the ponies. 2nd Prize; Mr Phillips of Bournemouth who donated it back to the ponies. 3rd prize; Mrs Gilpin of Luton who also kindly donated her prize to the ponies. Well done & huge thank you all who took part and especially all who sold tickets for the Ponies.
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We managed a little break in Portugal last September. We were disgusted to see the poor bodily condition some horses were seen to be in some areas of the Algarve. We saw gypsy families on the move with their families and
horses. The Ex-pats Newspaper website; www.portugalresident.com/“skeletalhorse”-scandal-hits-lagoa-again reports with distressing pictures and a media view of what’s going on. Trying to get help for horses in a country whose national sport is Bull-fighting is going to be very difficult. The poster shows a Bull in full charge at a horse. There is an active “Stop Bullfighting campaign in Portugal and many tourists are aware of the cruelty and won’t go to a country with such cruel traditions. Rumour has it that the Portuguese don’t kill the Bull in their Bull-Fights. Bloody images on the web say differently. We learned a lot from our attempts to get the use of Pit Ponies banned. We tried to help whilst there and hope to use some of that knowledge to get some serious help for the horses. We were kindly donated the week’s use of a wooden hut at Cardiff’s Christmas Market at the end of November. It was a good flag waving spot in Cardiff. Sadly the weather wasn’t very kind to us with a lot of rain & wind. We raised a little money and met some really nice people. It was predominantly craft stalls so we tried to blend in. We had the decorated horseshoes, some pictures, jewellery and a few toys. The organisers seemed quite pleased with the appearance of our little hut. They insist on hand crafted items so we struggle to please.
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Meet Bella our latest arrival. She was found wandering in traffic on the main road in Cardiff and was seized by the Council. Not microchipped and no-one came forward to claim her. She is 20+ years old, quiet with stable manners but very traumatised by her ordeal. Pictured right, she is meeting the herd over the fence for the first time. She is slowly settling into her new life here but its taking time as her nature is very timid. It feels like some-one had her as a machine for many years then cast her aside when she needed help. Her knee is swollen so were keeping an eye on it. We have taken the old leaky roof off 1 & 2 stables and are building up the walls a metre or so to create another hay store/stables. Having hay stored at the top of the yard will make life much easier as to take it downhill to all the hay-racks is much easier than carrying it all uphill. Oh for a flatter Farm!
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Dylan went very quiet after Beauty passed away. For several weeks he was moping around on his own not grazing and obviously lost without his beautiful lady friend. He seems to have come to terms with it now. As a Pit Pony and a slave to man they have to get used to the comings and goings of friends underground who get injured, sold or die. They had been so close. It was beautiful to watch them together. He had been used to the opposite stable but after a few days he has adopted hers as his own. His stable manners are identical and he even dungs in exactly the same place as Beauty did. He is absolutely fine now. Lady looks so much better now. All her sores and bald patches have long gone. Almost two years with us and she has calmed and found her place
in the pecking order. Sadly right at the very bottom. She has no confidence with the other members of the herd and is intimidated by even the tiniest of the ponies. She is rugged up most days to protect her from the cold & rain. We are sure she appreciates her home here and would thank you all for your support if she could. Over the years we have had many groups come to do voluntary work here. Team days are a regular part of many companies these days. Perhaps you know of a company who might like to come and help themselves and the ponies.
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The folks of Collinsville have raised money to commemorate the work of Pit Ponies in the industrial history of their town & area of Australia. Their website http://pitponyexperience.com.au/ explains their feelings and actions to bring this about. The Pit Pony Experience project is a community driven idea designed to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the last working pit ponies in Australia. Retired from the Collinsville Coal Mine in 1990, Wharrier and Mr Ed were much loved workmates and members of the community. On the 28th of November, with the support of the Collinsville community, unveiled a life-size, bronze, pit pony statue, situated in the centre of the town. Built by the community, through a fundraising effort lasting 60 days, and collecting $190,500, ( £90,267.07) the Pit Pony Experience not only honours the lives of the pit ponies, it recognizes the strength that lies within small communities, to rise and forge ahead despite all the odds. This comment is taken from their website.
”Della the Pit Pony We received a lovely email this week from Russell Buckley describing the horse in one of our favorite images: Dear Sue, Thank you for the email with the links and photos, what a collection! The black and white photo of the grey mare on the cover page of the Pit Pony Experience, has anybody given you the name of the horse? I think it is probably one of the two grey mares from the State Mine Dacon. I am pretty sure it is “Della”. She was an amazing mare, when we were bringing the machinery out of the State Mine No1 Mine, the machinery was parked in the brick tunnel entrance for a distance of about 100 yards with very little room even for me to get past and I was pretty skinny then, we had to pull all the trailing cables up from behind the machines. After it was decided that we would have to do it by hand. Richie Torkington said he could get Della past the machines. He went in front of her facing her, her telling her how good she was, and even though it was tight she could get through, just take your time he said. Well, she put her hooves one behind the other in a straight line, sucked her ribs in and slowly wriggled her way through. Another example of the horse’s intelligence and something that you never forget.” We can’t but wonder what the Pit Ponies memories are of their work and treatment? We would like to welcome some new supporters from Outrage Magazine that goes to the supporters of AnimalAid.
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Donations have recently been received in memory of; Mrs D Mogridge’s sister Madge,
oO-0-Oo Mrs Jennie Lamont’s skewbald ponies. Peter & Betsy
Mrs Katie Mills sent some stamps for the ponies and wrote; I have a photo of my Grandpa and one of his horses. I met Merlin when he came up from the pit in 1953 I think. Thank you all who sent Jewellery, fountain pens DVD’s, stamps and bric a brac for the ponies. It all helps to pay the Ponies Feed, Vets & Farrier bills.
A little teatime taste of Wales. Carmarthen Yeast Cake Teisen Furum Caerfyrddin A rich, yeasted cake normally baked in a loaf tin. 8oz Flour 3oz Caster Sugar 1 level tea spoon mixed spice 1 Egg 4oz Currants, ¼ oz Dried Yeast 5 Fl oz Milk
3 oz Butter Pinch of salt 1 table spoon golden syrup 4oz Sultanas, ½ tea spoon Bicarbonate of Soda.
In a medium size mixing bowl sift together the flour, spice, salt. Stir in the dried fruit. In another bowl beat together the Butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Then add the syrup and egg and combine very, very well. Warm the milk and divide into two. Stir the yeast in one half of the milk and leave until frothy. Stir the Bi-carbonate of soda into the rest of the milk. Add both milk mixtures to the butter mixture and beat well. Fold in the flour mixture and mix to form beautiful soft dough. Place in a greased 2lb loaf tin cover with a tea cloth and leave to rise in a warm place until it doubles in size. After 30 minutes or so set oven to 400F Gas mark 6 and bake for 90 minutes. Cover top with foil if browning too soon. Glaze with a little milk whist still warm. Turn out to cool. Serve with lashings of hot tea and enjoy your little taste of Wales. Mwynhewch y pryd! (Enjoy your meal)
Supermarkets often have opportunities to help small Charities like ours.
See if yours
has a Community fund or similar and please ask for the Ponies. Travel News The good hotel guide 2016 contains details of dog friendly hotels. Apparently 24 million homes have a dog to consider when booking a holiday. Available on-line at http://www.goodhotelguide.com/ or from book stores. Please remember to book your holiday through or any other on-line purchases at http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/pitpony/ so the ponies benefit also. Its free to you! Any concerns ring Roy for a chat on 07798584735.
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