Bessie and her companion Bobby lived on a caravan site and were brought to our attention by a supporter, who negotiated with her owner for both ponies to come to Hope Pastures.

Bobby arrived first and he was shockingly thin, full of worms and lice, with a matted coat and

was very depressed. Bessie arrived the next day. Hope Pastures didn’t have a horsebox at the time, so her previous keeper dropped her off in a transit van. He opened the back doors

and there was Bessie, squeezed in by the back seats and tins of paint and rubbish – just another ‘piece of cargo’.

Bobby’s face lit up when he saw Bessie and the team realised that

they were closely bonded after suffering so much together.

Bessie’s condition was even worse than Bobby’s. She, too, was full of worms and lice but

she was so severely malnourished that our yard team could see and feel every bone, and

her upper legs and tummy were hot, bald and raw with urine burns.

She was withdrawn,

anaemic and incredibly hungry and thirsty. On thorough examination, both ponies were also

found to have infections in all four hooves. The rehabilitation task began – both physical,

which takes months when an animal is in the state Bessie was, and mental, which is often

the most difficult for abused animals. The ponies were with us at Hope Pastures for 6 months and were fostered with one of our vets for a further 6 months, before being re-homed with Sophie and Danny.

They’re now rising 5 and are learning the ropes of being long reined and lightly backed and are part of the family. In 2016 they travelled down to the NEC to attend the BETA International equestrian trade show, where they were impeccably behaved, despite never having been in a (very scary) situation such as this before. Bobby and Bessie are fantastic rescue examples, showing how even animals which have been so badly neglected and abused can learn to trust humans again and have a full and enriched life.