On the morning of Saturday 21st April, Beauty, a miniature Shetland pony at HorseWorld gave birth to a beautiful filly foal.
Beauty was pregnant on arrival at the rescue centre last year. She was part of a group of 7 ponies signed over to the charity.
“We were called out by members of the public to attend a very poorly pony they had spotted from the footpath.” Said HorseWorld’s Vicky Greenslade “On arrival with the vet, it quickly became apparent that the owners weren’t coping well with their ponies and unfortunately the poorly pony didn’t make it.
“Most of the animals that we rescue have been abandoned, neglected or ill-treated. But in this case the owner was suffering ill health and the family were struggling to cope with so many ponies. Stallions had been running with the mares and breeding indiscriminately, so the problem was only going to get worse.
“The owner was extremely cooperative and clearly realised that the situation had gotten out of hand and they needed help. At this point HorseWorld stepped in with the offer of assistance and the owner willingly castrated the stallions and signed over ownership of the 7 ponies to the charity.”
Beauty was pregnancy tested on arrival and the test results came back negative however it soon became apparent that was not the case. Her pregnancy went without a hitch and she gave birth to her healthy filly foal on a warm spring morning. The foal was born just as HorseWorld were launching their Lottery so it was decided she would be called Lucky.
(You can find out more about HorseWorld’s weekly Lottery at www.horseworld.org.uk/lottery)
Two of the mares in the group were heavily pregnant at the time of rescue but Beauty was only in the early stages. One of the mares, Honey had her foal on 23rd September 2017, a filly who we named Bumble. The other, Megan had her filly foal on 1st October and she was named from suggestions people could write down and put in a box at the Open Day in October. The name chosen was Perdy after the Dalmatian in 101 Dalmatians as she is spotty.
The foals will stay with their mothers until they are at least 6 months old and then once weaned, both the mothers and foals will be looking for homes.
If you would like to donate towards their ongoing care, please see www.horseworld .org.uk or call 01275 832425 for how you can help.
