Freda and Felix

Freda and her foal Felix arrived with us back in March this year. We couldn’t talk about them until now for legal reasons but it is now time to share their story with you.

Five year old Freda and her very nervous foal were rescued from a field in Hertfordshire, both seriously underweight and riddled with lice. Felix was still trying to suckle from his mum but she had no milk left for him as her body condition score was down to a 1 out of 5. Neither pony had been handled so both were very anxious when they arrived, because of this, even though Felix was old enough to leave his mother we felt they should remain together a little longer than usual.

Once they had slowly gained weight and confidence and lost their worms, lice and mites, it was time to separate them. Felix was maturing and Freda needed to be away from him.On leaving our Isolation unit, Freda went to a field with just mares to start with where Maggie took her under her wing.

Here’s Freda now, six months since her rescue from starvation, parasites and neglect, now almost a touch rotund instead of the bags of bones she was but that’s ok as its autumn now. She is also gained in confidence as well as weight. Whilst she still doesn’t like being caught and gives the grooms a good run around, once she’s on a lead rope she’s getting more trusting and friendly by the day and when in a stable she even gives kisses if you are very lucky. Freda is in a mixed field now, happy and healthy.

We then sent young Domino down to buddy up with Felix before trying to introduce this very little youngster into the boys only field, this being where he had to be until we were legally allowed to geld him. Domino was an amazing big brother and after a couple of weeks he took his new sidekick in with the big boys and Felix was happy straight away. Uncle Ganny added him to his group of youngsters and now Felix is often seen with Ganny, Jenga, Domino and of course, Teddy!

Once again sadly, even though the agencies involved knew exactly who had owned and neglected them so cruelly, this simply could not be proved so no-one will be punished. The EU has just voted to introduce mandatory equine databases, now we as an equine sector must press for all horses to be micro-chipped and registered to a current owner. The Horse Trust Chairs the Sector Council and we are working very hard with colleagues from all parts of the horse world to get this ID disaster sorted once and for all.

If you would like to help us  care for Freda, Felix and all of our rescued horses, ponies and donkeys you can make a small donation here.