Little George is now free from strangles!

We have some fantastic news…

Little George has had a second clear test for strangles and Clifford continues to remain clear. The pair therefore no longer need to be isolated!

Treating George for his strangles has been tough. At the best of times strangles carriers are difficult to treat, but due to George’s tiny size, the procedures proved to be very fiddly! During his treatment he was also still very nervous of people, so we had to be very mindful of not increasing his fear through treatments. But through hard work and the expert knowledge of our team, little George and Clifford’s health and happiness is increasing every day they are with us at The Horse Trust.

Now that George’s need for treatment is over, we have been building positive associations with people, for both George and Clifford, so they can be relaxed for handling and get them settled into a long and happy life with us.

Recently, they have both come on leaps and bounds with their training and made progress to be proud of. When George first arrived and was very nervous, we kept a field safe headcollar on him, which are safer for horses to be turned out in all the time due to their breaking point. This meant we could catch George in a more sympathetic way, as he was so fearful. With a lot of hard work from the Knowledge & Skills team working on building positive associations, little George is now head collar free and can be caught to wear a normal headcollar! The little fella is also now ok to be touched all over and just the other day he picked up his front two legs when prompted.

Another way in which we approached George’s fearfulness was also placing him with just one main trainer, Grace, who worked with him for quite a while in order to give him predictability. This is because as humans the way in which we do everything will be slightly different to the next, so with George working with Grace only, he had learned the way she worked with him and knew what to expect, which gave him a lot of comfort. Through this process, George is now accepting other trainers, like Lucy, to work with him – which is great progress we’d say! He also waits at the gate and nickers to greet his trainers when he first sees them.

Clifford is also making similarly good progress to his buddy George with leading training, learning to park, he has been picking up his feet and has now started accepting being groomed. He’s still the best buddy a pony could ask for and both ponies rely on each other for company and comfort, through thick and thin.

We would like to thank all our supporters who generously donated toward our Winter Appeal, which has now helped to care for Balmoral, George and Clifford as a result of your help. If you would like to help us continue the work we do and you haven’t done so already, please consider a donation today. Every donation makes a difference, no matter the size.