News

Gladys a Crawcwellt pony, another wild herd based in Trawsfynydd, North Wales. Just a few days old she was found by a local farmer, alone and trying to suckle on a telegraph pole. The farmer and his partner took her back to the herd, in hope of finding mum, but sadly we’re unsuccessful and the stallion of the herd attacked her, so as it wasn’t safe to leave her there, they took her home and contacted Gareth Wyn Jones of the Carneddau Pony Society to ask for help.

Gareth contacted Jackie Williams who we work with, to support the welfare of any Carneddau ponies who become injured or poorly and Amy and Jackie chatted about her best options, which resulted in us making the trip to collect her, so she could be seen by our wonderful Vet, Luke, have her IGG tested to check she had colostrum on board and take it from there.

The results were borderline, but certainly not concerning coupled with a very bright and bouncy foal. So she is now home and drinking her milk replacer very well indeed, in fact she even threw her little bucket at Amy this afternoon, wanting more milk. We look forward to introducing her to China, once China is well enough. As always, we appreciate any donations toward the care of the babies, you can donate via PayPal, bank transfer or direct to the awesome Philip Leverhulme Equine Hospital for Chinas ongoing intensive care.

PayPal: horsesensewirral@yahoo.com

BANK: Horse Sense Wirral Sort: 161614 Account: 10375919

VET: call: 01517946041 and ask to make a payment towards the Horse Sense Wirral account for China’s care.

Thank you so much for your ongoing support

• 

• 

• 

• 

Monday morning 3rd May 2021, Amy received a message, that a Carneddau foal, had become unwell, the Carneddau volunteer vet Ellie, had checked her over and found her to be very dehydrated and scouring, so we headed straight down to collect her and mum. Now named China and India, thanks to a comment on one of Gareths posts, that we should “drive carefully, bone China on board”

Our lovely vet Helen was here as soon as we arrived and on investigation, confirmed that China was very dehydrated, due to India looking like she has milk, but not actually producing it for baby to drink, tests confirmed that at 2 weeks old, China has received no colostrum and clearly India was drying up. Helen gave China a plasma transfusion, which was repeated in the next morning too. She also tubed mares milk replacer directly into her tummy and administered antibiotics. Baby China was soon quietly resting under a heat lamp, in her new jarmas, warming up nicely.

We will hand rear China with mares milk replacer every 2 hours, but let mummy India still be mummy. She needs a lot of love, support, hopes and prayers, whilst we can do all this for her, there are no guarantees that she will pull through, so she needs everyone to cheer her on.

As always, we would really appreciate any financial contributions, towards her veterinary care (plasma transfusions aren’t cheap) and her milk (£50 a bag ), every penny really does help Bank and PayPal details on Donation page or just giving button on Home page xx

Yesterday afternoon, a walker found a new born foal in distress up on the Carneddau Mountains. As I’ve mentioned before, with such a vast area to cover, these walkers play a very important role in highlighting issues they may see, the gentleman in question contacted his daughter to raise the alarm and stayed with the foal “Bella”, until help arrived. One of the Carneddau guardians raced up to collect Bella and brought her to his farm, as the lovely Jackie (also a rescue) raced over from Anglesey with Mares milk replacer. Jackie and I spoke back and fourth on the phone while she was on route and sourced advice from our super Vet Luke, who also has a personal involvement with these ponies and the decision was made, given her age and condition, that she would need to come up here for a blood plasma transfusion and colostrum. With huge thank you to Mustang Equine Transport, they went and collected her and got her to us. On arrival her condition had deteriorated and our lovely vet Helen, who was the on call vet last night, was immediately called, as we set about warming Bella up.(The attached photo is when she first arrived, not much bigger than a lamb and very cold, in a stable, covered in rugs, hot water bottles and our lovely Paul using his body heat, whilst Alison held her hand. She was moved to the kitchen, on a bed of rugs, with the heater on)Helens findings where that she was very premature, hypothermic (to the point her temperature was too low to record) and extremely dehydrated, but at that point her heart rate and blood pressure were holding there own, so a 3 hour long battle to save her life commenced. In the afternoon, our lovely Clues and Arrowes (pictured), had donated blood, ready for a plasma transfusion, however, on arrival Bella was too poorly to withstand a transfusion, so Helen set about getting warmed IV fluids into her and tried to pass a tube directly into her stomach to get colostrum in to her, however, Little Bella continued to deteriorated. Her heart rate dropped to less than half what it should be, her blood pressure dropped and she started to gasp, Helen believed that we were battling something else too, likely Sepsis and we had to make the kindest decision to let her go. Whilst this is a devastating outcome for all involved, it was a much better outcome than dying alone and cold on the mountains and that’s thanks to a whole team of amazing people, walkers, guardians, vets, volunteers, transporters, we cant thank everyone enough, for their efforts. Sadly, unlike humans, premature foals generally don’t have a good outcome, but we all did everything we could to give her a chance

We are so sad to report, that after 11 days of progressing and doing so well, our Little Lucille collapsed Monday afternoon and no longer had any fight left in her, shortly after, she started to experience seizures and we had no choice but to end her suffering. This beautiful little pony grabbed the hearts of everyone who met her and will be terribly missed.

Little Heather arrived with us last night, the Carneddau guardians battled the extreme weather to get her off the mountains, after a walker spotted her looking poorly and poorly she is. Photos don’t do justice to how tiny this little lady is, although she is actually older than she looks, she is very thin and has a nasty skin infection, having been battling such a harsh Winter, on initial examinations she has deformities to her body and all 4 legs, along with bilateral locking patellas, so we think all her problems stem from these birth deformities making it even more of a difficult Winter, trying to get around. She is very weak, but full of spirit, was seen by the vet last night on arrival and again tonight after a little fall, she has started with her medicated baths today to sort her poorly skin out, she’s a proper little cutey.

Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers, as always if you can afford to make a donation towards her care, please do so, we cant help these ponies without you.

Introducing Lucille, Valerie and Gloria (continuing our Carneddau Mare, musical names)

We were contacted to say Gloria was poorly and on bringing her off the mountain, it was obvious her mum Valerie was underweight and needed support. One of the Carneddau volunteers had spotted Lucille down, unable to move. Gareth the Guardian was ready euthanise her, when she stood up. He decided if she could get off the mountain to his farm, she was worth a chance of help.

Gloria has locking patellas which would hinder her on the mountain, and Valerie we will run test, check teeth etc and feed her up.

Lucille is very poorly, she collapsed with exhaustion not long after arriving, so our vet Luke left her an hour to rest before taking bloods, giving her fluids to hydrate her and antibiotics. She is in one of our critical care stables and will have hourly checks day and night.

I would like to introduce you to Alice (in wonderland) and Annie (the sun will come out tomorrow). As you all know, we are committed to supporting the welfare of the Carneddau Mountain Ponies, who are all having a really good Winter so far, even with the snow challenges, but these 2 older ladies were spotted looking rather thin and weak, so their guardians made a plan, to get them off the mountain for us to collect and give them the extra care they need. Alice’s condition score is currently zero (minus her belly), but, as you can see from the photo, the cause is very evident, she has parrot mouth and with no equine dental technician’s in their wild home, her back teeth have grown in all sorts of directions until she can no longer chew. This is totally fixable, especially with our amazing Vet Luke, who is exceptional at dealing with these little Wildie’s, so she will be on the road to recovery very soon and Annie isn’t as poor, but as an older mare will likely need her teeth doing and a little MOT too.

Our beautiful, sweetheart, Mollie, suffered a heart attack, passing away instantly, having celebrated her 36th Birthday just a few days ago 

Not only are we devastated, but her husband, Nelson, is heart broken, licking her and nudging her for a while after  once he left her side we turned him out with one of their next door neighbours, where he settled, until the crematorium arrived and he has been shouting after her ever since, truly heart wrenching to see.

Mollie had a rough start in life and even 25 years in a good home before us had never completely healed her mental scars, but she had blossomed since arriving here and had a fabulous few months, we have loved every minute with her 

Big thank you to the team here at the time, also to our lovely vet, Luke, for being on the end of the phone and Whitley Brook Crematorium for their sympathetic treatment, as always xxx

NEW THIS CHRISTMASChristmas E-Vouchers, to purchase an item in someone’s name and we email you a voucher to print and pop in their Christmas card, to say a donation has been made in their name towards.

£5 hay donation £5 straw donation £8 shavings donation £10 food donation £15 food donation £20 farrier donation £30 straw donation £40 hay donation

The choice is yours Payment via PayPal, as friends and family, or ask for an alternative method. PayPal: horsesensewirral@yahoo.com Ref: E-Voucher (your chosen voucher)Please put your email address in notes, to receive your voucher to print, or recipients email address, if you want it sending direct.

VALE BALE – Who very kindly donated us 5 bales of their beautiful hay to try, via our supplier. Its come in very handy for a pony we have had to change management with, as his Equine Asthma is progressing, he also has a history of laminitis on haylage, but also of dropping weight if on soaked hay, these bales have been the perfect answer for us.

BRAVE PANTS – Who not only makes our beautiful rosettes at cost for our online shows, but are also donating the most beautiful trophies for our Christmas Bonanza Show.

IRBY PET SHOP – Who after being a victim of crime set up a Just Giving to raise money for our animals. Irby Pets are a small family run business, and been big supporters of ours for years. They don’t make huge profits, they just love animals and providing for the locals pets.

PETS AT HOME – Again, long standing supporters who donated a pallet of small animal suppliers to help us through the winter.

Due to limited hours in the office, I am getting a bit behind. Saffy and Royal both spent time in hospital and Cally was very poorly and treated at home in isolation, with 4/5 vet visits a day. Bumping our vet bills up considerably, we can’t thank Support Adoption for Pets enough for their support in giving us a £10,000 grant. This was to be split between vet and feed costs, and made a huge difference to us. However, we still have substantial bills for both with the 3 unexpected large bills for the poorly horses above.

This year is an ongoing struggle, with no events to fundraise. But we with our supporters help and thinking outside the box with online shows etc, have been able to give the same level of care to our animals. We are not known for taking the easy option or for turning our backs when needed. However, winter is here and lots of obstacles to overcome. There is a shortage of straw this year, and we are having to buy outside the area. This means we have to buy in bulk and with fund low, it is an ongoing battle. Everybody including our suppliers and their suppliers are battling to hang on to their businesses, putting in stricter terms and conditions which obviously has a knock on effect on us. Only 5% of our income is made up of monthly Standing Orders, which will give you some idea how hard our team works to bring in the rest of the 12k each month. We have outstanding support from our professionals (vets/farriers/dentist) etc, suppliers, our public followers, our volunteers and Trustees, who all donate on a regular basis to provide the love and care the animals deserve. If you would like to find ways to donate, please go to our “Donate” page. or we have a Just Giving button on the Home page. For regular updates we are on all the social media sites, but if you are not on them we have a monthly newsletter. This will help you stay up to date if I don’t get the time to do the website, just email HSWnewsletter@gmail.com to be added to the list. We are Wirral’s largest animal rescue, with every penny going to the welfare of the animals, no wages taken not even expenses. We want to survive this year, go forward and keep improving on what we do. We can only do this with your support and thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for helping us to help the animals. xx

November 1st we returned to the Carneddau Mountain ponies, for the gathering and health checks, all looking really good and ready for Winter accept 4 mares and some very young colts, who have come home with us. The mares were taken off due to poor condition, needing a bit more TLC. The colts too young to survive the harsh winter, and to prevent inter/over breeding. Due to Covid-19 the farmers were not allowed to have the usual numbers attend who would offer homes. A few of the colts have been adopted by the mares who had foals at foot. ANIMALS REALLY ARE AMAZING

Royal arrived with us 18th Sep 2020 after retiring from a successful racing career in the UK, Belgium and France aged 10yo.

Royal arrived as a stallion and was gelded a few days later. He has impeccable manners, a real gent. He will be given time to get over his op and settle before going out on loan, however he already has a waiting list to view him.

Raine arrived safely with us 4th Sept 2020, all the way from Kidderminster, thanks to Premier Equine Transport. Raine is only 6yo, but has a neurological issue that needs further investigation. Unfortunately her owner suffered a sad and sudden change in circumstances not long after purchasing her, leaving her with the worry of Raines future, given this unknown issue.After seeking advice from friends, it was ourselves who were recommended as the best place to cater for whatever life/treatment/management she requires, fortunately it is only a mild issue, so she can certainly live a very happy life as a companion, but if there is a solution to the problem, we certainly do whatever we can for her

• 

• 

Roma, named by his rescuers, as he was found “roaming”, is a rising 3yo, colt.

Roma is underweight, matted and crawling with lice, but as you can see also arrived with a huge abcess on his shoulder.

Our amazing vet Helen arrived shortly after he did, to drain his abcess and I’m sure he is feeling much better to be rid of what had obviously been there for months and months.

Roma will now receive all the care he needs to put his weight on, have a good groom and de-louse and be gelded as soon as possible, but most of all he will be showered with love and affection, he is a really sweet little boy.

Huge thank you to his rescuers for keeping him safe, to Helen for being on hand so quickly and our amazing Joel as always.

Please consider a donation towards Roma’s care, even £1 all adds up. Bank and PayPal details are below, but if you prefer to donate another way, please just ask. As always you can contact our supplier Stuart Jones and order him some feed, he is having conditiong cubes, fibre beet and chaff, or you can make a payment direct to Leahurst Equine Practice of you prefer.

Height: 17hh, Age: 4yo, Colour: Bay, Breed: Thoroughbred

Macumba arrived July 20, when he didn’t make the grade as a racehorse. He already had a loaner waiting for him, who covered all his costs. The race yard who wishes they could keep all their horses, want to do right by them and secure their future. By them being rehomed by us, they will never be sold on or fall in to the wrong hands. Macumba has gone to an exceptional home, where is loaner will take the time with him and spoil him rotten. The

We collected mother and Daughter, aged a minimum of 35yo and 25yo, last night, (15th July 2020) following the sad death of their owner. Their owner had purchased Mollie from a local horse market 25 years ago and got a surprise when Tilly came along, they had never left his property since.

As you can imagine strangers turning up and taking them away in a trailer would be stressful for them, but as we did everything slowly and quietly, they took it all in their strides and have settled well.

They have been very well cared for and Tilly is in amazing condition, however, Mollie, whilst not intentionally neglected by any means, has been lacking specialised geriatric care, so has a nice round grass belly, but is very thin along her top line and bum, she is also very lethargic, so has been placed under intensive care with us and has Tilly right next door where they can still reach each other and interact.

Our lovely Luke from Leahurst Equine Practice will be visiting Mollie tomorrow morning, to give her an MOT and run some blood tests. Both girls also need micro chipping and pass porting, we would really appreciate any financial help towards the girls care, we expect this initial outlay to total around £300, plus feed products for Mollie totals around £80 per week.

Clues is a beautiful 12yo, ex-pointer, only recently ex. He was taken into The Philip Leverhulme Equine Hospital on Monday for Colic surgery, but unfortunately due to personal circumstances his owner is no longer able to keep him post surgery and the sad decision was taken that he would need to be put to sleep, as no one would want to take on a horse immediately post colic surgery.

We received a call from Leahurst 2 days ago (11th Jun 2020) asking if we would be able to give this real gent of a horse a home, as we are experienced in post surgery care, this isn’t a put off to us and of course we were happy to help and agreed to take him on and following a couple more days in Hospital, we were able to bring him home this morning.

We will obviously be taking one day at a time, as he is still high risk of complications, but we hope that we will be able to get him thru his recovery and in a few months be able to start rehabilitating him to search for his forever home in his own time.

Chaos has arrived with us on 10th June 2020, we don’t know the full circumstances around him ending up without his mum, so won’t speculate, we just know he urgently needed somewhere safe to avoid the alternative. We estimate he is around 6 weeks old, so have started him on mares replacement milk, he is very, very nervous, but we will soon show him all the love in the world and gain his trust.

We want to say a huge thank you to those responsible for making him safe.

“Mitas” arrived at 4.30am this morning, after a very long trip from France. Mitas is an 11yo, former racehorse, very much loved by his whole family.

Sadly his family/trainers had a bad experience with rehoming, leaving them very worried about trying it again, but with out endless space or money, they cant possibly keep all of their retirees, although believe me, they would if they could, they spoil them rotten and really do love them like children.

So it was agreed that is was in Mitas’ best interest to come here for rehoming, where we can find the person who best suits him and protect him, with one of our permanent loan contracts, his trainers have made sure that they covered our initial lay out costs, by having him up to date with dentist, farrier, vaccinations etc.

He will be allowed ample time to settle in before the rehoming process starts, but we do have a long list of prospective loaners already, so wont be taking anymore enquiries at the moment, thank you ,

Little Missy arrived here today, after we responded to her owners call for help. Her owner had saved a group of ponies earlier this month, Little Missy included, the others weren’t too underweight and thrived under her care, however, Little Missy didn’t improve and this morning deteriorated and collapsed.

We attended expecting to find a pony who had given up and required euthanasia, however, she was bright, perky, eating and drinking, so we decided to bring her home and with the help of our very own Super Vet, Luke, get her on the road to recovery, with some careful nursing and fingers crossed she will pull thru with the love and attention of her new Horse Sense family. She is a cheeky little madam, who is full of attitude, which is really important to keep her going and she has had a 50 minute period of standing since arriving already.

Huge thank you to our amazing team for all coming to help lifting, unfortunately there was no socially distanced way to do this, but our team have been all taking extra precautions to stay safe, in order to be ready for emergencies like this and huge thank you to her owner for doing everything she could for her.

This is going to be a long road for her, with no expense spared on careful feeding and medical treatment and we need your help, to help her.

If you can donate towards her recovery costs, please give as much or as little as you can afford.

JUST GIVING – https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/hswlittlemissy

PAYPAL – horsesensewirral@yahoo.com

BANK – Sort – 161614 Account – 10375919

As you are all aware we closed to visitors some weeks ago, however, with the UK now in a Lockdown situation, we have had to implement further changes to how we operate, not only to fall in place with Government guidelines, but to keep our really amazing team of volunteers safe.

THE TEAM

Since the Prime Ministers public address last night, we have introduced our Lockdown contingency plan, to install a full time team of 8 people, caring for the residents, all of whom have been provided with documents explaining why their travel is necessary should they be stopped and checked. Each person has their own dedicated group of residents that only they will care for their daily needs, keeping well away from other team members at all times.

Shared surfaces and tools were already being disinfected between use, gloves, hand wash and hand gel already provided and being kept on top of.

LIVERIES

We have a small number of DIY grass liveries, to help us with funding. Some liveries have chosen to join the team caring for residents on a daily basis, others are staying away, while we will care for all horses on site, whether we own them or not, to keep everyone safe.

ROUND OF APPLAUSE

None of the volunteers have ever been full time here, 7 days a week and this is a huge undertaking for them, so we hope you will join us in acknowledging the effort and dedication shown by all of these unpaid heroes, for the benefit of the animals. Lots of people, understandably, want to avoid their paid jobs at the moment, never mind do it for free.

WELFARE CASES AND ADMISSIONS

At this time we will only be attending/admitting life threatened cases, in order to conform with necessary travel and also to not overload our awesome team, when making a report please be prepared to provide exact locations and photographic evidence, so we can correctly prioritise.

REHOMING OF ANIMALS

As we cannot perform home checks, no animals will be available for rehoming during this time, but interest may be registered for when we can get back to normal.

DONATIONS

Due to the travel ban, you are unable to drop off donations, or even cake for the team. However, now more than ever we need your support. Online deliveries are still taking place, if you would consider treating the small animals to treats and toys and the team to cakes and biscuits please.

Horsey supplies are a big concern, as our excellent supplier is already suffering shortages, we have several ponies who can’t eat hay/haylage/grass and therefore need their readi-grass, grass nuts, fibre beet and conditioning cubes. Shavings are also massively short in supply and we have several ponies who can only be stabled on shavings.

So we ask you please, to consider donating a bag of any of the above, by contacting our supplier Stuart Jones at Manor Farm Feed and Bedding in Greasby, directly to place and pay for an order and he will deliver directly to us, so we can make sure we have enough stock to get us through, should stocks completely run out.

FUNDRAISING

Due to the lockdown, we are unable to get out to events to fundraise for key funds, for rent, feed bills, vet bills, farrier etc etc. We haven’t cancelled our Open Day as of yet, but it will likely come, not only taking away a crucial fundraising opportunity, but meaning we have to refund stall holders.

We also have an Easter Bonus Ball going on with a £300 cash prize, that again, we will have to refund, if people don’t play on the rest of the numbers.

So please consider a monetary donation or play the Easter Bonus Ball to help keep us going, we really are the peoples charity here, we rely on you, to help us support you.

Bank sort: 161614 account: 10375919
PayPal: horsesensewirral@yahoo.com

ANNUAL ADOPTIONS

Due to our administrators working from home at the moment, we are not able to print Adoption Packs at this time.

COMMUNITY SUPPORT

As we will be very tied up here, we aren’t in a position to do as much in the community as we would like, however, we will endeavour to post lots of photos and videos on facebook for those of you locked indoors, to make your days a little brighter.

THANK YOU

Massive thank you to all of our supporters, team and experts, whilst this is a big transition, it is one we were well planned for and with your help, we can make it thru. Thank you xxx

It is with great sadness, that we bring the devastating news, of our final goodnight kiss with the beautiful Molly.

As you all know Molly has been poorly and receiving Veterinary care for months. As we thought we were finally getting somewhere, Molly deteriorated a week ago, but remained stable, until last night. When we went to give Molly her 11pm medication Saturday night, it was obvious she was struggling, so we called our lovely Helen of Leahurst Equine Practice out to her.

She had a high temperature, so was given medication to lower this and she almost instantly perked up, but as Sunday went on, it was obvious to us that she didn’t want to fight anymore and Sunday evening Helen was called back to end her suffering. Not before the volunteers queuing up for kisses, cuddles and to stuff her full of juicy apples, having been on a restricted diet for so long.

There really are no words big enough to describe what a beautiful soul Molly was, such a gentle being and a firm favourite amongst the team, she will be terribly missed by everyone.

I can’t stress enough how important it is to keep up with your equines dental care, everything Molly has been through stemmed from a simple fractured tooth, that was never tended to, left to rot and cause massive infection over a period of years, an infection that in the end, her body could no longer cope with.

Molly is not a pony who was purposefully neglected by her former owner, she was loved, but unfortunately the finances weren’t available for the care she so badly needed. At least one dental check up per year, 2-4 in geriatrics, needs to be part of all Equine owners budgeting.

Let’s not let Molly’s memory die, let’s keep Molly’s memory alive by sharing her story and encouraging all owners to make an annual appointment with a BAEDT registered, Equine Dental Technition. A £40-£50 visit per year, could save your horses life.

Find a qualified, insured and registered Equine Dental Technician here http://www.baedt.com/members_5357.html

To the Etihad Stadium, home of Manchester City Football Club, for kindly donating all of their veggies, that had been purchased for Match day before games were cancelled, the animals are loving their feast.

Molly was admitted to pony hospital on Monday night, ready for her next sinus related surgery on Tuesday. This all went well, however, when we went to collect her on Wednesday her laminitis had flared badly and she was pronounced unfit for travel, so she remains in the care of the hospital.

Her surgery costs already amounted to more than expected and then with the additional stay and medication, her bill will be almost double what we anticipated, so far and we really need your help to pay for Molly’s continued. treatment.

Please give what you can, even £1 all amounts up

Yesterday we had a super busy day, with both of our dentists Robin and Lee here for the day, to check everyone’s toothy pegs, Farrier Paul in the afternoon to give Coco a pedicure and Vets Luke and Jo here in the afternoon for Molly’s surgery and Carrots microchip.

Later this year the law is changing and ALL equines have to be microchipped, most already are, however, those with passports pre-microchips, are needing to be done, so we are doing one or two at each vet visit, so we are all done in plenty of time for the law changes.

Molly’s surgery didn’t go quite to plan, as the sinusitis wasn’t present where we expected, so Luke had to hunt around for it. Horses have several Sinus pockets and it’s possible that with Molly the problem is in one of the smaller, harder to access pockets, but Luke decided to stop where he was, rather than put her through anymore in one day and devised a tube system for me to flush thru each day, in hope that will flush everything out, if not, he will need to make another hole and try again. He will be seeing her again on Friday, so we will keep you posted.

Whilst this looks very daunting, Molly is really bright and happy today, there has also been a good improvement in her laminitis, so we feel that we are finally heading towards health with Molly, which she so deserves, it’s hard to put in to words quite what a pleasure Molly is, she is a real sweet old lady, loved by everyone who meets her.

Sorry, I am behind with the news. I am very busy at the moment in my full time work and with the charity. So a quick catch up for you as follows.

Nov 28

COPPER UPDATE

Copper is coming on amazingly and fancies himself as a jumping pony. He has been having a play in the school tonight with his best friend Bertie, a proper bromance has blossomed between these young boys and they love playtimes.

Also included an up to date photo of Coppers tail, so you can all see how amazing its healed

Nov 26

MOLLY

Molly spent the afternoon with her Uncle Luke at Leahurst Equine Practice, where he removed a broken tooth that had been giving her some trouble and obviously for some time, as it was that rotten and infected under the tooth that its left an opening, connecting right up to her sinus.

Luke also found further fractured teeth and problems, thanks to the camera being able to take a closer look, but decided it wasnt in her best interests to put her thru anymore today.

He has cleaned and packed the hole where her tooth was and hopes that it will heal over of it’s own accord, if not he will have to try and come up with another plan, he will be re-cleaning and packing the hole weekly for the foreseeable future and she is on pain relief and antibiotics.

Molly is a very stoic pony, who has obviously been in some considerable discomfort for sometime, but you wouldn’t know it, even tonight shes happy and well, you wouldn’t know she had a big hole in her mouth, shes such a real sweetheart

Nov 23

A HEART BREAKING DAY

This morning our beautiful Biscuit sadly had to be put to sleep, due to very sudden onset of colic. She was 35 years old, completely blind and bow legged too, but the toughest and sweetest pony you could meet. We were present when the colic started and our lovely vet Luke was present within minutes and on rectal examination could feel that something serious was wrong, either a twisted gut or displacement, so we very quickly ended her suffering.

Biscuit was very much a favourite amongst the team, so there has been much heart break and tears here today.

On a personal note, Biscuit was a pony Amy rode and loved as a child at Barnston Riding Centre nearly 30 years ago, her first riding instructor incidentally was her owner and a lovely bloke who, along with his family owned her right up until she came to us due to unfortunate circumstances and we have always kept in touch and been visited, so this has been a particularly hard loss for Amy and her mum to take, but she was well loved by many people and at least we could end her suffering very swiftly.

She will forever carry a special place in our hearts

Jan 18

JOLENE UPDATE

This week we finally decided that Jolene had made enough progress, learning to trust us human folk, to give it a go doing her teeth. We were quite surprised at what our lovely vet Helen found. Apart from huge ‘fang looking’ hooks and alot of cheek ulceration from sharp edges, for a mid-teen pony, who has never seen a dentist, her actual tooth quality is very good, no fractures, or infection.

In the wild, ponies eat a selection of grasses, shrubbery, wild flowers and even barks, which help maintain their teeth better than the average grass and hay diet supplied to domestic ponies and it really is a learning curve, when we get to see these things up close and personal.

The hooks are too large to file down in one go and will take several visits over 9-12 months to correct, but it’s another step on her road to recovery. We also performed another worm egg count, which has come back at 922, not as reduced as we would like, but less than half what it was and heading in the right direction. It’s quite common to take a while to reduce worm burdens in emaciated ponies, purely due to their overall health and ability to fight against pesky parasites, so we are happy with any reduction. She will be wormed and heavily monitored again this week.

Shes bright eyed and bushy tailed, even been out for walks and around the school, while Tinkerbell does what babies do best and run around silly in the school too

Jan 1

WIRRAL EQUINE STAR AWARDS 2019

Congratulations to all finalists.

There was only 4 points between the three vets, the closest we have ever had.

YOUR WINNERS ARE

As you can imagine Winter is a lot busier, with all horses in not only are we busier with feeds, mucking out etc we are busier fundraising for the extra expenses. Our team have also been busy training the youngsters. Amy our chair has been poorly and the team have really stepped up, so she has less to worry about letting her get the rest the doctor ordered.

We have also started organising the Open Day May 24th, so save the date. I hope to keep up with the news for you going forward, but please bare with me if I get a bit behind.

Huge thank you to everyone involved, from the farmers rounding up, to the volunteers holding the fort at home, Eileen, her baby Dewi, Jolene and her baby Tinkerbell are all settled and snuggled up for the night.

The decision was taken at last weeks annual round up, not to put these mares back on the Carneddau for Winter as Eileen is lame and Jolene is underweight, so their owner, the lovely Gareth Wyn Jones, kindly agreed we could offer them a new home with their babies.

They loaded easily, travelled very well and settled immediately, they are very special, beautiful ponies. We will allow them some adjustment time before we start looking into Eileen’s lameness and the cause of Jolene’s weight loss, the ponies up on the mountain are all in good condition with such great food sources available, so we suspect possible dental issues, that will be addressed, as soon as she trusts us enough to do so.

To donate towards their food, hay, bedding, vet care etc, please find our bank and paypal details below.

Thank you for your continued support.

Bank: sort: 161614 account: 10375919

PayPal: horsesensewirral@yahoo.com

Tuesday 10th September

As you all know, we are always busy responding to calls for help, but we don’t publicise it and never ask for donations for a pony unless it’s already in our care. However, we currently have a special set of circumstances ongoing and desperately need you all to pull together to help save a ponies life!!!

Over the weekend of the 7th Sept we were tagged in a Facebook post about a feral colt that had been dumped in North Wales and we responded to the poster, to see what we could do to help and it was agreed that we would take him on.

The local farmers have since been monitoring his movements across the hills, in order to make a plan to round him up, these farmers are experts at rounding up wild ponies and have a plan in place to round him up on Thursday, however, whilst monitoring him, they have noticed he has a very serious injury to his dock, for those not horsey, this it the top part of his tail, in which his spine and other associated vitals run through.

This injury is grossly infected and putting the pony, we have named Copper’s life at risk, thru sepsis. We have also seen video footage of him amongst other wild ponies where they are all constantly swishing flies away with their tails, however, Copper hasnt quite as forceful a swish.

Once rounded up, we plan to take him straight for emergency care, with our amazing vets at Leahurst. Obviously the vets cant tell us what is needed to save his life until they can get close up to the injury, however, being feral it is very likely that a general anesthetic will be required in order to debride and clean the wound at a very minimum, but the tail may also be too far gone and need amputation.

Follow up treatment will also be more expensive, as dealing with a feral pony is more time consuming and will require regular sedation, we expect his initial Veterinary care to be a minimum of £2000, taking into account that a general anesthetic is in the region of £1000 straight away, dependant on the weight of the pony.

We will be required to give Leahurst a lump sum upfront, in order to get Copper the treatment he needs, that means we need to raise £2000 in the next 36 hours, so that this young boy, has every chance of being able to live a happy life.

Please give as much as you can afford, via PayPal or bank transfer, even a single £1, as Just Giving takes 2-3 weeks to land in the bank. Please put “Copper” as the reference, as if for any reason we cant get Copper into our care, we will of course refund all donations marked “Copper”.

We appreciate any help you can give and more so, Copper will appreciate it too, as he goes on to live a happy life, thanks to you lovely people.

We will of course keep you all up to date with what’s going on, from when we have him, to what the vets say and how treatment goes. We also want to thank the local horsey people and farmers where he is, who have done and are still doing, everything they can to help this poor boy.

Thursday 12th

10pm Copper is on his way

Huge thank you to everyone involved in getting Copper off the mountain, he is only a baby and terrified, but now with us and on his way to Leahurst.

11.30pm COPPER UPDATE

This little man travelled amazingly and is now settled in to Leahurst, he will be allowed to settle tonight and our amazing vet Luke Edward’s will start treatment first thing in the morning.

We would like to say a HUGE thank you for all the support and kind donations received so far, in order to get this little man safe.

Come and meet us and our residents and have some fun. This Sunday August 25th

On Thursday 15th August, we brought Little Bertie (40yo), Magic (18yo) and Molly (28yo) into the sanctuary, as their owner could no longer care for them. Due to their owner struggling to care for them, they have not received any Veterinary care for some time and although not in horrendous condition, having been on a nice grassy field, all 3 do required some TLC, passports and microchips.

Little Bertie is approximately 40 years old, under weight, very hairy suggesting cushings disease, covered in lice and looks to be carrying a worm burden, none of which is a surprise in an old boy, but does require treatment.

Magic is a cheeky little madam, is obese and been suffering with Laminitis, suggestive of her suffering from Equine Metabolic Syndrome, this requires blood tests to confirm and possibly a course of medication, normally given in diabetics, along with a strict diet in order to get her in to a more healthy state, to give her many more years, she also has lice.

Molly has the saddest eyes we have seen for a long time, at 28 years old, is maintaining her weight, but along with uneven fat distribution, a long coat and recurrent hoof abscesses, again she is ticking the boxes for also suffering with Equine PPID, more commonly referred to as Cushing’s disease, so again will need blood tests and then life long medication, to improve her quality of life. She also has lice and sweetitch.

Molly required Veterinary Treatment on scene, before we could even entertain moving her, as due to her latest hoof abscess causing excruciating pain, she could only stand on 3 legs, making it unsafe to travel her. The lovely Caroline from RD Owen Equine Vets attended, drained her abscess, poulticed her hoof and gave her a strong dose of pain relief to get her home, she is much more comfortable now. We will continue to poultice her hoof, provide pain relief and work with our farriers and vet until Molly is fully recovered.

Initial Veterinary costs as above, are expected to be in the region of £500 for all 3 ponies, however, with worm and louse treatments, dental treatment and careful feeding of Little Bertie, to get him looking and feeling as good as our other 40 year olds is expected to all together come to a minimum of £1000 in the first month.

Please give what you can to help us with their initial and ongoing expenses.

www.justgiving.com/littlebertie

It’s been brought to our attention that many 16 – 18 year olds and even those older, struggle with knowing what is expected of them at Vet School, or what experience is needed to gain a good solid portfolio before applying to Vet school and so we have put our heads together with the lovely Helen Braid MRCVS of Liverpool University, to come up with a solution.

It’s clear that university open evenings can be quite intimidating and so you may not ask questions you have, or just not think of them in such a formal environment, so on Friday 23rd August, 11am – 1pm we are having our own open event, for those wanting to become a vet, or are about to start any Vet School this term and want to ask questions, to prepare.

You won’t be sat down in a formal manner, you will just be able to come here for a couple of hours to mingle with us, Vets/Lecturers, current Vet Students and eat cake in a lovely relaxing, animal filled environment.

Amy(chair) has experience of building a portfolio and has helped many students build their portfolios and written recommendations, all of which are now currently Vet students or qualified vets, off saving the world, one animal at a time. Amy also suffers with depression and anxiety, so can empathise with those who do struggle in a formal environment, so helping YOU achieve YOUR goal is very important to her.

If you seriously want to be a vet please come along, to this one of a kind event, no pressure to do anything you dont want to and get yourself prepared.

We have had a busy few days here: Thursday – Farrier Friday – Dentist Saturday – Willy Washer Sunday – Equine Car Boot Monday – Vet & Farrier Wednesday – Farrier 

We had an early start Saturday to make the 5 hour round trip, to collect baby Luke, who was abandoned in the Lancashire area. An abandonment notice was logged with the Police and posted where he had been abandoned, but no owner came forward and he is not microchipped. He is a bit on the thin side and crawling with lice, but a sweet natured yearling colt, he will be gelded along with Herbie this month. We have named him Luke, in honour of one of our amazing vets, who has been looking after our residents for several years now, from the excellent Leahurst Equine Practice, we are huge fans of Luke Edward’s, so thought it was about time he had a pony named after him.

The owner of the 9 mares and foals seized from Warrington on 30th April, has come forward and proved ownership, therefore the Police have taken the decision to return them in to his ownership. It turns out while he was away, someone had cut the fence of the field he rents, allowing the horses to escape, the people looking after them while he was away couldn’t do anything until he returned, not being the owners themselves. He came with his family to start collecting them, they were all very lovely to us and the horses, he has taken Magic, Gypsy and Josephine and will return for the rest after Ferne and Crystal foal, he has however, taken the decision to relinquish ownership of Mika to us, so that she can receive the veterinary treatment she needs, so please keep sharing and donating for Mika, so she can receive the best care possible. www.justgiving.com/mikaandfriends

  To everyone who came to the first of our 2019 open days today, it was great to see you all and to all of our team, friends and family who have put many hours of effort in for weeks, to prepare for the day, we really are surrounded by amazing people. Thank you all for giving so generously too.

Yesterday we assisted Cheshire Police, dealing with 9 abandoned ponies, 6 mares, 3 of which are heavily pregnant, the other 3 suspected to also be pregnant, just not as imminent, plus 3 foals at foot, who look to be late foals of last year, maybe very early this year. Although they are all a good weight, they all need their feet doing and are all riddled with parasites and matted. One pony who was named Mika at the scene, after the Police officer in attendance ‘Michael’ is not as well as the rest, her chest is covered in nasty looking sarcoids (tumours), she isn’t carrying as much weight as the others and also has chronic diorreah. One of our lovely vets will be attending tomorrow morning to assess them all, after a bit of time to settle in, but obviously Mika will be priority.

When shopping at Pets at Home you may already have a VIP card, if not, you can register for one on their website, it takes 60 seconds and you can select a charity to support when you are shopping!! You can change this charity at any time, its costs you nothing, but as you shop it collects points for your chosen charity, then each quarter Pets at Home send a gift card to the charity, to the value of the points, that can be used against anything in store, from food and bedding, to medical supplies, for all small animals. A massive help to us, as our small animal side is always growing.

          Babie Herbie is doing really well, although now he has some proper nutrition, he has become a typical Coltish monkey. His Uncle Luke from Leahurst has been to examine him, with view to castrating him, his testicles haven’t dropped yet, but are up there, so hopefully wont be waiting too long. Picture 1 – with Uncle Luke Picture 2 – morning wake up call, asleep with his gorilla  

THE WORST START TO ANY DAY We are so sad to announce that our amazing Bobbie Dazzler has trotted off over rainbow bridge this morning, he saw the lovely Ben from Leahurst last night, as he had a very mild episode of colic, but by 6am was very, very poorly, we suspect he had some sort of abdominal tumour, even with pain relief and sedation, he was still obviously in a lot of pain, so there was no other decision to be made, but to let him go to sleep for a final time. Bobbie was 31 years old and everyone’s favourite pony, he was such a cool dude, he was one of the original ponies we founded the Sanctuary with, so this loss has hit the whole team very hard. Most of you will know that Bobbie has a 40 year old wife, Mandy, who lay down with him while we were waiting for Ben to arrive this morning, a very touching moment, we will of course be keeping a close eye on her over the coming days. Sleep well our Bobbie Dazzler xxxx

              I arrived at Horse Sense Wirral April 1st 2019, they tell me I was going to Italy on something called live export, I don’t know what that is, but I’m glad I’ve come here instead, I’m only about 4 months old and shouldn’t be away from my mummy, mummy Amy has given me a big Gorilla teddy to cuddle up to and is making me some milkies, but I would have much preferred to have my real mummy with me. They tell me I’m safe now, but I need a name. When I woke up the next day, mummy Amy tells me that a lady called Kathy suggested that I be named after the first rescue pony here, that started the charity. I think that sounds like a very good idea, as although Mummy Amy has been doing this for 12 years Horse Sense Wirral was officially formed In March 2009, so it’s their 10 year Anniversary too. So I am now called HERBIE, apparently I look like him too, but Mummy Amy hope’s I wont be as grumpy as he was :0)

            On February 5th we received over 200 messages about 2 ponies being threatened with abandonment. Our first thought was we are full, and the photos we received showed both in good condition. As always we don’t just leave it there, we contacted several people connected with the ponies to get the facts, and advise if we cant help. It soon came to light, the photos where old and both ponies in poor condition. Carrock is 30yrs old and Taffy 16 yrs old, both put on social media sites as “FREE TO GOOD HOME” . Naturally people where concerned for the ponies falling into  the wrong hands and not receiving the care they need. After getting more precise information we decided the best for the ponies welfare was to bring them in, as Emergency Admissions. After a couple of days to settle in, they had pamper and deosect (lice treatment) administered , amazingly Carrock already looks to have gained some weight and Taffy who was very timid when collected was even brave enough to have a little rug on  As it turns out, Carrock, starred in the ITV FILM, ‘Good Night Mister Tom’ back in 1998, as ‘Dobbs’, Toms horse, played by the late John Thaw. It’s amazing to think how her life has changed over the years, to end up being a late night, emergency admission to our Charity, some 21 years later.

Although we are chocka block, we have found space for tiny Rascal the stallion, as at just 3yo, he was due to be taken to the local hunt to be shot and fed to the dogs. He is very sweet and will NOT be a stallion for long. Sadly he was in this situation due to an un-registered pony sanctuary, please do research sanctuaries.

  Yesterday we sadly had to say a final goodbye to the lovely Claudia, after she suffered a suspected heart attack or stroke, whilst happily grazing with her friends. We would like to say a huge thank you to the lovely Helen from Leahurst Equine Practice and to our awesome volunteers for all of their help and support at such a sad time.

We can’t thank Elise Pilkington Trust enough, having supported our charity several times, with grants towards capital items. We have recently taken purchase of a lovely Horse Trailer and a tractor with a grant from them. Both massively important for the running of the charity, to which we are forever grateful. We run solely on donations with nobody taking a wage or expenses so that every penny goes to the welfare of the animals. Both these items have already made a big difference to us.

New Years day our Biggest resident, George was found lying unwell in the field, he got up briefly, but soon lay back down, he was brought down to the yard and the vet called out immediately.  The lovely Ben from Leahurst attended him very quickly and initially treated him for Colic, Colic is a broad term for tummy pain, which can be caused by minor things, such as wind, but can also be caused by much more severe illness or disease. Unfortunately for George, it is the latter in his case. He was admitted into the amazing Phillip Leverhulme Equine Hospital within an hour and following all diagnostic tests and scans, they are unsure what is making him so unwell, however, his kidneys aren’t working well, he is very dehydrated, has a low white cell count and protein levels, so all in all, a very poorly boy. The initial problem to combat is the dehydration, so he has been hooked up to IV fluids and they will keep assessing his bloods over the next 24-48 hours, looking for any signs of improvement or deterioration, however, at this time it is 50/50 whether he will pull thru. As always, we have told the hospital to do anything he needs, which comes at a price, just the first 24 hours alone, are estimated to cost £2000 – £3000. If you are able to donate even £1 each, towards George’s care we would be ever so grateful and providing he pulls thru, he will be more than happy to kiss and cuddle anyone who helps him, as he really is the loveliest boy, with a lot of love to give. Please visit George’s Just Giving Page https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/biggeorgie Or, you can also donate via our PayPal: horsesensewirral@yahoo.com and just pop in comments “For George” please

To the amazing team at Support Adoption for Pets, Pets at Home, particularly our partner store, Wallasey and all of their supporters and customers, who all make it possible for Support Adoption for Pets, to help charities, like us, make a huge difference to the lives of unwanted, neglected or abandoned animals. You, our supporters, will be well aware, that we have had huge struggles this year, from unexpected and significant vet bills, like when the awesome team at Leahurst saved Pollyanna’s life, against all odds. We have battled with food and bedding bills from the beginning of the year, being wetter than normal and then the Summer being dryer than normal, adding huge costs to our usual outgoings.

We would like to wish you all a very happy Christmas and all the best for 2019. Also to say Thank you to all those that support us, be it in donations, grants, our fabulous volunteers or any other way you support us. Everyone is voluntary here with nobody taking a wage. We have jobs, families and our fair share of ups and downs but do this for the animals. We aim to be the best we can in all aspects of our charity, making sure the animals are in good health, our accounts are transparent and work closely with the professionals to keep within the law and the required guidelines. We tweak things and make improvements as we grow, and strive to do the best by the animals and charity at all times. You, our loyal supporters keep us going and we cant thank you enough.

We are hosting an Equine First Aid Course, Saturday 5th January, 2-5.30pm at Thronton Hough Village Hall, with the lovely Helen Braid of Leahurst Equine Practice, involving practical skills, as well as theory.

***NOMINATIONS ARE NOW OPEN*** This is our 3rd year, running this to show our appreciation to our professionals. This year we have 6 categories, as follows:

To Sally Leadbetter at TackShop4U and all her lovely customers, who have been busy donating items at TackShop4U to be sold in their fabulous second-hand section, in order to raise much needed funds for our ponies.  Coming in to Winter we are very short of Haynets, so Sally has very kindly turned those donations into Haynets for us and will continue to do so, until we have enough. Thank you all so much, Sally is always happy to take clean, usable items to sell on, to raise pennies for us, she stocks our calendars and also has our bonanza raffle tickets for sale, pop in there for all your horsey needs.

Hey, my name is Cerys, some of you may remember that I was very sick earlier this year with copper poisoning from my “sheep” food and the vets had little hope of me surviving, but thank’s to you lovely lot clubbing together to buy me some magic tablets and Mum spending many days and nights syringe feeding me liquid food, water and giving me jam butties I pulled thru. Mum says I ate my magic tablets like a really good girl, I don’t remember seeing them, the jam butties were good tho ;0) My liver and kidneys were damaged pretty bad and the vet said it would take a long time for them to recover, in the mean time my poops were very liquid for months, so Mum still had to keep making sure I stayed hydrated, but my poops are normal now and my liver and kidneys are working propers again. I love my Mum and always first to see her and follow her around looking for a jam butty, but she stopped giving me them when my magic pills ran out, for some reason, I miss my jam butties. Recently, the vet that saw me the day I collapsed, was visiting one of this year’s lambs and she couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw me, she thought for sure that I couldn’t be made better, she said I’m the first she has seen survive being so sick, but I tried to tell her that my Mum wouldn’t give up!!!! I am 18 months old now and my sister, Dolly and I are having great fun, watching this year’s little ones grow, the little boy, Arwel, can get a bit big for his boots sometimes, but Dolly soon tells him to behave, not many sheep’s get to live a safe life, like we do and we are grateful to all of you, who make it possible. Mum is great, but she can’t do it with out all of my Aunties, Uncles and donations, donations are running very short at the moment and all of us here eat more food and use more bedding in the Winter months I’ve heard Mum panicking about a shortage of food too, this doesn’t sound too good, I have well over 100 brothers and sisters here and we needs our foods. I think it would be a really good idea to buy loads of foods now, before it runs out, so it lasts us, but we don’t have enough donations, would you mind helping with donations please?? Anything you can afford would be a great help, it all adds up, we have a PayPal, which is: horsesensewirral@yahoo.com, but if you want to buy food and bring it to visit, that’s great too, just ask Mum what we needs, or you can buy foods from our Uncle Stuart Jones too, he takes BACS and PayPal payments, he knows what we all eats here and he brings foods to us every Wednesday and Saturday, he’s a pretty cool guy, although he did spoil my fun one day, when I was playing running offs, Mum was too slow, but he got me and carried me back to my paddock, I didn’t talk to him for a while, but then I remembered he brings the foods, so I join in giving him a shout when he arrives again now, our paddock is right next the gate on to the farm, so we get to greet all of the visitors, as long as it’s not raining, we don’t like to go outside in the rain, Mum says we are a bunch of spoilt princesses!!!! Anyhow, it’s 2am and I really should be asleeps, I’m keeping the kids up, so I will have to logoffs for now, please see if you can spare us some pennies and ask your friends too, we really, really needs it please. Much loves from Cerys

Pollyanna was discharged from the amazing Philip Leverhulme Equine Hospital on Monday 3rd and is back home with Finlay, we can’t thank everyone at Leahurst enough for EVERYTHING they did to save her and look after her, they were truly amazing and went the extra mile all the way, we are very lucky to have them so close. Polly is still receiving intensive care at home, luckily our experience and living on site means we can do this safely, please keep sharing her Just Giving page found on face book, Herbert Pirie (Horse Sense Wirral) or there is a Donate button on our home page. Between Polly, Claudia, Mandy and George, we owe Leahurst £10k now and need to get it paid off ASAP.

Tuesday night our beautiful Pollyanna was taken ill suddenly with colic, following 2 vet visits, she was admitted to the Philip Leverhulme Equine Hospital, shortly before 1am wednesday morning, along with her life long companion Finlay. As with the previous 2 vet visits, she stabilised after medication was administered, however, when the medication wore off, she deteriorated again and we were called to say she was going into surgery, so we rushed to Leahurst to sit with Finlay, while she was operated on. Tuesday 22nd Up and walking, doing better than expected, but still very much critical, please keep praying for her. She was pleased to have her first nibble of grass last night too, so good to see, but we are being told it’s still very much 50/50, she’s needs all the help she can get. Saturday 25th POLLYANNA is still fighting and each day looking more comfortable, she is very much still critical, but with each day, we become more hopeful, tonight her temperature had risen to the higher end of normal, so the awesome team at The Philip Leverhulme Equine Hospital are closely monitoring that, for any changes. It is inevitable after the surgery she has had, that some sort of infection will occur, so she has been on 3 types of antibiotics all along, however, there is always the possibility of infection, even with the antibiotics, but she is in the best place to deal with that. For now she is happy, eating, drinking, walking, toileting and that’s the best we can hope for, so far. Sunday 26th Now off her IV fluids and looking happier again, just a little cold after being for a walk in the rain.             Monday 27th She is bright as a button today and got her cheeky head back on, waiting at the door for her sloppy feeds and grabbing at Amy and Shaun’s legs for attention. Whilst it’s lovely to see everything looking positive, she still has a very long way to go. We have set up a donation page to help towards her vet fees, if you spare a few pounds we would really appreciate it, surgery alone was just under £5,000 and with after care we are expecting this to rise to over £8000  you can use the Donate button on our home page or find other ways on our Donate page. Thank you.    

A great week for our ponies and their loaners. HSW Tilly spent the week at Equifest, with hundreds of horses, people, vehicles and lots of noise and strange surroundings. She did so well taking 8th in a very large class of 23, that took 2 hours to get through. And made it to the Rescue Pony Championship. Following in her success:   HSW Marley of the Great Barrow horses, who where found with their deceased friend. 2yo, HSW Marley attended his first show, just 4 months after his very public rescue and came away with 3 x 2nd place, a 5th place and has qualified for TOYS 2019!!! Our ponies and their super loaners are making us very proud of them all at the minute

Who remembers little Charlie? The very poorly, elderly pooch, rescued from one of the houses in the New Ferry blast. Charlie is totally blind and underwent two surgeries in one, to remove a very painfully infected eye and several very painfully infected teeth, just 2 days after the blast. He had all his matted fur clipped off, a good bath and spent a couple of weeks making several TV and Radio appearances, telling everyone his story. Charlie was very lucky and found himself a fabulous bungalow with a garden to live out his days, he’s quite keen on the human residents that feed him too :0) Here he is today, after his latest hair do.

Poor Bobbie has been taken ill today, with no obvious cause so far, our super vet, Luke, took fluid from his tummy and bloods to check for various causes, so far the tests on his tummy have come back clear and we are awaiting the blood results. As he has a high temperature and heart rate, he has been started on antibiotics and pain relief. Bobbie is one of our long term residents, one of the original 6 we started with, so is very, very special to us and does have his own little fan club, so please, say a prayer and cross your fingers that, whatever it is, is treatable, at his age there are some things being tested for, that may not be treatable, which breaks our hearts :0(

Yesterday we had a little Hoglet brought in with a broken leg, we rushed him straight off to our fabulous vets, who will be amputating his leg in the morning, this is something that hedgehogs do cope well with, so won’t stop him being released back in to the wild, once he has fully recovered. Huge thank you to his rescuers and to Birch Veterinary Centre, who have kindly agreed to do this surgery free of charge. He’s a cheeky little fella and quite confident for a wild animal, maybe Just because he was so hungry, he ate like he hadn’t eaten for days, bless him.

Here at Horse Sense Wirral, we usually receive a handful of calls each month, for the concern of welfare of horses, however, this has increased to a call or 2 most days. 99% of what we are attending, is due to people not knowing to adjust their management according to the unusual weather we have been experiencing. Waters are running dry quicker than normal and paddocks are bare, due to lack of rain not helping the grass grow.

Another great open day. Lovely weather, good turnout, everyone had a good time. Thank you to those who came and massive thanks to those who helped make it a good day, volunteers, friends, stall holders. A few photos from the day 

        Those of you who follow our Facebook page will have seen whats been going on in the last week, last Sunday 24th March 2018 a lovely lady brought to light, the plight of 4 abandoned horses in Great Barrow. Sadly, as can been seen in the photographs, one had already died thru lack of care and so it was paramount that we got the remaining 3 to safety. They weren’t thin/sick enough to be seized on welfare grounds, so we liaised with Cheshire Police and the RSPCA to remove them on abandonment grounds. This means placing an abandonment notice at the scene for a minimum of 4 days, in order to give an owner chance to let us know they exist. During this time they have been in a neighbouring field with plenty of grass and water, so already doing much better than they were. Saturday was the day their lives changed forever, we went with an amazing team of people, who gave up hours of their time, to corale the 3 unhandled, very scared horses into a horse box to bring them home. They have really settled in well and we can’t thank everyone who helped us get them here enough. They will spend 2 weeks in quarantine, getting to know us humans and being fed correctly to regain their lost weight and condition. Once they are ready, they will see the vet, dentist and farrier. If you would like to buy them some food, it would be very much appreciated, they will be eating Baileys No.4, Alfa A and Fibre beet, plus ad-lib Haylage. If you are a customer of Manor Farm Feed and Bedding Supplies in Frankby, Wirral, you can add a bag to your order and ask for it to be delivered here,  or contact Stu at Manor Farm and send payment direct to him. Alternatively, you can make a payment to use via several ways on our donate page. Thank you so much to our team, supporters and everyone who helped as always.  I will add a few Thank You’s here as our website is having work done, and it will be easier to transfer one page when ready. Massive thank you’s to: Sue Dunning and all the staff and customers at Debenham’s Chester, Cosmetic Department for raising £605.00 in store. All the staff and customers at City Aesthetics Chester who had a fab time and raised £170.00. We held a naming competition and raised £183.00 with a prize to the winners of a large Easter Egg donated from Tesco’s Bidston. With the colt (small coloured cob) being named Marley by his saviour, the two mare have been named Peggy (Coloured) and Lacey (Bay) so a big thank you to you all who entered the competition.   A big thank you to Colberry Saddlery and all their customers who held an Easter raffle and raised £75 for us. We really do appreciate all your support. 

                We are based in a highly populated equine area, 5 minutes from Leahurst Veterinary Hospital. We are very fortunate to have a large numbers of specialists covering Wirral looking after our animals. Our chair Amy decided in 2016 to acknowledge their hard work and support by running a voting poll, and award them with an award. The winners of 2017 vote are: Farrier of the year – Tom Clothier, Dentist of the Year – Lee Shakeshaft, Vet of the year – Nadine Page, Physio of the year – Claire Sudbury and Instructor of the year – Helen Dutton. All receiving a HSW Star Award. Well done to all the specialist in their field, out there.  

Friday saw the arrival of ‘Mary’ from Burtonwood. Mary, although in good condition otherwise, has the worst case of feather mites we have seen, having gone untreated for so long, they now effect right up her legs, belly and chest, she has some really nasty sores from rubbing herself.  Mary is only rising 4 years old and was due to be put to sleep, as her loaner was struggling to afford to keep her, never mind pay vet bills. Once aware of the situation her owner was agreeable to her coming here and paid for her to be transported here. The yard where Mary was also very kindly clubbed together lots of useful items which they sent along with her, which we are very grateful for. Monday morning will see our vet Luke start her treatment, with the help of our lovely supporter Fran Randles clipping her, so we can get to her skin for more effect relief of the itching. As always, any help towards Mary’s care is gratefully received, you can find out the many ways to donate on our donate page.

        We have had quite a busy week, starting with the arrival of Beauty, a visit from the vet for her, to make her mouth more comfortable, as she couldn’t eat hay. Our fab farrier Tom Clothier Farrier out doing a bit of remedial work on our gentle giant, George, these fully round shoes are called egg bars and are used to support horses with navicular. If your horse or pony needs remedial work, talk to Tom, he works well with our residents, alongside our vets, isn’t afraid of trying new things and doesn’t over charge.

Beauty arrived with us today, all the way from Morecambe. Her moving to us was arranged by another party, so we don’t have full details, but are told that she has spent over 3 years of her 4 year life locked in a stable and has scarring on her withers from an embedded rug.  She is very sweet, but nervous, in poor body condition, although a lot of this is hidden under her thick coat. Due to having no muscle, fat or anything around her back end, her back legs don’t quite know what they are doing, but some love and food, this young lady will be a real cracking family pony in the future. She will be wormed and see the vet, farrier and dentist over the next few days to give her the best chance of a healthy and full recovery, she will been seen by our wonderful physio in a few weeks too, when she has a bit more back end to work with, to build up her strength. If you would like to help aid Beauty’s recovery you can do so in many ways: Donate via PayPal, BACS, cash or cheque. Ring Leahurst and ask to make a payment against our vet bill. Buy her some food, she is having Baileys No.4, Alfa A and Fibre beet at the minute. Thank you for your continued support 

Cally was returned from loan to us during summer, as her loaner was struggling to keep weight on her and keep her sound. When she arrived back home she could hardly stand, so the vet was called immediately and it was found that she had a fracture to her hip, under a small open wound, she had a fall a few days previous, but as she was still happily running around her field, her loaner thought nothing of it.

2018 Calender’s are now ready, featuring some of our rescue ponies from the last 12 months. These make great gifts, for jotting down appointments on, for the office, for that someone who has everything or you simply struggle to think of what to buy them. A4 size good quality at £5 plus £1.30 UK postage. Local collection points are Horse Sense (Thornton Hough) Manor Farm (Frankby) Tack Shop 4 u (Neston). If you would like one posting, please email wendy@mechair.net with address details and to arrange payment.

Over last few days Sailors condition deteriorated and we could no longer manage his pain, this morning it was obvious that he didnt want to continue his fight any longer, so we took the heart breaking decision to have him put to sleep, he went very quickly and peacefully. We cant thank Ben from Leahurst enough for arriving so quickly and his many cuddles and have to thank Luke too, who has tried everything over the last few months to try and give Sailor a comfortable retirement. R.I.P hansom boy. 

We would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who attended our open day on Bank Holiday Monday, to our fab stall holders, the awesome Pam’s Pony Parties, Mr Tee ice cream and a massive thank you to friends, family and volunteers, who helped on the day and to get us ready in the lead up to the day, we couldn’t do it without you. It was a great day and lovely weather, with only 5 weeks to organise the event, we are really please with how it went and will build on that for the next event. Just a few photos taken at the beginning of the event, sorry it got too busy to take more. Permission was given from the parents of the children to show how lovely they looked.           

                Congratulations and well done to all 4 Hsw ponies and loaners who did fabulous at yesterdays Greasby show. Loaners are doing a fantastic job and all ponies are looking great. We at Hsw are very proud of you all and ponies.

  2 weeks ago, was a very sad day for a very well respected, loved, local horsey family, as they sadly found themselves parting with their 3 much loved equine family members, 2 of which had been part of the family for over 20/25 years. Both spent time, years apart at Barnston Riding Centre, under Brenda’s care. Unfortunately life hasn’t been very kind and it became clear that all the love in the world and probably over 100 years collective experience, was no longerenough to meet the needs of ageing ponies.

One of our aims is to turn one of the barns in to an indoor arena, where we can rehabilitate the horses and hold classes and clinics. We can also hire the arena out, bringing in funds making us more self sufficient. Below is an example of why we need this facility. We work closely with our vets, dentist and farriers, BHS and other animal/equine officials. By having an indoor seated arena, we can open so much up to the public, by holding talks like below:- DO YOU LOOK AT YOUR HORSES TEETH WHEN THE DENTIST IS STARTING AND FINISHING? DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT THEY SHOULD LOOK LIKE? HAVE YOU EVER CHECKED WHAT DENTISTRY QUALIFICATIONS YOUR VET/DENTIST HAS?

        Whilst I have been away Sailor was admitted to intensive care at the Philip Leverhulme Equine Hospital, it was unclear what was exactly wrong with him, we knew he was dehydrated, we knew he was slightly impacted due to the dehydration and we knew his kidney function tests weren’t right but not horrendous. He also had a swollen sheath and penis, he was well in himself, eating, drinking, pooing, he just couldn’t urinate for himself. Sailor was rescued by one of our followers in a very poor way, she took advice from us how to start his rehabilitation and after having his feet and teeth done she tried her best to get weight on him. He really wasn’t good so she signed him over to us so he can have 24hr care he needs. His feet are in a bad way and he was in pain, we set too with everything to make him comfortable, and had a special pair of shoes put on him. He is a stunning boy with a lovely nature and deserves the best. Sadly too much had been taken off his teeth and he couldn’t chew his food causing the impact. Whilst he was in the best place possible, we did have to pay a £750 deposit towards is care, estimated to cost around £1500 and that had completely emptied our bank account of all funds, if you can possibly spare a pound or two, it would be very much appreciated to help us replenish those funds for feed, hay, bedding, farrier etc etc.  

        Yesterday we had to say goodbye to our sweet Fantasia due to Colic, sadly due to an old injury before she came to us Fantasia would struggle to recover from an anaesthetic and she was very, very poorly, so we had to take the kindest decision for her. She will be very much missed, with her cheeky, if slightly grumpy character and her lovely wickers to everyone she saw, she was a favourite amongst the team.

This week has seen Faith, Gwen, Hercules and Toos go off to some amazing new homes and Sunday saw 2 of our ponies and their families, have a great day at our local horse show with Tilly grabbing a first and reserve Champion and Chance (Mr Chips) scooping a clear round and a 2nd in his first show jumping competition with Lucy, we are so proud of both ponies and Loaners ….. these ponies prove that rescue ponies shouldn’t be written off.

Sailor arrived with us on Friday 21st April, crippled with laminitis after years of his feet being neglected (not by the lady who brought him to us).  Following x-rays it has been found that the amount of sole between the floor and his pedal bone is minimal.  He is currently on pain relief and has thick pads on his feet.  His vet bill is already very high and to get him thru this, with his pain meds, constant replacement pads and if we can stabilise the pedal bones, specialist rubber shoes, its going to be very costly.  He is a very sweet natured, gentle boy and even if he doesn’t come right enough to ride, we just want him to be able to live a pain free life, with our other retirees. 27.04.17 One of his feet have deteriorated today so our fabulous vet Luke is making a last attempt to save him tomorrow, by cutting thru the deep flexor tendon on his bad leg, to release the strain and hopefully most of the pain, this isn’t cheap and the cost of regularly redressing will be a big cost too, he is totally worth it but we desperately need your help and support to get us thru this time, as we are still paying off the bill for Saffy and Mojos colic surgeries. If you can donate even a small amount, please go to our donate page where there are several options how to do this. Thank you

We have been chosen as one of the local charities by CO-OP that you can support. 1{6a58d31d3c5a0a8c6a8185d433f901ea3d6300a08925ea4c531ce37ae37d0426} of what you spend will come to us if you select us as your chosen charity between April and October 2017. Also you get 5{6a58d31d3c5a0a8c6a8185d433f901ea3d6300a08925ea4c531ce37ae37d0426} reward back,  join up today or if already a member, make us your chosen charity.  

We were very sorry to hear of the tragedy in New Ferry on Saturday 25th March, and hoped for everyone to get out safely. Whilst we knew it was mainly commercial properties effected, we knew some local residences would be effected by evacuations, while building safety was established. Therefore, we offered our services free of charge, to temporarily house any family pets effected, so those effected had one less thing to worry about.

Whilst Saffy has been recovering very well, her handsome husband Mojo, was very suddenly taken very poorly, with Colic last Monday. We were so lucky that we noticed him sweating and pawing the ground as he started and the lovely Ben from leahurst not only got to him very quickly, by which point he was refusing to walk and just throwing himself around on the floor, but he also diagnosed him with a suspected strangulating lipoma very quickly, so he was on his way to theatre with the fabulous Prof Debbie Archer, within an hour of his first symptoms.