Tommy
This picture is of Tommy, who arrived with us on 19th September 2003 when we removed him from a farm shed where he had been, with limited daylight, since being dragged from his mother at the Penrith sales two and a half months previously. The farmer owner of the shed informed us that the pony was wild and his new owner, having paid £20 for him for her children, could not get near him but did not bother to come and feed and water him every day anyway.

We had to manhandle poor Tommy out of that shed and into our trailer and only had a brief look at his mouth - at most we estimated him to be two years old at that time but in all probability he was still a yearling. He was a full colt of course which meant we had the expense of castrating him too.

On arrival at Mossburn Tommy was put in the small paddock which contains our round pen and his headcollar was left on, a practice of which we do not usually approve. Our old lady Midge was put in with him and he was delighted to see her and settled in quite quickly, lots of neighing going on to and from the rest of our ‘herd’! We then arranged for our animal behavourist, Judi Gunn, to come over and ‘speak’ to him with equine body language and after four hours were actually able to scratch his neck with our fingers. We are hopeful that, in time, Tommy will come to trust humans again.

Tommy has now struck up a close friendship with Breezer, who is a much more confident and trusting pony and we are hoping that she too will help him to rebuild his confidence. It would be a real achievement to win the trust of this pony without inflicting further trauma on him.

Breezer at Mossburn

Breezer
Breezer arrived here on the evening of Sunday 11th of July 2004 as a yearling Shetland filly with badly deformed hind legs. The condition is known as capped hock and hers is a really bad case. She came from a breeder who did not want her, because of her condition she cannot be bred with. He was asked specifically by our mutual vet not to offload her onto us as we had enough mouths to feed!

Her mother is called Bacardi which is why she was named Breezer. She is a wee character, very curious about everything and well able to canter about with the rest of our herd. Our other resident Shetland Tommy has taken to her and we hope that, through time she will give him more of an interest in life.

Connie
Connie was born in 1982 and is the pony that everyone wants to have, not only are her manners perfect but also she is very pretty. So what is she doing at Mossburn you might ask? Well Connie made a decision that although she did not mind travelling in a lorry there was no way she would load into a trailer. This was not good news for her owners at the time because they only had a trailer. It ended up that her rider could only take part in events which were within hacking distance of her home! The decision was made for them to buy another horse and Connie came to live with us.

Juanita did eventually teach her to load into a trailer but there are two reasons why Connie was not offered up for adoption. Connie could easily be overworked, she would give you her heart if you asked for it - that’s one reason. The other is that she is so docile and quiet and yet forward going under saddle that she is the ideal pony for people with disabilities or who are nervous. Connie is worth her weight in gold to us and gold is nearly her colour, she is a very light chestnut. Her breeding is Arab cross Connemara and she is 14.2 hands high.

Jasper
Jasper is definitely THE BOSS round her, being the dominant male on the centre - he even bosses Jock the Jersey bullock. We think it could be that at last he has found a safe home and he is keeping it in order!

Juanita first saw Jasper when she went to watch a demonstration being given by the famous horse whisperer, Monty Roberts. Jasper arrived in the round pen kicking, biting, bucking and rearing, he left the round pen doing exactly the same. Monty’s comment was "you can’t win 'em all". Candidate for the meat market, Juanita thought. During the interval Juanita discovered that Jasper lived not too far away from her, she also heard how he would sometimes be well behaved and then suddenly change. She learnt that he had at one point managed to trap a leg in a stables iron bars and had hung there for some considerable time.

Juanita did something she never normally does - she bought Jasper for money. On his arrival at Mossburn the first person to visit him was the horse osteopath. He had to see him three times before he got him put back together properly. His second visitor was the horse dentist who could not believe what he was seeing in Jasper’s mouth. The poor pony had no molars at the back of his jaw on the bottom, so the top ones, having nothing to grind on, had grown huge.

Have you ever, by mistake, eaten a piece of chocolate or something with the silver paper still on it? It gives you a kind of shock, a horrid feeling - that’s what was sometimes happening to Jasper when he had a bit put in his mouth. Off he had to go to Glasgow University Vet College where they used a very special (and expensive) cutter to trim his top molars. Jasper is okay now but he has to see the dentist every six months and because he does not like the dentist, the vet has to come along as well to tranquillize him. The osteopath looks him over every time he calls in to see other horses, and Jasper usually needs a bit of adjusting.

And as if all this were not enough, he has a bad skin condition called sweet itch, which is an allergic reaction to mosquito and midge bites. We trialled a product called Equineem produced by a company called Bioforce. Equineem provides horses with protection from the insect pests that plague them in the summer months and helps to control Jasper's sweet itch, and we have formed a very happy alliance with this company. Bioforce sponsor us by contributing 10p for each bottle of Equineem they sell and also fund the supply of all Jasper's treatments. If you'd like to know more about Bioforce and their excellent products, please e-mail Mossburn and we'll be pleased to supply details.

Jasper is a happy pony now and we all love him to bits. Just as well because the cattle all hate him. During the winter months when the animals are all tucked up in big barns, Jasper amuses himself by chasing the cattle, he knows its naughty and he tries not to get caught doing it!

The Carlisle Five
Issac one of the Carlisle 5 pictured opposite in his new home. Some years ago now Mossburn was contacted by a solicitor who asked if we could take in and keep together five horses belonging to a client of his who had died as a result of a traffic accident. The man had left a letter saying that in the event of his death the horses were to stay together. Juanita said that there was no way we could re-home five horses together and to telephone the two big horse charities.

Two days after the first call the solicitor rang back to say that without a legacy the charities he had contacted would not touch the horses. It was agreed that Mossburn would take them together, but would ultimately have to re-home them separately. What no one knew at the time was that all five of these horses had bad behavioural problems. In fact, two of them were downright dangerous... the biggest two of course. These animals had been owned by someone who honestly thought he was an animal lover, but once in his care they were neglected and allowed to have their own way whenever anyone went near them.

Sorting them out was a nightmare but we got there eventually and all five are now re-homed. It is very worrying to think of what would have happened to these lovely animals if we had not been here.

Miki
Lucy is one of our regular volunteers and is seen here with our Shetland pony Miki. Miki is usually out on adoption, he is rare among Shetlands in that he genuinely likes children and is very good with them. Recently however Miki went terribly lame overnight, no one knows how or why. He has come back to Mossburn where we are trying everything in our power to get him sound again. We believe in alternative therapies here and while our vets keep a general eye on him we are also using Indian Ayurvedic remedies, spiritual and Reiki healing in an effort to make him sound again.

Miki is now as sound as he is ever going to be which is not sound enough to be ridden again. He eventually had the equine version of the Bowen technique used on him and responded well and goes sound in a straight line but is lame on turns. He has gone to live near by as a companion to an elderly horse. His infirmity does not cause him any pain and he has a wonderful home.

Sililia
As a mule her mother was a pony and her father a donkey. Sililia is much smaller than most mules being only about 12 hands high and is a wonderful dark brown chocolate colour. Sililia was about 9 years old when she arrived at Mossburn on the 27th of April 2002 with an elderly grey mare called Tanya. Their owner had sold his house and land and they were to be shot as he had nowhere else to put them. Fortunately for the pair somebody stepped in and asked if the animals could be saved if a home could be found, and that is how they came to be here.

We were told that Sililia had been broken in but this was patently untrue. She was very nervous on arrival here and it took a month before we could halter her. As she has gained confidence she has become inquisitive and enjoys being led around, looking at things and also being groomed. She has accepted a rider and goes out for hacks locally - she even assisted with 'pony rides' at a recent open day! She can still be difficult if she chooses - sometimes when being led she will stop dead and refuse to move (usually in the middle of a road!) - the saying "Stubborn as a mule" was not coined in jest!

Sililia is not keen on men, which does not make the farrier's job any easier, but she is improving in confidence all the time and becoming much easier to handle all round.