Scottish farmer rescues ponies

Farm Stay UK member Carol Houghton has this month taken delivery of four Shetland Ponies which were rescued from a farm in Buckinghamshire in 2008, after being severely mistreated. The ponies have been with the RSPCA for nearly two years and will now join Carol, her family and adopted alpacas and pigs on their working farm in Oxton Lauder, Scotland.

The new edition ponies were among the 111 horses, ponies and donkeys rescued from horrific conditions at Spindles Farm near Amersham in Buckinghamshire in 2008. "When the horses were found some were dead, and many were starving with no dry bedding and crammed into filthy pens. It was such a sad story and the pictures were horrendous to see. I knew I wanted to help in some way so when the RSPCA announced they were looking for homes for some of the rescued, I jumped at the chance.

I applied to have two ponies and soon heard back from the RSPCA. They asked if I would take four rather than two as they didn’t want to split up the family and I was more than happy to do so since they had been through so much," commented Carol.

The RSPCA visited Airhouse Farm to carry out a thorough inspection asking questions such as how Carol would recognise illness, when the vet would be called, how often the ponies’ teeth would be checked and where they would live, amongst many others. Once the farm and Carol had been approved, a delivery date was then agreed. Carol continued: "The inspection was pretty detailed and the RSPCA will be back in three months to see how we are getting on. The ponies are lovely and a very welcome addition to the existing animals we have on the farm. Part of our business is self-catering and we are sure that our visitors will be keen to see how happy the ponies are in their new home!"