The Horses Story

Charlie

Charlie arrived here just before the Australia Day long weekend in January 2009. A 3yr old Quarter Horse Colt who had barely reached 13h. I was told he had been bitten by a whitetail spider and it may take 12 months before he would be well. The minute he stepped off the truck I could tell he had major issues. Nothing at all to do with a spider! Charlie had abcessed teeth and a severe worm burden. I have no doubt why this little guy failed to thrive and grow. He was sent with the prescribed medication for a misdiagnosed condition which was also inappropriate and completely inadequate. The saddest part about this story is that with just a little TLC and attention this could have been prevented. Charlie had two small holes in either side of his face where the infection had burst out from his teeth. He required puss cleaned from these areas and antibiotics twice daily.

It is now 7 weeks on. He has been wormed twice, had his teeth done twice, been gelded and picked up condition. Charlie will remain on medication for another few weeks to clear the remaining infection in the offside of his face. I had been really happy with his progress, however, his face again blew up on the 25th March. We took him straight to Scone for more Xrays which revealed he will certainly need an operation to remove two teeth.

Read more about Charlie......

Romany

Romany was surrendered to us as a 2yr old Brumby Filly. She was in very poor condition and full of worms. Her initial story saw her travel to Singleton in NSW as a foal at foot with her mum and several others from her herd out of Dorrigo national Park. Sadly after a few months, the rest of her herd included her mother were sent to the Doggers. Although she had been around people, she had very little appropriate handling and did not lead or tie up. This is one smart little girl, she took to her education like a duck to water. Forunately, Romany had no injuries so her recovery was predominantly injection of the old "wonder drug" - FEED. Romany was very quickly placed with Trudi on the Gold Coast.

Trudi has taken up the training and handling practices and is currently starting break Romany ( now called Tina) to saddle. Thanks to Trudi for the updated photo.

A note from Trudi -

Just wanted to let you know that Tina is going really really well.

I took her to a pony club last weekend for a hack day, just to get her used to being floated and going out and about and she just stood at the float and ate her hay, she was great. I have started the breaking process, I have her taking the bridle with no hassles. I am just going to take my time over the next couple of months and get her used to everything slowly. As soon as I get a new camera I will send you some updated photos of her. She looks great now that she is rugged, fed twice a day and washed/groomed all the time.

Fred Brown

Fred was surrendered with Romany. They were the only remaining paddock mates after all others had been sent to the doggers some months before. Fred was not suffering any amount of weight loss!!! In fact, he must have been eating all Romany's tucker. What a cute little guy he is. However, he did surprise us. Having had more handling in his life than Romany, he objected to floating, catching and leading for the first couple of days. But we worked him out. A little bit of small mans syndrome!! Fred has gone to a fantastic home also up North. He now has a little paddock mate his own size. Thanks to Skye for the updated shot of Fred.

Lance

Lance was an aged and very ill pony when we took delivery of him. This pony had been shown all over the countryside very successfully in his day. Without the appropriate nutrition and medical aids he would never have survived. Given his age and requirement for ongoing medical care, we decided he would have to stay. And so, Lance lived on here for several years at optimum health. Often seen cantering about with the babies he was very active for his age. Lance was put to rest peacefully and is buried here on our property.

Heather

Heather came to us at the same time as Lance. You can see the terrible condition she was in when she arrived. What you can’t see is that she had a newborn foal on her as well. I was very concerned about her health and the amount of feed to ration her. It’s a very fine line between feeding to fatten and feeding to founder. Keeping in mind that founder can occur as much from lack of feed as it does from overfeeding. Fortunately Heather is tough old bird, and both her and the foal went from strength to strength very quickly. In fact, Heather is still with us 6 years later at the ripe old age of 27yrs. And, it doesn’t look like she’ll be leaving us anytime soon!!