Our Easter Visitor – & a Happy Ending!

It was the early hours of Good Friday morning when Joint Head of Section Sheila got a phone call about the lost pony.

Sheila said: “ The police came to the sanctuary in the early morning of Good Friday. Ian, our night watch, phoned me at 3:30am to go and help to catch the loose pony as he had been reported walking on the roads and wasn’t too far from the bypass. I got to work quickly and the police took me to the pony’s location. He had been secured by three police officers when I arrived.

“He was very friendly and allowed me to put a headcollar on. I gave him a check over for initial injuries or health problems then we started our walk back to the Sanctuary. It was on this walk that I started to refer to him as ‘Bob’, which was how he’s been known to us at the Sanctuary!

“He was clearly well-bred, in good condition and his feet were recently trimmed so we were hoping he was an escapee not a case of being dumped. I settled him in to a stable back at the Sanctuary and left him to contemplate his adventures under the watchful eye of Ian. I had scanned him for a microchip but unfortunately the scanner couldn’t pick one up. A few hours later, we put a post out on social media to say we had found a pony and we searched horsey groups for anyone saying they had lost a pony of ‘Bob’s’ description. We were starting to lose hope of finding an owner by Tuesday but then a friend of one of our Stable Staff was shown a post on Facebook which clearly showed that someone was looking for ‘Bob’! I immediately contacted the poster who passed me on to the owner. The owner was over-joyed! It turns out that ‘Bob’ is widely shown to county level and a prize winner.

“All of our staff have fallen in love with him as he’s such a character, but we’re so pleased that he’ll be returning to his loving family. It shows again how important places like Bleakholt are to be able to provide refuge and a safe haven for animals like ‘Bob’ and help to return them safely to their owners.”