Thursday, January 7, 2010

7th January, 2010 The D Factor


Anton from the Hampshire Animal Rescue Team asked me to put out some feelers to see if we could find a young filly that will be able to act as a "rescue pony" for their practical exercises as well as doing ride and drive. The filly above is one that has been offered for consideration by Horseworld and I am looking forward to going to visit her (if she is though to be suitable) in the next few weeks.
The ad goes as follows:
Training and “Rescue” Horse/ Pony for Hampshire Animal Rescue Team (Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service)

Anton Philips, Animal Rescue Specialist, is an experienced horseman and is looking for a quiet cob type filly foal to join the animal rescue team as a training and “rescue” horse for their practical exercises. She is destined to become a favourite with the public and will no doubt appear on t.v. programmes like Real Rescues. She will have an incredibly important role in the training of Animal Rescue Officers and trauma vets from across the nation.

The filly will be trained by Anton with input from me (Sarah Weston, RA) where required. The younger she is the better, and both of us are willing to work with her while she is still with her Mum to establish a good bond and trust. The ideal pony will have a solid if not dozy temperament and the hairier she is, the better. She doesn’t have to be absolutely bombproof from the outset but needs to be amenable to training as she will need to lie down when she is asked to and to accept being lifted off the ground with carefully designed equipment to keep her safe. Ideally she should grow to be about 14.2 hands.

Having completed her apprenticeship over the next three years, she can expect a very exciting and interesting life acting as a “rescue” horse. She will be based in Hampshire but will travel to shows and fayres to give demonstrations.

Hampshire Animal Rescue Team are a centre of excellence for training Animal Rescue Officers and Veterinary Teams. They operate at the forefront of developing equipment and techniques which aim to provide safer horse rescues and their work may potentially benefit every horse owner.

If you think that you have a filly foal or may have a filly foal on the way that could fulfil this role and you would be willing to donate her or sell her at a reasonable price for an extremely worthwhile cause, then please contact: Sarah Weston in the first instance at sarahweston.logg@virgin.net for further details.

Although Hampshire Animal Rescue Team can only accept a filly (for anatomical reasons!) they are particularly keen to consider foals that may be looking to be re-homed by busy and overcrowded horse charities. They would be happy to consider some sort of reciprocal arrangement whereby your charity or organisation would receive publicity and acknowledgement and to support events or open days (subject to the distance involved).