The Travelling Menagerie is an animal sanctuary based on a farm in Italy which provides life-long refuge for animals that need a second chance at life.

Lex is a valuable, successful, show-jumping pony suitable for children. Or at least that’s how he will be advertised.

Lex’s realistic fate: the meat market.

Read (and watch) Lex’s story and how we urgently hope to adopt him from his current owner who is boarding him at the farm, saving from his likely fate at the slaughterhouse - which is unfortunately the normalised way of disposing of animals who do not ‘meet expectations’ here in Italy.

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UPDATE 22/10/24

As those of you that are following Lex’s story are aware, we have until the end of the month to come to an agreement with his owner regarding the sale. Upon meeting our original target of €3000, we submitted our offer, however unfortunately this morning Lex’s owner has refused the purchase unless we provide more funds. This means we must now set a higher target of €5000, to allow us to negotiate with this man - a man who is only concerned in making the most money possible and has absolutely no regard for Lex’s welfare.

We would like to share the biggest thank you to every single person that has donated so far towards Lex’s rescue - please help us to fight back and reach the new target by continuing to share Lex’s story so we can save him from this man. ❤️

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The first time we met Lex, he took a cheeky nip of our sanctuary founder’s shoulder… in response, Lex’s owner hit him so hard he hit his head against a concrete wall. Our founder told the owner off, loudly. After her first ride on him, where she was dumped off twice and Lex showed clear signs of unhappiness, she managed to drag more information about his past from the reluctant owner, who admitted he had been sold on from a show farm in Holland because of his “little problem.” That problem being that Lex dumped off every rider who sat on him.

Lex arrived with 5 other horses from the same owner (that we have already managed to save from the slaughterhouse), in March 2023. Stemming from his trauma and mistreatment, Lex displayed aggression to other horses, dogs & humans (anyone that came near), constantly paced the fence line and just had a general inability to relax. It was stressful to watch for all of us, and the owners strict instructions about his upkeep and care left us with little recourse to help him. Lex was left out of the initial rescue effort from this owner because he was sent to a really lovely stables to trial there in hopes of finding him a good home. Unfortunately, after six weeks, he was returned to the sanctuary with confirmation of what our founder already knew: Lex was not suitable for even a competent, experienced child - becoming increasingly aggressive and unhappy the more he was worked & managing to dump off every rider that tried him.

On Lex’s return to the sanctuary, our founder had had enough. Lex was turned out with the herd and simply left him there to be a horse for months. We refused to ride him and made sure that he was physically fit and not in any pain to rule out those as causes of the stress and behavioural issues. Lex is perfectly healthy physically, but mentally traumatised.

Lex’s owner has made it clear that despite all the failed sales attempts he will continue to falsely (and dangerously) advertise Lex as a ‘perfect show jumping kids pony,’ - even requesting our founder sedate Lex when creating sale videos and showing him to buyers to hide his stress and aversions to being ridden in the arena (she has refused of course). Lex’s current owner believes that physical abuse is the solution to Lex’s behaviour, asking the founder (in a letter sent from prison) if she had ‘fixed’ his problem by ‘beating it out of him.’

In September, I arrived to volunteer at the farm. After his time of being turned out with the herd (and confirming Lex was physically sound), the founder asked if I would be willing to take Lex out on a trail. This is where Lex’s behaviour began to completely change. During our first trail ride I felt so safe that I took Lex for a canter in a large open field. Since then, he is the only pony that I have ridden on the trails and most importantly has never tried to dump me off. Lex loves being a trail pony. He likes that he gets to go out with his herd, that our trails are slow and that he isn’t being pushed to run faster, jump higher, turn tighter. He likes the variety in his life, seeing things outside the stable and that life isn’t all about work and performance, that he can just relax and be. He likes not having kids slamming on his back and pulling on his mouth, and that if he’s feeling good he can have a little bounce and I’ll just laugh and give him a pat. Lex is a good pony, a happy pony now, who has found a place and a job that suits his personality. He’s so good that I can take him as both lead or caboose when I guide trails and trust him to help me out with other horses, stand quietly if I need to dismount, and generally be a calming presence on the trails.

Lex no longer displays aggression, can be approached in the field for cuddles and has his besties he hangs out with all the time. He hasn’t paced or run the fence line in months & we can’t remember the last time we saw him put his ears back. Lex’s boarding ends at the end of his month, which is how long we have to save him and secure his forever home at the sanctuary. His current owner is being released from prison and will take Lex back and sell him to the highest bidder, with no regard for his, or his new rider’s future welfare.

We’re worried, for Lex and for any potential buyers (especially children) that buy this pony without being given a thorough and honest background on him. Again, we’ve already rescued five other horses from the slaughterhouse after this man after he deemed them no longer valuable. With your help we hope to also save Lex and provide him with a quiet, happy life and not be passed from home to home until he meets his realistic fate at the meat market when his ‘little problem’ proves unfixable… that or until someone awful comes along that really will ‘beat it out of him.’ We know that Lex will revert to his unhappy state if he is forced back into arena work. He will throw his riders off and show aggression, and he will end up at the slaughterhouse.

Lex’s history of trauma and mistreatment has led him to needing a very tailored and gentle approach so that he can continue to learn to trust other humans again. His life has value simply because he breathes, and we can save him from a life of being judged only on what he can do for people, and instead give him a life where his very existence is appreciated. Lex’s owner is point blank refusing to advertise him as a trail pony, so that has brought us here. Please help us please Lex.

Please note, any additional money raised from Lex’s fundraiser will be used towards his, and many other animals life-long care at the sanctuary - including paying down the extensive hay bill - one of the main cost of providing a forever home to our very much loved four-legged friends.

If you resonated with Lex's story we invite you to be part of this fundraiser and to donate now to save Lex's life.

Thank you so much for your donations and your support!

With love and gratitude,

Nikki & The Traveling Menagerie Team ❤️

Link to the YouTube video: https://youtu.be/q7v2mEP4Gqk?si=z7n1vx1BqBkLXtHm