On Thursday 20/11/25 I received a desperate call, asking if I could take a pony on livery to prevent him from being shot. He had almost caused a major road traffic accident and the police had (allegedly) said that he needed to be shot. I was told that the reason he was due to him being maliciously let out of his field by people that wanted the land for themselves. Whilst we are a small CIC registered rescue centre, we agreed that he could come to my yard, on a full livery basis. For those reading this who are not familiar with the horse world, this means that the owner was supposed to pay us a fee to care for him and remained responsible for providing everything that he needed. We were not taking him into the rescue or taking ownership of the pony, as we are at capacity and this is not what we were asked. We were told that we were the last hope and that if we could not come right now he would be shot that day. We were told that the knacker man had already been out to attempt to shoot him, however he had been unable to 'get a clear shot in the dark'.

We immediately cancelled all plans, including clients, jumped into action and drove 2 hours to Norfolk. When we got there we were told that despite having owned him since birth, the pony was completely unhandled and had never even worn a headcollar before. We did not want him to be shot regardless so we spent hours upon hours working with him in freezing temperatures to teach him how to wear a headcollar so that he could be safely led on to the trailer. At 2am we made the call that it was best to come back the next day, again under a lot of pressure that if we didn't get back there as soon as possible we would be too late and the pony would have been destroyed. With veterinary sedation and two whole days of time and effort, we did manage to get the pony safely loaded. When we were at the field in Norfolk we discussed concerns with the owner about being able to lead him to the stable and that turning him out may be the best option, they were in full agreement to this.

Whilst en route to my yard, I was then informed that the pony had never been in a stable before, panics in confined spaces and would not even step foot in their open fronted field shelters. This confirmed that the safest option would be to turn the pony out, and they were once again in full agreement and did not voice any concerns about what (I now know was a regular habit for the horse) then happened. The owner's mother was supposed to be following behind to help me upon arrival, however she was over an hour behind me. As soon as I turned him out, the pony jumped a 5 foot high gate like it was nothing and continued jumping from field to field around the entire yard all night. I have since discovered that this was a regular occurance and how he was getting out of the field in Norfolk (as opposed to being let out), however I was not told the truth about this. I stood outside all night in -3 degrees to watch the pony and ensure his safety and contacted the owner, requesting her to authorise my vets to sedate the pony so that I could relocate him somewhere to one of my other fields as he was currently next to railway tracks and quite clearly unsafe where he was. All day his owner practically ignored us, refusing our request to authorise sedation (the vet was waiting for her call) and did not appear to care about the possibility of Patch being at risk of being injured, injuring another horse or the damage that he had caused to not only ours, but neighbouring properties. Eventually (after almost 12 hours of trying to get her to authorise sedation) she insisted that she was signing him over to me, and would be my physical and financial responsibility now. I told her multiple times that I did not want to own another horse, however my hand was forced into reluctantly accepting ownership of him as she had absolved all responsibility for him and was refusing to allow sedation, the only way to move him for his own and public safety. By law a vet requires the owner's consent to sedate any horse. I also could not take the responsibility of another horse, without having legal say on him and the owner made quite clear that she would not be having anything to do with him anymore, physically or financially. He was already at my yard so, both legally and ethically, I had a duty of care the pony.

Patch will need passporting, microchipping, gelding, farriery care to rectify potential damages from lack of trimming, and a lot of time and effort put into getting him handled. Gelding alone costs around £600-£700, assuming there are no complications but is essential for his welfare. There has also been hundreds of £ worth of damages due to not being told the truth about Patch such as broken post and rail fencing and my carefully managed grazing having been turned into a complete bog. With a national hay shortage, I could genuinely cry as careful managed grazing was imperative to ensuring that the limited hay available sees us through to next year's cut and I am now worried that we will not make it through. His previous owner will not cover any damages costs- whilst we will be pursuing the matter legally, this will take time. Please can you spare even the price of a cup of coffee to help provide Patch with the essential care he needs, and to attempt to rectify the damages caused through not being told the truth about him? Every single penny adds up. Thank you in advance!