Rescue stories
Redwings Hits the Road to Wales
Between November 2008 and January 2009, Redwings' welfare team took the long road to Wales no less than six times to assist with four separate rescue operations across the region. More than 30 horses and ponies were carefully transported back to Redwings where their various, often challenging, physical and behavioural needs are being met by our dedicated staff.
All the rescue operations in Wales were carried out in partnership with local authority inspectors. Two cases, in the Wrexham and Denbigh areas of the country, had involved the emergency removal of large numbers of horses and ponies and prosecution of the owners. The horses and ponies had initially been boarded at local green yards until legal proceedings had been concluded, but many of the rescued equines had long term issues which needed specialist support and Redwings was the ideal solution.
Trixie was one of 49 equines rescued from chronic neglect (above) by Wrexham local authority inspectors. She has made a full recovery, but as an elderly mare she will stay in the permanent care of Redwings (below).
Two of the rescued horses from Denbighshire were Danny and Bruiser, huge stallions that needed a whole HGV horsebox to themselves for their journey. Danny was so nervous he could not be handled at all and Bruiser underwent surgery shortly after arriving at Redwings to remove an overgrown tooth that was causing him great discomfort and affecting his ability to eat. Both these stunning gentlemen have now also been castrated and are settling happily into life at Redwings.
Beautiful Shire cross Danny has made excellent progress in the hands of Redwings' handling team. Even just having a headcollar and leadrope put on was a really big milestone for him. A big, nervous horse can be a daunting prospect, but Jo (pictured) took Danny on as her special project and the two of them are now best of friends!
News about Redwings skills and ability to help quickly spread through the Welsh authorities. While still making our way back to Norfolk with some of the Denbighshire rescues, the phone was ringing with details of another case emerging in south Wales. Less than 48 hours later, all the horseboxes were disinfected and refuelled and the team were off again. A group of horses in Monmouthshire were showing signs of serious neglect and struggling to cope with freezing Winter conditions. Negotiating hillsides in the dark to rescue the horses was all in a day's work (or a night's work in this case!) for our team and soon this group too were on board our boxes and winging their way back to Norfolk. With just good food, routine care and TLC these handsome horses were soon turning heads and several of them have already been identified as ideal for Redwings' popular guardianship scheme.
The severely neglected feet of one of the seven rescued Monmouth horses
It was quickly apparent that several of the horses from Monmouth had once been very well schooled, this is Madac in his first week at Redwings' re-homing centre!
Having managed Christmas and New Year closer home, the team were back in Wales in the first week of January to help with yet another rescue. Full details of this case cannot be disclosed due to ongoing legal proceedings, but we can report that seven unhandled horses were removed from a property where access made the rescue particularly challenging. More than 150 metres of temporary fencing were used to create a tunnel from the field to our horseboxes, taking several hours to erect and dismantle.
Thousands of miles and hundreds of man hours have been invested by Redwings to support the active local authority inspectors in Wales and bring deserving horses back into our specialist care. This has been no small undertaking, but Redwings is delighted to be able to work in partnership with the authorities in Wales to offer so many deserving horses and ponies a new life in a caring home.
Report a welfare concern
If you want to report a horse, pony or donkey that you are concerned about, please see our get in touch section.
