Badger

2020 | Piebald | Gypsy Cob | Under 13.2hh

Badger came to us in the summer of 2021, as a very late foal of the previous year.

He was one of six ponies we agreed to take in, following a call for help from our lead body The National Equine Welfare Council.

A multi-agency operation, involving several charities had taken place and a group of abandoned ponies had been rescued – our Trustees felt compelled to help in any way we could.

The ponies duly arrived, all in quite good condition – except for Badger.

He was fairly bright in himself at first but was mal-nourished, pot-bellied and with an untreated eye infection that had caused ulcers, his immunity was undoubtedly compromised.

Not long after arrival, he started to show signs that the journey had taken its toll and he became quite listless and developed a cough. It turned out he had a virus.

We isolate all horses and ponies on arrival as there are several bugs from which we must protect the entire herd.

Strangles isn’t the only disease of concern – Equine Influenza and Herpes Viruses can be just as hazardous for horses. We will write further on all of these subjects in the coming months.

With such a difficult start, we really had no expectations for Badger whatsoever, as despite worming and careful attention to his diet, months and months went by without any real improvement in his condition.

He then started to grow – which used up any spare calories – and so he continued to look like a waif and stray all through that first winter.

Thankfully by the time he had been with us a year, things started to look up and as you can see from the lovely pictures, taken in the summer of 2022, Dr Green (grass), did a great job.

Badger is now a completely healthy, chunky monkey and on the list of ponies to start under saddle, as soon as we have time.

It is hard to believe how far he has come – it is actually really hard these days to keep his waistline in check!