TikTok
2021 | Black | Welsh Cob | Under 14.2hh
To our astonishment, TikTok’s owner turned out to be in her eighties! It was remarkable that she had coped in the way she had – providing food and water without assistance. All during a time when she was overwhelmed by losing her husband to dementia.
Although she meant well, the responsibilities she had taken on with both ponies were just too great.
The team at Here4Horses want to be able to step in and protect horses and ponies, no matter what the circumstances. Your sponsorship of TikTok means we can continue to do just that.
We are so grateful to have Veterinary Surgeon Nicola Endersby, give her invaluable expertise and equipment free of charge and to Farrier, John Brannen for bringing his skills to our cause.
Please sponsor TikTok if you can – he will be with us for a long time as he needs careful, experienced handling and training before he is ready for a foster home where he can grow and mature, before starting his ridden career.
The story so far...
At the end of May, we received a call from a lovely lady asking for our help. She explained that she urgently needed a farrier as her 19-year-old pony Sophie was suffering from long hooves and her feet needed attention.
She also mentioned a foal that she had purchased in January as a companion for the old mare; it appeared his feet also needed attention.
The caller sounded desperate and we felt we needed to help if we could and so arrangements were quickly made for one of our volunteers to visit with our farrier.
Once Sophie had been attended to (see her separate story), we were taken to see the youngster and were shocked to discover a semi feral yearling in a stable.
TikTok had been purchased in January as a companion for Sophie, however, his extremely nervous and flighty behaviour made him quite dangerous and had led to his permanent confinement.
He had spent almost five months living alone without any freedom to run and play with his own kind.
Unable to catch him, or handle him in any way, his feet had grown very long and distorted, he was walking on his heels.
He had also outgrown the head-collar he was wearing and it was now embedded in the skin on his face causing small, infected wounds.
Thankfully for TikTok, his owner had recognised that something needed to be done as there was no question that he was suffering.
We made a brief attempt to catch him which clearly caused extreme anxiety and distress, before deciding that we needed to return when time was not limited.
Back early the next day, we spent time working with him to build a connection. TikTok was extremely averse to human contact and we needed him to have positive experiences.
We used techniques to help him understand what behaviour we needed from him and encourage him to be less fearful of us.
He clearly needed a great deal more time and careful handling and as his elderly owner watched us work, she soon recognised that she would not be able to cope with him any longer.
A discussion took place and the emotional decision to sign him over to our care was made.
We left and in the interim, his owner called us to ask if we could take Sophie and we felt that would be in her best interests too.
We returned the next day to collect them both and it took almost forty minutes of methodical work for TikTok to understand how to lead and eventually step over the threshold of the stable to freedom.
It was essential that we took the time to teach him to come forward when asked and stay with his handler, if we were going to load him onto the trailer which was parked a distance away and travel him safely.
We are pleased to say that all went like clockwork and the initial time spent training him paid off – resulting in a trouble free journey back to our base.
His rehabilitation began immediately and we will publish videos, update stories and pictures soon.
Likes:
Playing chase and bitey games with his new best pals Badger and Douglass – between nap times of course.
Dislikes:
Surprises – especially involving unfamiliar or loud noises. Those curly ears of his are very sensitive indeed!
