Gizmo was a favourite with everyone right from the outset – even for people who had never met him! He had such a kind, calm disposition, that showed in his eye and people were understandably drawn to him.
Gizmo came to us in early summer 2023, following a call from a lady in Northumberland who was about to lose her land in a remote location – home to her visually impaired Clydesdale horse.
As a very small charity, we have to be extremely careful about what we commit to and sadly needed to explain, that it was not possible for us to offer help at that time. We suggested an approach to The Blue Cross and thought nothing more of it.
Then, only a few weeks later, we were approached by someone who had just lost a heavy horse and they were looking for a companion as a replacement. We were so surprised, as we rarely receive enquiries of this kind – and of course immediately thought of Gizmo. We were initially unable to locate a number for his owner, however, we contacted The Blue Cross who had also been unable to help her but were happy to contact our caller and suggest she got in touch with us again.
To cut a long story short, Gizmo’s owner was delighted at the prospect of help and things were now looking hopeful for him. We explained to her that although there would be an intake fee to cover costs relating to scoping for strangles, vaccinations and a period with us for assessment etc etc, we hoped a foster home was waiting in the wings for him.
The late Claire Robinson, our Chair of Trustees at the time, went off to Yorkshire to conduct the foster home check and was very happy to discover that the situation was perfect and ticked all the boxes.
Wendy, one of our other Trustees, then made the trip up to Northumberland and was immediately struck by Gizmo’s lone situation and some health issues that needed attention. She felt that regardless of the outcome, we should help if we possibly could.
Gizmo was clearly loved by his owner but there were a few issues which merited our intervention. This led to a Trustee meeting that subsequently agreed a fee with the owner to cover initial costs but taking account of the opportunity to transfer to the foster home.
He arrived with us soon after, thanks to the kindness of long-term supporter Louise, from L & S Transport.
His body condition was not as good as we’d expect for the time of year and a dental examination thanks to Nicola our Vet, revealed that he had some unusual features within his mouth that could influence his ability to process food. There was also a bizarre shard of bone stuck in his gum above one of his incisor teeth which had created a sore. He was scoped and then we wormed and treated him for feather mites; lots of little fixes that were important for us to sort out.
He then settled in very quickly – in particular, revelling in the company of other horses. He would happily groom anyone who would stand and let him – as you can see from some of the pictures here.
Then, unfortunately, the people that we were looking to foster him with decided they’d like a ridden horse instead and although Gizmo has been ridden fairly recently, given his eyesight issues, we simply couldn’t be certain that he would now be an appropriate candidate for them.
So sadly that option for him no longer existed and the lovely Gizmo through no fault of his own has turned into a potentially long term resident.
His health issues were subsequently very well managed and we continually monitored his vision, gradually noticing some deterioration in his ability to navigate his way around, depending on light conditions. However, throughout the summer and autumn of 2024, he caused several ‘near miss’ episodes – running into people when spooked.
This came to a head with what could have been a very serious accident. So, sadly, whilst exploring the options for this beautiful big lad, we decided that unfortunately, the time had come to say farewell. It was a really tough call for us as he was still very well in himself and very happy with his field buddies.
Safety around horses however, is paramount and being so big meant he was always going to have the potential to cause real harm. It made sense at the time for all three field mates to go together – it was a sad day indeed but with careful planning, we can safely say they all had a good end.
RIP Gizmo – it was a privilege knowing you.
