Springwood Sanctuary

Blue Moon

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Blue Moon is a beautiful 13.2hh grey Irish cob. She is 11 years old – her birthday is 1st May 2013. Blue Moon has been with us at Springwood for the longest of all the other herd members. We rescued her in 2016 when she was just 3 years old. She was the inaugural herd member Missy’s very bonded friend and has welcomed many horses, ponies and donkeys into the sanctuary with love and care. Blue is a gentle, sensitive pony with a strong sense of self and demands respect and autonomy… ethics which the sanctuary is founded upon. Blue Moon came with many challenges and was quite an untamed wild soul who didn’t trust anyone. She soon learnt she was in a safe, loving place where she could be vulnerable and trusting and live her best life with the security and safety of being in a herd. Blue Moon loves her hind legs scratched, hamstrings massaged and tummy rubbed. She enjoys selecting healing herbs and especially loves dried calendula flowers, peppermint and apples. She used to blow bubbles in water buckets when she drank and still occasionally does this. She rests deeply lying down with Jacqui and the herd. Recently she has become very close with Lady, mutual grooming and resting together often. She loves Kati and the donkeys and has taken Charlie under her caring wing helping him to integrate into the herd and to feel loved and cared for. It is my absolute honour and privilege to care for this beautiful, sensitive free spirit and to earn her trust. 

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Blue Moon's past: 

I would like to share this story from our precious girl Blue Moon's perspective and have written these words from the past I know of and from my feelings when connecting with her over the years about her trauma being seen, released and healed. 

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Blue’s story:

I was born in a field and saw no humans til I was a few days old.  It was just me and my family. My ma looked after me, fed me, kept me warm and introduced me to the others.  They were fun and loved to play with me.  But all around there was a foul smell of fear.

 

Ma kept the humans away from me by stamping and snorting, twirling around fast and kicking out – she was quite spectacularly brave! But the others were bullied and thrown to the ground. Ma showed me how to be brave and fearless like her – how to fight back and not let the humans touch me.

 

They tried to throw me to the ground too and told me they wouldn’t let me be like her.  They’d “tame” me from a young age. She was “good stock”, she made good looking foals, but was far too wild for even these monsters to tame. Despite her having other foals, she often broke free to come to me and together we fought them.

 

One day after about two summers of being together, her fighting and protection of me became too much for them and they shot her.  I broke free and in the panic galloped for my life.  Suddenly cars with blaring sirens and blue flashing lights were chasing me.  Other cars and lorries rushed past me in all directions.  It was completely terrifying.  They all seemed to close in on me til the only place to escape was into a deep ditch that ran alongside a busy motorway slip road.  I fell … a long way down. Everything went black.  When I woke up straps were being tied around me, lights were shining on me and there was shouting – I’ve never felt such complete helplessness as a metal arm of a crane lifted me high into the air.  And then I felt a sharp pain in my neck of a sedative needle and everything went blurry.  I sensed being driven a long way, arriving at a place with even more horses than at home – but no familiar faces – and no smell of fear.  I made my way unsteadily to the back of the barn and kept myself safe by lashing out at any humans or horses that came near just as my ma taught me.  No one was ever going to touch me again. They said I didn't have long to live, that I'd be shot like my ma as no-one would want me or be able to take me in. I didn't care. Better that than being their slave like so many of the others of my kind. 

 

Then one day Jacqui came and it seemed like the only horse in the whole barn she saw was me. She walked slowly towards me, gently passing the other horses and ponies standing watching her - and something in her quietness reassured me that I was ok. I felt her peacefulness and her open heart – her respect for my broken heart and I knew she wouldn’t try to touch me. She stopped several paces away from me and I took some tentative steps towards her, intrigued a little. I breathed out so she could feel my breath on her face. She said I was safe now and that I could be with her forever - to be exactly who ever I wanted to be.

I didn’t know who that was or how that would be, but it sounded safe and my heart dared to open a little and to hope.

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Moving to Springwood: ​

I was to be a companion to a beautiful, large, sleek thoroughbred whose name was Missy. Missy told me that she too was a wild one when she met Jacqui. She used to rear up on her hind legs and lash out when humans tried to train her. She'd lost trust in them all since her awful days in racing and the subsequent painful and terrifying failed attempts to breed from her. They said she was also going to be shot. But Jacqui found her, rescued her and had been gentle and understanding, she had listened and let her choose - something no other human had done. It had changed everything for Missy and she began to enjoy her days with Eddie the big, gentle, huge hearted horse who was her caring companion. Missy's heart was broken - Eddie had just passed over very suddenly from colic and she was alone. She welcomed me in and soon we became friends, looking after each other in a loving, protective way. Missy was right, Jacqui earned my trust slowly, more and more each day. Charlotte, Will, David and Ollie came and sat in the field with me too and I soon learned that this whole family were gentle, kind, caring beings. They understood what I needed - space to just be a pony, without expectations. 

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After a short time I discovered that the apples and carrots Jacqui offered were tasty and a bucket was something not to be afraid of. The hay was good and I could distract myself eating it when Jacqui sat nearby. One sunny day Jacqui lay down and stretched out her hand towards the hay and I dared to sniff it and touch her. Little Ollie dog crept towards me along Jacqui's back and we had another special moment of connection together. These moments increased as my trust and confidence built. Charlotte and I enjoyed quiet moments together too and then Will and David too. I learned that touch from these humans was good - they could scratch places that were hard for me to reach and they didn't follow me if I walked away when I'd had enough. After a little while I chose to have a headcollar on and go for a quiet walk down the lane with Missy to explore and forage tasty treats in the hedgerows. Another day I let Jacqui lift my leg to look at my hoof and in time for Mark the hoof trimmer to do the same. And then one day Jacqui came to the field to let Missy and I know that we were to have company - several other hairy chunky cobs like me! Missy was to be the wise matriarch and not allow herself to be pushed around - she heard and she completely embodied her new role perfectly - often demanding half of the shelter to herself whilst all us other ruffians had the other half! I loved mutual grooming with Maggie and Rowan and playing with Benny who was young like me. 

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Time went on, we moved to a bigger home that gave us even more freedom and enrichment to explore different places, woods, tracks, interlinking fields, barns and stables to just choose to come and go from whenever we pleased ...  more horses and donkeys came and we all helped them in the same way that Jacqui had helped us. Missy began to open her heart more and allow mutual grooming and being vulnerable - I helped  her with that, as well as helping lots of new ones - it is a very special role and I love being trusted with this. The donkeys and Kati are fun and we four often explore, graze or rest together. We all moved again to Wales 4 years ago to even more space and even more enrichment of hills and hedgrows, barns and shelters. I lost my darling Missy last year, just after Charlie had come to live with us. I took Charlie under my wing and helped him grieve his mother passing, and he helped me grieve my beloved Missy passing too. These days I love Lady's quiet energy that is so like Missy's in many ways. We care for each other and mutual groom a lot. 

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I still need my space and I still need absolute autonomy over my body. I always will. I am after all free spirit and a wild pony at heart. 

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