Nemo

Nemo - The Wild Herd (retirement livery)

Nemo is a beautiful chestnut Welsh Section D gelding. He is 17 this year - his birthday is 2nd June 2007. Nemo is one of our lovely retirement liveries who moved to Springwood Sanctuary in October 2023 from Surrey with his bonded buddy Champ. It is our honour to give this sensitive and huge hearted horse a forever home here with freedom to roam and to thrive with his now bonded herd. Clare is his human guardian. We are very grateful to her and Jonathan for all their support of the horses at Springwood.

Nemo’s past (in Clare’s words):

Nemo is a Welsh Section D who was born on 2nd June 2007 in High Wycombe. Prior to October 2023, he had never been to Wales. He was just left in a field by the breeder, alone I suspect, probably having been taken away from his mother far too early, and generally not cared for. I don’t think he really had any human contact and seemingly very little food. In February 2011 he was given to a relative of the breeder to handle, back and sell. At that point he was very skinny and covered in rainscald.

In July 2011 he came to me, already quite angry with humans and with a huge food anxiety issue. He had been backed but not really done much else. Nemo is one of the less common type of pony who, when he gets nervous or worried, gets a bit aggressive and pushy. He doesn’t retreat into himself or shut down like a lot of horses, he will react just in case something is going to happen that he doesn’t like. Despite his bravado, he is quite an anxious pony who needs plenty of reassurance.

He found the move from no human contact to being a domesticated pony quite an ordeal and it tended to come out in the form of nipping, barging and generally types of behaviour that humans labelled as difficult. Handling Nemo has always been quite tricky. I struggled to be able to get him to feel safe walking out with me when something stressful happened. His anxiety sometimes surfaced out of the blue and occasionally was more than I could handle.

Initially Nemo lived in a small herd and, in the early days, he made friends with a lovely grey mare called Bluebell. They were very bonded- Nemo likes to be mothered and cared for by mares- until Bluebell was forced to move fields because it was more convenient for the yard owner.

In 2013 Champ came to join our family and after that the two of them shared a field, sometimes with others and sometimes just the two of them. In 2017 we moved fields to the other side of Epsom and the two of them lived on a track system that I created. I struggled to be able to take them walking far enough to exercise them , enrich their lives and relieve the boredom of being in a 2.5 acre field 24/7. Added to this, Nemo still didn’t really like being on the other end of the headcollar when things got stressful. He tolerated it because what we did was fun- we foraged mainly and went on walks.

When my hips got bad in 2023, I turned to Jacqui and thankfully she allowed my boys to go to Springwood as liveries.

Nemo's life now (still in Clare's words):

Since being at Springwood, Nemo has absolutely thrived. He embraces his freedom and has found it quite a relief not to have to be on a headcollar very much. It took a while before he wanted to reconnect with me. He needed to feel safe and know that he was free at Springwood forever. He is still close to Champ but he has widened his horizons and is particularly close to Bonnie who is a beautiful gentle mare who takes care of him. In turn he gives her lots of love back. Nemo fully integrates himself in the herd, although, unlike Champ, some of the bigger boys worry him a bit.

Recently though, I have done lots of energy healing, essential oils and red light therapy with Nemo and he has released a huge amount of his deep seated anxiety. He is now much more peaceful and mostly amenable with all of the herd. Like Champ, he is quite an assertive member of the herd.

Jonathan and I visit the boys at least every 6 weeks and it is so wonderful seeing them enjoy the peaceful freedom and herd environment and the interest of being able to move around, forage and care for themselves but in a safe space where all of their needs are met. I adore my beautiful Nemo and the recent reconnections that we have had have been really special. Like Champ, he communicates really clearly that he is happy and glad to be living the life that he does. He has so much love to give and now that his anxiety is releasing he gives that love so much more readily.