Sweet little Cadbury arrived at our Belwade Farm Rescue and Rehoming Centre in Aberdeenshire in 2021 as part of a welfare group when he was just a youngster.
The very friendly skewbald cob immediately came on in leaps and bounds with his handling and thanks to his groom, Cadbury’s confidence developed tremendously. He quickly grew to love having people around him and would come to call in the field and follow his groom for attention. The quietly confident skewbald cob was ready to rehome after a matter of months and was looking for a rehomer who had previous experience with youngsters so they could continue with his education.
In May, Cadbury met equestrian writer Lucy who decided to rehome the youngster with an open heart – and an open mind. Since then, Cadbury has blossomed and the relationship between him and Lucy has gone from strength to strength.
Here, Lucy shares her experience of rehoming with us and her journey with Cadbury.
“In March 2021, a horse I had had on loan with a view to eventing and competing had to go back to her owners due to an ongoing injury and I was left with the task of finding another horse. Since moving to Scotland in 2018 I had been quietly searching for my next ‘forever horse’, but had been plagued with bad luck, injuries and heartbreak. I had one constant in my retired jumping horse, Barry. I adored all 17hh of him, he was, without question, my heart horse and I knew nothing was ever going to come close to him and yet I kept searching!
“ I had 10 days before the loan horse was leaving the yard and no idea what I was going to put in that stable to make sure Barry wasn’t on his own. I scrolled through advert after advert, totally despondent. I was about to give up and resign myself to finding some sheep when I found myself chatting to a friend who worked for World Horse Welfare. She suggested looking at one of their rescue ponies to take on as a companion. I immediately fell in love with the idea. I was tired of riding, training and schooling. Barry needed a friend, and there were ponies fitting the bill in need of a home, it was a win:win.
“I went onto the World Horse Welfare website and scrolled through the ponies available at Belwade Farm Rescue and Rehoming Centre. That’s when I saw him – Stuart Little. A little grey Welsh pony that ticked all the boxes for us – additionally, he was adorable. I fired off an application and went to bed that night feeling very hopeful that I had found a good solution. The next day, I received an email from the farm to say that Stuart Little had found a potential home and was reserved. When I tell you my heart sank, I was (yet again!) bitterly disappointed. I returned to the website in the vain hope that another horse would appear, and there he was. A fluffy, little pony, flashing his half blue eye at the camera and pulling the perfect ‘rescue me’ face. I put in an application, didn’t get my hopes up, and carried on with the day.“
All of the applications we receive to rehome a horse are reviewed by our team at the relevant rescue and rehoming centre. If we think someone sounds like the best match for that horse, we will call and ask them to visit the centre in order to meet the horse. Once everyone is happy that the right match has been found, one of our friendly field officers will visit the potential rehomer and the location where they intend to keep the horse. Once our field officer has visited and approved the location, our vet will give the horse one last check before they can go to their new home.
“We were invited to the farm to meet Cadbury and just over a week later, with the yard already approved by the local field officer, we set off in the lorry to hopefully bring him home. I still remember walking round the corner of the big barn with the loose pens and seeing this tiny little foal-like pony. Having spent the last few years with horses that were at least 16.2hh, he looked even smaller to me! He was very wary of me, and it took a good ten minutes of just talking to him before he decided it was acceptable for me to give him a pat. One thing I was sure of from the moment I saw him was that he was coming home with me.
“After having a good chat with his groom and getting a bit more of his story, we went to bring the lorry round and sign all the paperwork. I still remember driving back down the A90, glancing at the camera and thinking ‘this pony doesn’t even take up half the camera!’. When we got home, it took us 10 minutes to unload him as he stood at the top of the lorry ramp completely bewildered.
“He spent the next two weeks glued to Barry’s side, in the field, even in his stable, he’d sleep right next to the wall where Barry tended to chill out. Barry was like this wise old grandpa horse that was showing this little pony that the world wasn’t all that bad. He was very wary of people, and it took me a good three to four weeks to get to a point where he was starting to come to me, rather than me having to sidle up to him slowly. We spent the summer letting him learn the ropes of being a horse in the big wide world. He had his first baths, did more work on how to stand for the farrier, and learned about all the good treats (carrots are a firm favourite).
“Just a few weeks after bringing Cadbury home we received the devastating news from our vets that Barry had lymphoma, and it was progressing rapidly. With no treatment (curative or otherwise) available, we knew that a very hard decision was coming down the line. On June 18th, I hugged him for the very last time as he left us for the fields in the sky. I was utterly heartbroken and without little Cadbury around, I’m not sure I would have looked at a horse again. He gave me a reason to get out of bed, gave me purpose and kept me putting one foot in front of the other.
“At two years old, he was a different pony. Bold, brave (sometimes a bit too bold and a bit too brave!!) and confident. He was a Houdini with fencing and could wriggle under just about anything. I concluded that this pony was probably quite bored, and so we began playing groundwork games. I always start all my young horses around 2.5 years with groundwork, bitting and-in hand hacking to gear them up for their ridden careers. As soon as I began working Cadbury in-hand, I realised we had a big problem. This pony was really, really smart. He picked things up so fast I couldn’t keep up with him. Most youngsters I’ve had take a good two weeks to get to grips with long reining – Cadbury took two days and he was off like he’d been doing it his entire life. In the winter of 2022, I entered him into a local showing show in the in-hand coloureds…he won his class and took in-hand coloured champion too with the judge giving him glowing feedback.
“His in-hand career started from there and he never walked away from a class without a placing. After just three in-hand shows, I threw him in the deep end and entered him for the in-hand CHAPS two-three-year-old class at the Royal Highland. I went with no expectations at all, I just wanted him to feel a ‘big show’ atmosphere and see what he thought. We arrived after a three-hour journey that should have taken 40 minutes and found his day stable. He immediately pulled away at his hay net, had a drink and then looked at me as if to say, ‘I’m good here, you go shopping!’ – I was surprised, but delighted, that he was so chilled. When our class came around it was a busy ring with some lovely horses and ponies coming forward. I went into the ring with the sole aim of giving him a good experience and was already so thrilled with how he’d coped with everything. He stood up beautifully, ran out well and kept his cool in a hot, busy ring. You best believe I burst into tears as the steward called us in to 2nd place. I was over the moon.
“My intention was never for Cadbury to be my main ride – I wasn’t even sure I was ever going to back him, but when my event horse, Mick injured his suspensory ligament and was diagnosed with a G5 heart murmur, it became clear to me that some unknown force was calling for Cadbury to take centre stage!
“Fast forward three years and Cadbury is now the cheekiest little pony with the most enormous character. He is a far cry from the timid little thing that came off the lorry that day. I backed him very lightly myself, then turned him away for the winter. I then re-backed him and he has just gone from strength to strength. This summer he was at his first ridden showing class at Kirriemuir. He came forward in a strong ridden coloured mixed class, was the youngest in there by at least 10 years, and still pulled first going on to take Overall Reserve Champion Coloured. He also placed 5th at a huge ridden coloured class at Perth Show, as well as third in his first dressage test. He has just had his first try at cross country and took to it like a duck to water, jumping over walls, ditches, steps and water without hesitation…I think we may have a little future event pony on our hands!
“The journey we have been on with Cadbury has been an adventure, one that I would relive in a heartbeat. He has brought us so much joy, happiness and laughter and I have had the most fun producing him. I am so excited to see what the future holds for him but regardless of that, he has a home for life with us. I adore every inch of him, and he has captured the hearts of so many people.”
Lucy wants to encourage more horse owners to consider rehoming. If you have been inspired by Lucy’s and Cadbury’s story, please visit our rehoming pages to see the wonderful horses and ponies who are currently looking for loving new homes.
