His former owner still donates generously every month and visits him whenever she is back in the area. He is now enjoying his retirement with his friends.
He has a young sponsor, Chloe, who regulary travels fifty miles to spend time with him. He loves the hugs and attention.
Recently, Eilidh, a member of Bracken's former family, made the following interesting remarks on our FaceBook page. We were delighted to learn more about his early life.
"We got Bracken from a riding school in 1996 I think and he was with us til about 2008. He was 6. We were told he’d been brought over from Ireland and had been neglected, left in a field with his tail in a bandage until his tail hair fell out. We also had a pony, Strawberry, and she used to beat him up.
My sisters did show jumping and cross country with him and he would jump anything, no matter how scary.
My dad used to ride him sometimes (like a sack of potatoes). He loved my dad and used to come galloping to the stables when my dad called him and would prick his ears up when my dad cheered him on around show jumping courses. Some people in the pony club didn’t like that, but I think they were jealous as he would get compliments at the horse shows.
He had some other special skills like destroying his expensive rugs and getting poo in strange places in his stable.
Bracken
Bracken
Bracken
Bracken and his sponson Chloe
Bracken 9/6/19
Bracken patiently waiting to get back to his field
Bracken paying one of his visits to the feed store.
He loves following us around for feeds and cuddles!
Bracken decided to have a walk down the track with us this afternoon.
Here he is meeting Eric at the field gate
You can pay through Paypal
to: mpetrie@blaikiewell.org.uk
(send to "friends or family" to save fees)
or by post: Cheque payable to:
Blaikiewell Animal Sanctuary, Eastland Lodge, Maryculter,
Aberdeen. AB12 5FS
OUR HORSES