Willow

Willow is a fantastic horse who was rehomed at eight years old from our Lockwood Centre for Horses and Donkeys to Charlotte and her mum.

Charlotte, who hopes to be an equine nurse one day, has been riding horses with her mum since she was small and has plenty of experience. However Willow is the first horse that she has been able to call her own.

Like so many of our horses, Willow did not have the best start in life and needed to be given time to settle into her new home. Charlotte remembers that in the first few months Willow was very uptight and did everything as fast as she could.
 

She was always rush, rush, rush!!! We knew that this was only because of her past, and we already loved her to pieces. 

Back to basics

In the video below, Charlotte takes Willow through the paces of her first riding lesson.

Charlotte and her mum took Willow back to basics with her education, as she had missed so much of it earlier in life. They spent months walking around quiet country lanes, getting to know her and helping her to relax.
 

Although there was only very small improvements at first, we knew we were getting somewhere.

Willow is so much more balanced now and she's mastered circles and is even cantering now. Willow finds cantering very hard because she probably was never asked to do it, only trot as fast as she can.

A brighter future

After lots of love and patient care, Willow is a changed horse. She still has off days if she gets confused or excited but she's learning to trust again and is really starting to enjoy life.
 

Willow can be a challenge but we understand each other. She loves us and smiles and she talks to everyone. Everyone at the livery yard likes her and she makes a sound like a hippo whenever she see us or anyone she knows.

The future looks so much brighter for Willow now. Charlotte planned to enter a sponsored ride with her in August 2011 and is hoping that they can win lots of events together too.
 

We will never part with her, she is one of the family. I feel like the luckiest girl out there.

Adopting a horse from the RSPCA

Sadly many of our horses have not had the best start in life and will need patience and understanding if they are to reach their potential.

If you think you could adopt a horse from us and offer them a second chance in life visit our horses and ponies rehoming pages.