Thirty-one ponies were close to being auctioned off that they were already at the auction yard in Alberta.
Their owners unable to feed them due to layoffs from COVID-19
Now loving homes await. Humanity for Horses‘ Rebecca Sanesh made a last-minute plea on Tuesday to save them and CHEK News viewers responded like she never dreamed.
“What are the odds of actually pulling this off?” said Sanesh.
“I’m just so amazed,” she said.
The 31 ponies were all saved, including a young foal, and several pregnant mares after CHEK News’ story aired and funds poured in to buy the animals and truck them to BC.
“We’re super, super excited,” said Campbell River resident Cassidy Graham.
“Mainly because we get to save a horse.”
Graham is adopting a pony to be a companion to her horse Smarty.
“We’re adopting Jack. He is the one-eyed horse seen in the last interview that CHEK News had and we’re super excited,” said Graham.
The McArthur family of Metchosin felt they had to get not one, but two.
“So we’re gonna bring them here and the kids are going to help me look after them,” said Helen McArthur, whose children are 6 and 9.
“And save them from the situation that they’re in,” she said.
Another four ponies are going to Powell River to be used in Equine Therapy for people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
“I just think that’s such a phenomenal job for them,” said Sanesh.
“So hopefully they’ll have a good life,” said Powell River resident Trevor Kosloski.
“And lots of attention.”
The first load of ponies left Alberta just hours ahead of the auction they were to be sold in.
“Thank-you from the bottom of my heart and these 31 ponies,” said Sanesh.
Twenty-two ponies have found homes and eight still need their happy endings.
Meanwhile Equestrian Canada has warned thousands of horses that wouldn’t otherwise be sold are at risk because of COVID-19.
Sanesh said she will try to get more to safer spaces, having seen now that good homes are out there, even in these toughest of times.
Skye Ryan
