Welfare & Rehoming

Redwings Horse Sanctuary is looking for experienced horse owners with room in their hearts and homes to rehome a rescued pony.

Due to the nature of Redwings’ recent welfare work, many of the ponies available to rehome are cobs and native type ponies between 12hh and 13.2hh. They are commonly available to rehome as unbacked projects, where their Guardians take on their ridden training, or as non-ridden companions.

In 2022, Redwings rehomed 154 of their rescued horses and ponies, a record number for the charity, including Redwings Olga.

Olga was just a foal when she arrived at Redwings with her mum, in 2014. Redwings offered a home to a large number of ponies who had been found sick and emaciated. The ponies were found standing in deep mud with a lack of clean fresh water, and most had no food at all.

In April 2022, Olga found a home with Guardian Sarah in Suffolk and, as their story shows, rehoming a rescued horse not only allowed Olga the chance to form a special one-to-one bond in her home, but also helped Sarah through the toughest time for any horse owner. Sarah had two horses, Connie and Comet. Aged 26, Comet’s health was sadly starting to deteriorate so Sarah approached Redwings looking for a companion.

Sarah said:

“ It was a heart-breaking time, but I knew I didn’t want Connie to be left alone. We had the home check, and the Redwings Field Officer was very understanding of our situation. We visited Redwings Caldecott in Norfolk and met two ponies. I would have happily had them both but Olga stood out to us with her amazing blue eyes, both slightly different. We could see she was a little character so we asked if she could come home with us.

“ We gradually introduced all the ponies over the fence and gave Olga the stable name Lily.

Once Comet passed, we integrated Connie with Lily, and I just don’t know what we would have done without her. She has helped to heal our hearts.

“ Lily is always pleased to see us, whinnying when we go to the stables or field and always meeting me at the gate. She loves a groom, especially under her neck.

“ There’s a window between her and Connie’s stables so they can see each other, and they groom each other through it. Lily even mirrors Connie’s routine in the stable, standing in the same places, which really made me smile the first day I noticed it.

“ I miss Comet terribly, but Lily has helped hugely. She is an absolute sweetheart. We feel honoured to have her in our lives and so grateful to Redwings for letting us have her, and for being so kind and understanding in our situation.”