Biscuits Story

(This excert taken from the Sandford Therapies website)

Biscuit is probably our worst welfare case to date, being treated in a way no animal deserves to be treated. This, understandably, caused him to have major issues - mentally as well as physically - that needed special handling and lots ot TLC to overcome. It has been a long and slow process; one that I doubt will ever really be over. However, Biscuit is one of the lucky ones, and after all he has been through, he has found the most perfect loan home we could have wished for for him and continues to go from strength to strength. Below is Biscuits story.......

Biscuit is a skewbald miniature Shetland pony. He was signed over to the charity after being cruelly thrown over a gate into a farmers field from the side of a transit van. He had a badly injured leg which needed vet treatment and was also found to have a nasty back injury. For a couple of days at his temporary home he was in shock and very quiet. Once at our centre he was stabled and his leg treated. He was becoming more untrusting of people to the point that if we tried to touch him, he would strike out and was terrified. We were able to get his back injury treated by a Equine Sports Therapist and he was put into a little paddock. After that we couldn't get near him. He was so scared and untrusting, not surprising after what he'd been through. Every time it seemed we were making progress, something would happen and we'd be right back to square one. Physically Biscuit was fine, it was just going to be time and patience needed to bring him round.

He looked a very sorry state but we couldn't get near him to do anything about it.
We were making no progress with him in his paddock, so we had to bring him into a stable again and try to win his trust that way. Our Welfare officer, Cathy, handled him daily, and at times Biscuit seemed to be settling down. We were now at a point where he would let her do things, grooming his back, rubbing his face, but that was it. He was in desperate need of a farrier, but if we tried to touch his legs he freaked. We also needed to get him gelded.
At this point we knew we couldn't do this without outside help, and called in Alison Sandford, a Reiki healer we had previously used with great effect on another of our horses.
Alison had previously given us Sanjeevinis for Biscuit which we had given him and noticed a difference.
By the end of his session with Alison, Biscuit was standing quietly in the stable with both Alison and Cathy, totally relaxed and calm. He was like a different pony.
Since then Biscuit has come on in leaps and bounds. He has been groomed, walked out, even bridled. And is still calm and relaxed and friendly. It is such an amazing transformation, we really have to keep pinching ourselves. Where before we couldn't get near him, now he follows us around the field and is taking an interest in people and the other ponies and life in general. Each day he just keeps getting better and better. It's fantastic, and I can't praise Alison's work enough.

We had a small setback with Biscuit when he became ill over the autumn/winter of 2006, and he retreated back into himself. It was necessary to send him away for treatment, but this ultimately resulted in him retreating back into his shell and put up back to square one. In the 5 months he was away, he had formed his protective wall again and it looked like this time it was going to be double work to get through to him.

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In Aug 08 we recieved a loan request from a lady, and the first pony we thought of was Biscuit. He sounded perfect for what she was looking for, to be a companion to her own horse on a private yard - an ideal situation for Biscuit, who would not be suited to a large, busy environment. And she had the experience with dealing with the issues Biscuit has, which was a major bonus for us. So the process was in motion, the stories told, and meetings set.

We are now a little over a month into Biscuits new life, and apart from a minor setback, things are going wonderfully. He settled into his new home very quickly, has built up a lovely bond with his loaner and is thriving on the one to one attention and the routine. We are all so proud of him, and how resiliant he has proved himself to be. His capability of forgiveness is very humbling. We are truly astounded by the speed at which he has taken to his new life, and so grateful that his loaner came along, just when Biscuit needed her most. Below are a few pictures of Biscuit with his loaner - it's hard to believe that this is the same pony that kicked our 6'4" Treasurer across the yard when we first got him!!