Ernie Update

....and meanwhile the Clock is Ticking
Anne is leaving in four weeks!  Panic is setting in as she is starting to realise how much she needs to do before she goes - presents to be bought, house to be tidied, bags to be packed....
I can't afford to be smug, because we are leaving a mere nine days after her - gulp!  We have a big family Christmas planned two days before departure day - really looking forward to it, but it's going to be chaotic!

We still don't know exactly when the horses are leaving.  Mullins should have a truck going to the South of France or Italy mid December, but it may work out that it is too early for us - if Anne is not there yet we may have trouble organising someone to collect the horses.  If that's the case, the horses will go mid January, when we will have the opposite problem of organising their departure from a distance.
Whatever happens, I'm sure it'll all work out fine in the end!

Anyway, the main reason for this post is that I got an update from Lisa O'Donovan, the ISPCA inspector who led the rescue of Ernie the foal (see Wagons to the Rescue).

Look, he has a roundy bum and you can't see his spine!

Ernie is doing really well, he has filled out and grown.  He's also developing a bit of personality - or maybe that should read attitude!

Here he is enjoying himself in the paddock at the Victor Dowling Equine Rescue Centre in Mallow, with staff member Chris.

Hasn't he got a completely different look in his eye in these photos?  He's carrying himself like a little horse now and looks bright and alert - a far cry from the dispirited little fellow who trudged up the ramp of my trailer three and a half weeks ago!

I'm hoping to call up to see him before I leave - I have a couple of tiny head collars and some rugs that may be useful to the folks in the rescue centre.  They assured me that they'll take any second hand gear they're offered - it'll all be used.

Lisa is convinced Ernie will end up with me some day... you never know, maybe I will need a companion pony at some stage or maybe I'll need a little pony for future grandchildren.....

(That last sentence is guaranteed to horrify both of my daughters!)

Huge thanks to Lisa O'Donovan for sending the photos and allowing us to use them here.