I am sure most of you already know what this blog post is going to be all about if you have been following me on Instagram for the last 2-3 months… And I am sure you are as super excited about it as I am!
Introducing.. Adie!
Yes.. It is true what the title says.. There is a new kid on the grid for Country Frantics!
This is Adie, he is a 4 year old Standardbred skewbald gelding and he is the new addition to my family! He is currently standing at 14hh and I am not quite sure if he will get any bigger but that doesn’t matter.. I rescued him around 3 months ago from the RSPCA after seeing him advertised on the website. I wasn’t really looking for another horse as such. I had in mind that I would like another equine addition but I wasn’t really ‘looking’ until I was scrolling through the RSPCA website and saw little Adie up for re-home. His markings caught my attention straight away as I have a soft spot for skewbalds and he was not a cob type! I clicked on his advert and it said he was a standardbred.. Instantly I was excited as my current horse Buddy is a standardbred and I think the breed is lovely so I got on the phone right away to the centre that he was staying at!
I called the centre and spoke with a girl that was looking after Adie and explained to her what my intentions were with him and that I already owned a horse of his breed. They were really keen for me to go and view Adie but due to him being so far away and not being able to go and view him at weekends I had to arrange to go and view him a day in the week.. I arranged to view him that Monday! I had no idea what to expect when I got there as he is unbroken and young. When I arrived Adie was tied up eating a haynet by the stables with his little paddock pony friend Bounty.. You could tell they had recently bathed him as he was gleaming white! They had previously warned me that Adie was head shy and nervous around new faces so I took a calm approach to him with that in mind.. Adie instantly took to me! He was rubbing his face on me, nudging me, letting me touch all over his body – Even the ladies that worked at the centre said that he has never taken to a new face the way he has taken to me! I groomed him for around 10-15 mins while chatting to them about Adie in general and some of the other horses at the centre.. I then walked him out to his paddock and put him in the field and we came across a tractor on the way.. He just stood there starring at it and snorting and I had no idea how he was going to react but he did not want to walk past it! He put his head down to eat the grass and I tried to reassure him that it was nothing to worry about – Eventually I managed to convince him to walk past it and even that in itself was like he trusted me straight away! I let him off in the field and him and Bounty went off to graze but Adie kept coming back to see me at the gate.. One of the girls said to me ‘You have to have him, he’s chosen you as his new mummy‘ and instantly I knew that was true. I walked down the fence line to get some pictures of him before I left and he kept walking up and down with me.. From that moment, I knew he was coming home with me! I secured him and he was to come home the following Monday!
He kept walking up and down the fence line with me..
Little did I know how big Adie’s rescue story was until the RSPCA got in touch and wanted to do some video footage of Adie at his new home and interview me for the press as thousands of people had followed his story and the RSPCA wanted to update everyone with how Adie ended up finding his forever home! Due to this they agreed that they would drop Adie to me on the Monday at 2pm.. I was super excited but nervous at the same time for Adie to arrive! The horse box turned up and there he was, in the back with his little friend Bounty who came along to keep Adie company on the long drive! They walked him off of the horse box and handed him to me – I walked him through the yard and it was like he had always been here! He was so settled and I walked him straight into his paddock! I let him off and he just put his head down to graze.. Then all the other horses went running over to the fence line to greet this ‘cow looking’ pony.. They were all trotting around the field together and it really did pull on all of our heart strings as Adie seemed so happy!
Adie & Buddy meeting for the first time
The camera crew didn’t end up coming when they dropped Adie to me so in between re arranging and having Adie home with me I did a lot of research on Adie’s story.. I was in utter shock and felt sick to the bottom of my stomach that my beautiful pony was found in such a state.. On Adie’s advert it mentioned that Adie was found covered in mud in a field by himself but I did not know the extent of this until I read more online.. Adie was left for dead in a farmers field, he was collapsed surrounded in mud and he couldn’t get himself up, he was minutes away from dead. Luckily, a dog walker found him on New Year’s Eve and called the RSPCA straight away to get help for Adie which was not looking promising at the time. It took 5 people to get Adie up using a horse rug to lift him as he had 0% body fat and couldn’t even lift his head.. They managed to get him up and onto a horse box straight to intensive care and it was very touch and go, they weren’t sure if Adie would survive this!
Underweight, malnourished and suffering from a severe worm burden against all odds Adie managed to fight for his life with the help from the RSPCA and the public that donated money for Adie’s treatment and he survived! It took weeks/months to get Adie to stand by himself.. Every couple of hours he had to be lifted off of his stable floor by a team of veterinary nurses to stop his organs from giving up! Once Adie was stable and responding well to his treatment he managed to stand by himself and he was ready to go to an RSPCA re-homing centre ready to find his forever home! His story was all over the internet, in all the horse magazines and on the BBC – They let him out in the paddock and he was cantering round for joy! He probably couldn’t believe his luck that he was being loved and cared for by the RSPCA. I then found him and the rest was history…
Adie has settled in really well with me, growing in confidence and creating a strong bond between us daily! Adie was very spooky when he arrived with me, he now takes everything in his stride. He picks all four hooves up for me now instead of trying to kick out or fall on top of me and he has worn a rug in the field and in his stable. He likes coming in to his warm stable at night with a haynet and he is learning to keep his stable clean! He neighs for me every time I arrive and he is just a pleasure to have on the yard. He is so friendly with all of the other horses and all of the people that approach him. He has even made friends with the yard dogs and is good around children. We have a long way to go but I can see a bright future for Adie and I!
I would just like to say a massive thank you to everyone that donated money towards Adie’s treatment, everyone that followed Adie’s story, the RSPCA and especially the lady that found him and named him Adie after her friend that sadly passed away. He will keep that name, I promise. It suits him! I want to say thank you for persevering with Adie and believing that he could pull through, without you all I wouldn’t have such a lovely pony in my world now. I will post regular updates on my social media on Adie’s journey and I would love for everyone that had their hearts touched by the beautiful Adie to continue to follow him and support him in his new life!
If anyone knows anything about who did this to Adie then please come forward and call the RSPCA because they are still trying to find out who did this to him, he needs the justice he deserves.
Thank you for reading, until next time..
Francesca x
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