Nigel and Emma went to rescue Wonder one early December morning in 2015 after having received a phone call about a lost baby pony roaming on the roadside, far from any place with other horses. He was exhausted and his hooves were bleeding from the long journey he had gone, looking for his mother.
Wonder has grown to be a beautiful pony, his dark patches have become much lighter and he is almost completely white now.
Ariel was found as lost and orphan pony foal in Ooty in 2016 by a young boy who thought he could keep her like a dog. She is now grown into a nice little pony that is getting trained in riding for small children. Photo is from year 2017 when she was a yearling.
The first orphan foal at the Hill View Farm Animal Refuge is Polo - born in 2009 to a Marwari mare in Ooty town. This mare, had been treated for plastic impaction colic at the Hill View Farm just some months before Polo was born and unlike many horses who suffer from plastic impaction, she survived and gave birth to this male foal. However, the mother rejected the foal and did not allow him to suckle milk. Owners of the mother horse soon found it too much work to keep milking the mother and bottle-feeding the baby, so they brought a 5 days old foal to the Hill View Farm. Emma Otter was only 4 years that time and so these two have grown up together and are now great buddies who enjoy bareback riding.
In June 2018 Nigel got a call about a pony that is unable to get up and lying down on roadside in Ooty town with a little foal running around in panic. Ilona went to see and found a pony mare that would not get up even after pain medications, IV-fluids and several men trying to assist her to stand up. Her hind legs just would not carry her. Since the little foal would not survive without milk and the mother was not able to stand up, we had to make the hard decision to put the mother to sleep and bring the little foal to the Hill View Farm. Marvel is getting his initial handling training by two active Silver Shoe Pony Club members who often spend entire weekends on the farm. Cypis-talli in Finland sponsors the care of Marvel.
In 2013 Aladdin's mother suffered a very difficult labor when giving birth to Aladdin, mostly because she was also suffering from serious plastic impaction colic at the same time. She died of intestinal rupture and prolapse of uterus the day after the little male foal was born. Aladdin was taken to the Hill View Farm Animal Refuge and was bottle - and later bucket-fed like we do with our orphan ponies. The milk we use for orphan foals is initially human baby milk replacer and then later on regular cows milk. Aladdin is Saara's favorite pony and she loves him a lot.
Annie came from Maharasthra in February 2019. She is a retired cart pony and was pregnant on her arrival. Summer was born on the 1st March 2019, just 2 weeks after Annie arrived to the Hill View Farm. Annie is gentle to handle.
Jackie used to pull carts until his owners decided to change into motorised vehicles for their transport needs. They had really looked after Jackie well, she was in good condition when she came - just needing for a new home. Jackie will be a great pony for small children to handle.
Rona is Annie's buddy, retired cart pony from Maharsthra and also pregnant on her arrival. She is more reserved about people than Annie but relaxes with gentle handling.
