A five-year-old gelding who was rescued by World Horse Welfare as part of a group of vulnerable equines three years ago has been notching up some impressive results in the show ring with his new rider.
Cadbury, a skewbald cob, arrived at World Horse Welfare’s Belwade Farm Rescue and Rehoming Centre in 2021 and quickly adapted to his new life. He rapidly grew in confidence and blossomed with all the love and attention of the staff.
When he became available for rehoming, he was spotted by Lucy Blain on the World Horse Welfare website.
“[He was] a fluffy, little pony, flashing his half blue eye at the camera and pulling the perfect ‘rescue me’ face. I put in an application, didn’t get my hopes up, and carried on with the day,” explained Lucy.
“We were invited to the farm to meet Cadbury… he was very wary of me, and it took a good ten minutes of just talking to him before he decided it was acceptable for me to give him a pat.”
Once Lucy’s yard had been approved by a World Horse Welfare field officer and the paperwork was complete, Cadbury made the trip to his forever home.
‘Very wary of people’
“He was very wary of people, and it took me a good three to four weeks to get to a point where he was starting to come to me, rather than me having to sidle up to him slowly,” said Lucy.
“We spent the summer letting him learn the ropes of being a horse in the big wide world. He had his first baths, did more work on how to stand for the farrier, and learned about all the good treats (carrots are a firm favourite).”
Over the last three years, the pair has continued to develop their partnership and have developed a strong bond.
“At two years old, he was a different pony. Bold, brave and confident. He was a Houdini with fencing and could wriggle under just about anything. I concluded that this pony was probably quite bored, and so we began playing groundwork games,” added Lucy.
‘Really smart’
“As soon as I began working Cadbury in-hand, I realised we had a big problem. This pony was really, really smart. He picked things up so fast I couldn’t keep up with him. Most youngsters I’ve had take a good two weeks to get to grips with long reining – Cadbury took two days and he was off like he’d been doing it his entire life.”
In 2022, Cadbury won a local in-hand coloureds class with Lucy and was crowned coloured champion.
Since then, Lucy and Cadbury have consistently been in the placings at shows. They finished second in the in-hand CHAPS two-three-year-old class at the Royal Highland Show and were named overall reserve champion coloured in Cadbury’s first ridden showing class at Kirriemuir.
“The journey we have been on with Cadbury has been an adventure, one that I would relive in a heartbeat. He has brought us so much joy, happiness and laughter and I have had the most fun producing him. I am so excited to see what the future holds for him but regardless of that, he has a home for life with us. I adore every inch of him, and he has captured the hearts of so many people,” said Lucy.
