Ralph is a 14hh cob. We were called out to an urgent rescue late one night which involved Ralph, two Shetland ponies and a goat. They had all been dumped on a housing estate after their owner hasn’t paid the field rent. As if that wasn’t bad enough, all four animals were badly neglected. All underweight with horrendously overgrown feet. The police were at the scene of the dramatic rescue and all 4 animals were signed over to Jodie there and then. The team didn’t get to bed until about 3.30am that night after settling the animals into their new paddocks and it was with massive thanks to Steph, Sandi and Lynsey (our fellow animal loving friends) that we managed to secure them so quickly. The night we rescued him, Ralph was rearing up at the police and extremely stressed. He was frantic and seemed to be a massive handful. From the following day and with a belly full of hay, he was the sweetest pony ever. We quickly got him and the two Shetlands castrated as they were all entire males. Entire males are never good - risk of pregnancy, fighting etc.

Ralph is now living his best life. He’s put on weight and is loving being loved. He gets on with all the other animals and is a much loved member of Fripps. He’s an extremely handsome boy and even all the vets went silly over him when they met him. He’s only young so still has some growing to do. We don’t know if he’s ever been ridden but he was shod when we rescued him so he must have been used for either riding or driving. We are so excited to have Ralph with us. He’s a wonderful addition to the farm and one that we are very proud to have rescued!!

Frankie is a big beautiful cob. We were asked to take him in an extremely sad circumstance. His owner could no longer have him (we won’t go into detail) and she wanted him to live out his retirement somewhere where he’ll be cared for properly and loved. He has cushings disease, which means he’s on medication for life. He’s very old (27!) and he just needs a lovely life in the field with other animals. He’s slightly nervous (of course because this is all new to him) but he’s slowly getting used to us all. He’s so stunning! The plan is to put him in with Ralph soon as they are a similar size and can be companions. Our hearts melt for Frankie. He’s such a lovely boy and so handsome and we have so much love for his previous owner. We promise that he will have the best life ever here at Fripps.

Minnie May came to Fripps when she was found abandoned in a field. She’d been wandering around alone for 3 weeks and posts had been put everywhere asking for an owner to come forward. Nobody came forward and the local people caught her and called us. It’s very obvious to us that she had been abused as she’s terrified of people and flinches when you go near her as if scared you’re going to hit her. She was also lactating when she came to us which means she had recently given birth. We don’t know what happened to her foal; it either died or was taken from her. She had a real sadness in her eyes which broke all of our hearts. Daily she is getting better and better and she’s quickly learning to trust us all. She’s now living in a huge paddock with another pony and a donkey and she really is loving her best life. She’s content and well fed and gets so much love from all of us AND from the other pony and donkey. She’s the most beautiful lady ever and she will stay here for life.

Tallulah came to us when she retired from show jumping. She sustained an injury which meant she could never jump again and her owners wanted her to go somewhere where she would be loved and cared for and NOT jumped. Tallulah can still be ridden and loves going for hacks, she just can’t be jumped. She’s the most wonderful girl ever. She has bonded with Ralph and they are like an old married couple, joined at the hip and always grooming each other. She’s so happy here and gets so much fuss from everyone. Her name when she came to us was Kahlua but Steph couldn’t remember it and kept calling her Tallulah and it stuck.

Maximus is pretty much the Fripps mascot now. He’s know as Mighty Maximus. One morning Jodie got a message on Instagram to say that a foal had been dumped and left for dead at the side of the road. She immediately called the lady and asked what the situation was. The lady (Chloe) was at work by then but said someone was sitting with him and that she would leave work and go and get an update. Another well known animal charity had been called repeatedly but they had refused to help. Chloe and her sister Keely then drove to where he was. Meanwhile Jodie had worked out that his position was 45 minutes from the equine hospital, which was also 45 minutes from Fripps in the opposite direction. Jodie said to Chloe and Keely that if they could put him in their car immediately and meet Jodie at the hospital then he could be seen in 45 minutes, however if Jodie had to come and get him, it would be over 2 hours before she could get him there, as she would have to drive for an hour and a half to get him and then another 45 minutes to the animal hospital. Time was of the essence as Jodie could see from the photos that he was fading fast. Thankfully the two girls said they would bring him and exactly 45 minutes later he was at the equine hospital. He was so weak, he couldn’t stand up or even lift his head. He was seen to straight away (and had to be carried in on a stretcher). It was very clear he had been massively mistreated and also starved. All the vets later said that had he arrived just 2 hours later, he would have died. He had to have a full blood transfusion and lots of medication and a slow but steady feeding plan. After a week or so at the hospital he was finally allowed to come home to Fripps and we were all overjoyed. Jodie named him Maximus after the film “Gladiator” - she wanted a name that meant “fighter” as that’s what he is.

Sadly after a week at home, Maximus suddenly went down hill again and Jodie called the vets. They told her to bring him in as he would need a head X-ray. It turned out, after lots more tests and scans than Maximus had THREE more huge issues. Due to his mistreatment before, he had a fungal plaque in his guttural pouch, he had nerve paralysis in his laryngeal area and he had protein loss from his kidneys. All three of these things were life threatening but the fungal plaque was the worst. It’s basically a growth on an artery and without treatment would mean that at any point the plaque could cut into his artery and he would bleed to death from the inside. He needed surgery but wasn’t strong enough for the operation. The vets put him on some very strong steroids to try and build his strength and 5 days later he was strong enough. They had to tie his artery off above the plaque so that the plaque then dies off and can’t harm him. There followed the most stressful time ever while we all waited for the news!!

Thank goodness, because of the incredible vets, the donations from the public (which allowed us to throw everything he needed at him) and the speed at which Chloe and Keely got him to us, he recovered so well from the surgery and was finally allowed to come home again!!

Maximus is getting stronger by the day. He’s changing daily too. Instead of being the fearful, terrified, weak and dying pony we first saw, he’s now a cheeky, happy, loving pony who is trusting us more every day. There is a crime reference number in relation to the previous owners (who have never come forward) and if found they will be charged with animal cruelty. Maximus is a year old. He will never be as strong as a normal pony of his breed and he now has to be on mediation for the rest of his life. He also has to have all his food managed and specially prepared. His life span will also be shorter than normal BUT he can and will live the best life possible at Fripps for as long as he lives. We are so so so in love with him (as are all of our followers). He is such a fighter and has come through so much in his short life. We are so proud of him and from now on he will know nothing but love and kindness. He will never be hungry, he will never be abused. He will have the best of everything. Maximus has stolen everyone’s hearts.

We must say a special thank you to House and Jackson Equine Hospital for their expertise and kindness and for being the BEST vets ever. And also a massive thank you to Jennie and Nikki who found Maximus and stayed with him until Chloe and Keely brought him to us and of course a HUGE thank you to Chloe and Keely for dropping everything and bringing him to the hospital. Without all these people, Maximus wouldn’t be here now.

I don’t think any of us had seen an animal in such a bad way as the day we all met Maximus so to see the difference in him now is the best feeling in the world.

Of course, the biggest thank you goes to our incredible followers who donate and make it possible for us to continue to save animals like Maximus. Without them we wouldn’t have been able to afford all the treatment he needed. We are so grateful to everyone involved in his rescue !!!!

Leo is our huge gentle giant. He’s the biggest horse here but also the most gentlemanly. He came to us when his owner needed a new home for him and we all immediately fell in love with him. He’s so kind and patient and he loves all the other animals here. Nothing phases him at all and although he’s enormous, he’s so soft and gentle with everyone. Leo loves being taken out for hacks. He used to be a dressage horse but these days he’s happiest when he’s being ridden through a grassy field. He loves to canter too! Leo has become best friends with Minnie May our pony who was badly abused and also Johnny donkey. They all stick together in a little group all day and it’s so cute to watch. Leo is just wonderful and everyone who meets him falls in love with him.

Archie is our oldest equine. He’s a whopping 43 years old. When his owners asked us to take him as they no longer had time for him, we jumped at the chance as we knew he’d be the perfect companion for our amazing Maximus. Maximus won’t ever be as strong as a normal pony so he needs to be with someone old and calm. We introduced Archie and Maximus on Archie’s second day here and they’ve been best friends ever since. Archie has special feeding requirements, like Maximus; he has to have all his food made up into a slop (as he barely has any teeth left) and he is on medication too. He can’t eat hay or grass so we use hay cobs soaked for 12 hours instead of hay for him. Plus of course his soaked pony nuts. Being around Maximus has turned Archie into a teenager again and Archie has really given Maximus confidence. They spend all day cantering, kicking and bucking around their field and then they sleep in their warm cosy stables of a night. They are best friends and taking Archie was the best decision we’ve ever made. He and Maximus are both like brand new ponies, full of the joys of life and so so happy!

Clover was dumped in a field in Nazeing. The field wasn’t secure and she kept getting onto the road, leading to some very near misses for both her and drivers! We were contacted by a lovely girl named Vicki and her friend Janice to see if we could help to catch her (and give her a forever home). Five weeks, FIVE WEEKS it took us to finally catch her. The amazing Vicki and Janice were going every day to feed her and give her fresh water and then all of Fripps were going as often as we could to try and catch her. We tried every single trick in the book and nothing worked. She was so spooked by humans. We had a vet come out with a jab stick (a long stick with sedation at the end of it) and she couldn’t even get near her with that. Although Janice managed to get Clover eating out of her hand, Clover was just too smart and any other movement made her bolt. Finally we booked a vet with a dart gun to sedate her from afar but even that didn’t work! Sometimes with sedation, it can make a horse even more wired rather than sending them to sleep and this is what happened with Clover. Eventually on our second dart gun attempt on a different day and with a whole team from Redwings Horse Sanctuary, we managed to get a head collar on her and get her into our horse box. The drama wasn’t even over then!! Clover was so scared and shaken that the vets and Redwings advised us to take her straight to a famous horse whisperer to stay with him for a few weeks to try and calm her down and make her trust humans again. They were worried as she’s such a big girl and she was wild !! Off she went to stay with Toby who worked with her daily to calm her down. He uses very gentle and loving techniques and when we went to visit her we knew she was in the right hands. Toby thinks she was abused as she was so terrified of people. After three weeks with Toby she was finally allowed to come home to Fripps. She is now living her best life being fed all the hay and pony nuts and carrots she wants and she also has lots of equine friends. She lives alongside Ralph, Tallulah, Leo, Minnie May, Monty and Johnny the donkey. She extremely happy and is growing in confidence daily. She happily eats out of all of our hands and even walks up to complete strangers now. She is BEAUTIFUL!! She’s a Hackney Trotter Horse and is around 15.2 hands. She’s becoming more vocal and cheeky too. When she’s eaten all her hay and is ready for more she calls to all of us, doing loud snorts and whinnies until we give her more hay!! She’s very well behaved but we can still see the fear in her eyes. She will learn to trust us all completely but for now we’re just happy that she’s safe and loved and got a place to call home.

We are so grateful to House and Jackson Equine Hospital and Redwings for their help in this massive rescue mission!! Without them we would have never caught her!!!

www.redwings.org.uk