Easy Horse Care Rescue Centre

Why can't we be friends?

My Great Aunt used to say people are like liquorice allsorts, all different shapes, colours and flavours. Many people have problems getting along with each other such as their neighbours, workmates or partners and you even see it in the school playground. At times we also experience strong feelings of dislike, jealousy, love and aggression, and we are naturally drawn to certain people rather than others.
Many of our sayings such as:stubborn as a mule,you can take a horse to water but you can't make him drink i told dog new tricks, greedy as a pig free as a bird all relate to people comparing themselves to the behaviour of animals. The reason for this is, animals share many of the same emotions and feelings that we do. Due to the vast number of animals we live with here at the centre, we have more opportunity than most to witness this. It doesn't matter if it's a dog, a cat, a bird or a horse, whatever, they are the same.
Take Ernie the turkey for example, he has lived with us for over two years, very happy, great friends with Isadora the pig and Benson a rescued dog as well as our numerous chickens. However, he is now being stalked by a jealous male peacock because his two peahens (ladies) fancy Ernie rather than him.
Sam our new rescue blind dog, gets on with all the other seven dogs and our ten cats, but he cannot stand Black Jack, a young dog we took in last Summer. Fortunately Jack has got wise to this and has given up trying to be his friend, he just keeps out of the way now so he doesn't get bullied.
Then you have the love triangle of three of our rescued horses, Captain, Hope and Vinny, Captain being a male and Hope being female. Captain and Hope have always been inseparable from when we rescued them together, they shared the same field and their stables were next to each other as they could never bear to be parted. Last year we took in Vinny, a handsome middle aged horse, we thought he's quiet; we'll put him in the same field with Captain, Hope and Delilah, Delilah being a single female who was always playing gooseberry, we thought all four middle aged horses would get on well together. How wrong we were. Vinny and Hope fell for each other instantly, it was love at first sight, Hope no longer wanted anything to do with Captain,
he was devastated and just stood on his own watching them for about a week.
One day he decided he'd had enough and refused to go into the same field with them, he then broke free from his halter and galloped off. In the end, we left him to go free range as it was pointless trying to make him go in with them, he also refused to socialise with any of the other horses, which still continues to this day. However when it is time for them to come in at night, Captain waits for Hope to be lead out of the field, when he sees her coming he calls out to her, approaches her, and follows her in and takes himself in to his stable next to hers.
Then we have the special friendship of Valentino, our young Donkey born on Valentine's Day and Dexter our mule, they are inseparable.
Bronson, the horse we rescued three years ago, after his previous owner tried to kill him by hitting him on the head with a hammer and subsequently causing him brain damage, it took months to rehabilitate him here at the Centre and for him to learn to walk again and lead a normal life. When we were finally able to put him outside in a field he was very aggressive and withdrawn towards the other horses so we had to keep him separate. However young Harry,who was born in the field next to Bronson, changed all this. As the weeks passed Bronson became very curious about young Harry and one day Harry broke through the fencing to be with Bronson. We all panicked because we thought Bronson might hurt the young foal, however Bronson was completely calm and gentle around him, after this initial meeting try as we might we couldn't keep Harry out of Bronson's field. They became inseparable, Harry is now two and they're still together., Bronson absolutely loves young Harry, when Harry lays down, Bronson stands over him to protect him, he never lets Harry out of his sight, they do everything together, because of Harry, Bronson is a totally different horse now with no aggression and very happy.
When you witness these things it makes you realise even more that animals truly have thoughts and feelings, so therefore how must theses animals feel when they are abused, beaten, starved and left abandoned to die. Knowing all of this only makes us even more determined to continue our work here at the rescue centre and provide a safe haven for the horses, ponies, donkeys and all of other residents that reside with us here at the EHCRC Foundation.
Why not come and meet all of our residents, we are open to the public ever Sunday 1-5. Tasty hot food, cakes, teas and refreshments are available as well as merchandise and souvenirs, also take one of our very popular horse tours, free entry.
For more information contact Sue on 652021980 or email info@easyhorsecare.net
Visit our website at http://www.easyhorsecare.net