Westwoods dog walks - east devon".

30/03/2023

Facts!

19/02/2023

Interesting!

31/01/2023

30/01/2023

06/01/2023

There is an old pony in a big pen by the barn. He has no real purpose. No kids ride him, he is not a companion to another old horse.

We have no history together. He came into my life by happenstance. There are no fond, warm fuzzy memories. I owe him nothing. But he’s polite and kind, and nickers to me as I come out the door in the morning.

He eats a princely sum of special food, and has a premium round bale of irrigated grass that the other horses can only dream of. His water is fresh, and warmed in the winter. I’ve gone out there late at night to make sure he has food, and he’s the first thing I attend to after morning coffee.

Why? Why not send him to the sale where ‘someone’ will want him? At 40 cents a pound, he’d be worth a nice steak dinner and drinks in town. They’ll load him on a truck with 30 other old ponies and horses, and somewhere down that line, if he doesn’t fall from his bad knee and get trampled in the transport, he will become dog food.

There’s a bum calf in our scale house on this cold frosty night. He’s little and scrawny, with p**p stuck to his butt, and a bit of a runny nose. There’s a heater in there keeping the temp above freezing. In the morning I’ll make him a bottle of warm milk replacer and try to convince him to eat some of the pony’s special food. Bob will clean his little house and put down fresh bedding. It would be easier to have left him in the field with the 500 bigger, stronger calves, to steal milk from the occasional tolerant cow, to eventually freeze to death and feed the coyotes that lurk about the herd for just such an opportunity.

There is a wild kitten in the barn who most likely jumped off a utility truck a while back. We’ve been leaving food just for him, and making sure the heated water bowl is full, so he doesn’t have to go outside and perch precariously on the horse waterer to drink.

I guess we sound like saps, the old cowboy and I. Sort of wimpy and un-ranch like.

I guess we are. But at our age, with certain infirmities starting to creep into our daily routines, and the realization that we are not perfect, we are thinking that kindness is a virtue and care is our purpose.

Care of not just the healthy robust animals that make money and pay the bills, but care of everything we are capable of caring for - those creatures that, like us, are in need of a bit more attention to get through the day.

We didn’t go about seeking these creatures- they came to us and landed here not of their own choosing, or ours. But here they are, and off I go to town to a business that provides enough to buy the expensive milk replacer, premium hay, and special pony food.

There may be some karma in all this, or maybe not, but in the end we’ll know we did the best we could for those that needed us.

Peace. Really, I mean it.

04/11/2022

This is so true…. And yet every day now we are getting multiple calls from people wanting to give up their dogs. Lock down changed the outlook of rescue in the UK, it’s not just bullbreeds being given up in mass numbers it’s ALL BREEDS. Some have genuine reasons that anyone would empathise with but most are just people who really can’t be bothered to put themselves out in the smallest of ways to accommodate dog ownership. I so wish people would honour their commitments….. you went out and you CHOSE to bring home a dog, your dog had no say in coming to live with YOU.

You want to save a dog’s life, find a way to keep yours!

01/11/2022

Same dog, different days. Rescue matters!

20/10/2022

10/10/2022

🤣🤣🤣🤣

21/09/2022

If you can't make them part of the Family then don't have one!!!😥🙏

19/09/2022

Her Majesty and her dogs 🐕

07/09/2022

And so it continues. We took this girl from another rescue this morning. They were collecting another dog from the pound and couldn't leave her there. As usual had multiple litters then dumped when no longer needed. Described by them as one of the most traumatised dogs they had seen for a while. She just wants to disappear.

We got you girl . You will soon have a name and lots of love

06/09/2022

Truth ❤️

11/03/2022

Omg!!!! Just walked Elio and Jerry in this weather.....everything now in the dryer, I have to say though I found the whole experience very invigorating and uplifting...strangely 😂🐕🙏

07/02/2022

My first doggie client Jerry, have walked Jerry 6 times now and he is a little lovebug

11/01/2022

10/01/2022