Joey - the Little Pony with a Big Heart

20/02/2021

Moon and I out for a walk. We are walking regularly and aiming for 5 km in the summer. Moon received very little hoof care in the early years of her life. She also lived on rich grass and was fed lawn clippings. She foundered badly. Xrays show 33% of her coffin bones is gone. She came to our farm in 2018. Before she came to us, she had intermittent hoof care and little training. She also lived in a grass paddock and the grass caused inflammation of her hooves. Initially she seemed to have imprinted an attitude of not moving because she has been in a lot of pain. She gets regular massages from an equine massage therapist and lives in a dry lot (no grass). Over the last 2 years we have been walking and long-lining. We try to walk a few days every week and are making a lot of progress. Two 2 days ago I was happy to see her bucking and trotting in the paddock when her favourite gelding came to the gate.

16/08/2020

Joey has a special moment with a special visitor. His understanding of children is unique.

17/06/2020

Joey the Pony playing with his new friends. He has recovered. We watch his recovery carefully - as he is missing teeth, we soak his feed every day. And as he has PPID (Cushings) he receives Prascend (pergolide) daily. Thank you everyone for your support

Joey the Pony Update Jun 14, 2020 Update on how Joey is doing by Paola di Paolo Joey, the pony we took in on March 7th, has now recovered and I would like to thank all of Joey’s friends and supporters who contributed financially and energetically to his recovery. Our goal in our Go Fund Me campaig...

06/06/2020

Joey and Sapphire make new friends today with Tucker and Fonzie

08/05/2020

Thank you for liking Joey's page - please share his story. No Pony should ever be hungry or neglected. Every pony deserves care, love, good food, vet care, and respect. Joey has been 'borrowing' an extra blanket from one of our other ponies. Today he is proudly wearing his new warm and cozy blanket. The temperature is dropping to -5C tonight and he needs to keep warm. It's heart warming to know that Joey has so many supporters out there now. Thank you again

07/05/2020

Joey will need to be vaccinated and have his teeth floated again. As he is an older pony and he is missing some teeth, he will always need to have prepared food. He will not be able to rely on hay for his nutritional needs. In the past, Joey has had laminitis - an inflammation of his hooves and thus he cannot be put out on grass either. He will always needs prepared equine feed balanced for his unique needs. Therefore, to support Joey and to pay for his vet bills, we have a Go Fund Me campaign. Even $10 makes a big difference for this little pony.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/this-pony-needs-your-help

This is Joey. Joey was left behind when a family did not want him any longer. I am Joey's fa… Paola Di Paolo needs your support for This Pony Needs Your Help

07/05/2020

This is a post from Lainie Fairweather who initially rescued Joey from an abusive situation in 2012. Thank you Lainie Fairweather for rescuing him and standing with all of us who are helping Joey. He has all our love and strength behind him now.

"I just saw this last night words cannot express how heartbroken I am. This poor sweet little pony was one I rescued 8 yrs ago.He was so abused I could not get near him. I kept him in a small area and sat with him for hours.Before Paola could start his farrier care she spent a lot of time just gaining his trust first.Bridles and halters terrified Joey and any sudden moves. With love and kindness he bacame one of the most gentle with children for lessons and Bday parties and the teens from the group homes and volunteers . He was adopted by a Police officer for her daughter and remained boarded at my rescue. Every morning I left the womans shelter and looked after remaining animals that where there and got my daughter on the bus.I had a home for Sappho and urged Joeys owenwers to move him but they where friends of my ex I could not remove Sapho as Joey would be alone and that would upset him and myself. I was told last fall that the family had lost interest and I again inquired to take Joey and my donkey Sappho here to my farm. I am not allowed on the property as per Dave's rule I even have to drop our daughter off on the road at end of driveway so I had no idea of Joey declining health and condition. I am so great full for Paola and James for coming to his rescue he could not be at better place.He is under the care of an amazing vet and will thrive once again with Love and kindness. I'm devasted every single time I see an abused neglected animal to see one that an I rescued and nurtured and love back to health is even more so devastating. For everyone who's children rode on Joey , parents of the group homes of children who he made their day for, anyone and everyone whose children played with and bathed him and painted on him for fundraisers the list goes on.Please Joey needs your help .Too many people have turned a blind eye that saw him like this and did nothing let's help Paola help him We are all blessed to have her looking after him he would have surely died let's give back to Joey anything and everything helps Thank you" ❤

This is Joey. Joey was left behind when a family did not want him any longer. I am Joey's fa… Paola Di Paolo needs your support for This Pony Needs Your Help

07/05/2020

Joey on March 6th - I went to where he was, with permission of the owner, and fed him and his donkey companion soaked timothy cubes. Even this one meal seemed to perk him up a lot.

07/05/2020

Joey and his donkey companion, Sapphire, love children. Sapphire came with Joey as they are a bonded pair. This is the day the arrived at our farm. They loaded without hesitation onto the trailer.

07/05/2020

This is Joey on April 23, 2020 - 7 weeks after he arrived. You can see he is putting on muscle and healthy fat. He is much happier.

07/05/2020

Veterinarian visit day - On March 9th just 2 days after he arrived at our farm, we had our veterinarian out to float Joey's teeth. 2 teeth were extracted. Many teeth had sharp points and hooks that were cutting his tongue and the inside of his cheeks. He also had rain rot fungus on his face, and was full of worms. We could not deworm Joey until he was stronger. We dewormed him on March 27th and saw bot larvae for several days in his manure. We also had his blood tested for general health and for Pars Pituitary Intermedia Dysfunction (PPID) or Equine Cushings. PPID can cause rapid weight loss as can poor dental health. Joey's blood tests revealed that he does have PPID and he is now on Prascend (pergolide). His blood work also indicated that he had low phosphorous, low calcium, low albumen, and high keratine levels. This means he was basically absorbing his own muscle to stay alive over the winter. These levels also meant that we had to be very careful as to how we began feeding Joey - our equine nutritionist advised us to start with soaked Complete Timothy cubes, and a small amount several times per day. To feed higher levels of protein could put this older pony's kidneys at risk. And to feed anything with high starch levels, could cause his already low phosphorous levels to drop even lower and lead to a heart attack. We began the refeeding program with 5 meals of soaked timothy every day, small meals. We gradually, over time and under the guidance of our vet and equine nutritionist added podium, beet pulp, easy cubes, and cocoa soy oil as well as salt and pre/probiotics.

07/05/2020

Joey's hay on March 4th 2020 - at his original home - hay seems moldy, coarse, and it looked like it had been there for a while - it was very hard and packed.

07/05/2020

This is Joey - I went to trim his hooves on March 4th, 2020. This is the pony I saw when I approached the paddock. He was skin and bone. When I put his halter on, his breath smelled rotten. I figured he had dental problems. I sent the property owner a text saying I was concerned about how thin Joey was. He, the owner, did not seem to have noticed. I gave him my veterinarian's phone number and said I would come to the appointment and that this was an emergency. He never called. Joey's hooves had not grown from November to March - whatever nutrition he could take in went to survival, and he was failing at surviving. With permission of the owner I went back each of the next 2 days with a bucket of soaked timothy cubes. Each time I went, my footprints were the only footprints in the snow around the paddock. Even though I had told the property owner that Joey was in poor condition, he did not go to the paddock to see for himself. Do people not care? Do people not see suffering? I don't understand.

07/05/2020