Mischief arrived here frightened and unwanted. Getting near Mischief has proved to be a battle, even using the traditional food bribe method. Perhaps the most frustrating thing has been trying to overcome the psychological damage she has suffered for some time. She has an intense distrust of humans - I have never had an animal look at me the way she does, and it breaks my heart to know that some other humans have made her fear and distrust us all. Working our way back from that position takes time, attention, and some specialised equipment for Mischief's safety, her handler's safety, and of course the safety of her pending foal.

There was some urgency surrounding the issue of Mischief - firstly, she had a concerning growth on the side of her face which remains bloody and sore. As she has been so traumatised we have not been able to get a vet close enough to her to discern what the cause of this "sore" might be, although we are concerned it is cancerous. It was obviously causing her some distress. Mischief needs to get to a stage where she is happy to be caught for drenching, taking other vet-meds as required, examination, and possible daily application of topical ointments until the sore heals. Because of her advanced state of pregnancy, surgery - even if it were possible - would more than likely be inadvisable.

Mischief has come quite some way in the 12 weeks she has been here. She has her own paddock, is being given the best supplements we can find to keep her in top health, and we continue to make progress with her handling. We are completely against any methods using force, scare tactics or anything else which will further consolidate the damage already done.

Over summer Mischief's face has mostly healed and she is happy and healthy. Much of her frightened behaviourial characteristics have gone - the head shaking and running off, or startling at the slightest noise. She is well on her way to recovery.

Billy came to us in fairly good condition health wise, apart from sadly neglected feet. However, he has also been poorly handled, or under handled, leading to him being distrustful of humans.

At present, he is in the large paddock where he can run around with his paddock mates, Princess and Henry, and also our own 12 month old gelding, Stovokor Odin.

As soon as Lizzie and Vicki go to their new homes, Billy will move into the house paddock with Mary, and he will start harness training.

Please check back in the following months to see how Billy is progressing!

Princess and her brother came to us later than the first five. They had a terrible ordeal, not having been on a truck before and were petrified at the first loading day. They were not able to be loaded, and had to stay at the meat works for another 4 weeks. After this time it was discovered they were both full of lice! Our fantastic supporter, Raoul at Darling Downs Horse Transport, went back and patiently moved these two to another wonderful supporter at Cessnock, who treated and fed these two until they were ready to come to us.

They had a very, very rough start to life, but are now enjoying the tranquility of the Santuary.