The Horse Trust says goodbye to long standing resident

The Horse Trust has sadly said goodbye to one of its longest standing residents, who retired to the sanctuary a decade ago from Waverley Driving Group Riding for the Disabled Association in Hertfordshire.

The Horse Trust runs a sanctuary for rescued and retired working horses, ponies and donkeys in Speen, Buckinghamshire. Sean, a 32-year-old 12hh grey gelding pony, retired to the sanctuary in 2001 after many years faithful service to Waverley Driving Group RDA.

The Driving Group, which is based at Hill Farm in Radlett, enables adults with disabilities to take part in carriage driving, with ponies pulling specially-adapted carts that are suitable for wheelchair users. Rosemarie Westley, Chairman of Waverley Driving Group, said that she was sad to hear about Sean's death. "Sean was a much loved pony and will be missed by all who knew him," said Rosemarie.

Tina Merrills, a retired volunteer for the Waverley Driving Group, spent around 10 years working with Sean at the RDA group and has been visiting him regularly since his retirement. "He was such a lovely pony and had the perfect temperament for RDA work," said Tina.

"He had his little quirks though - he didn't like manhole covers or gratings on roads, so we had to avoid them when driving." Although Tina was sad to hear about Sean's death, she is delighted that he had such a long, happy retirement at The Horse Trust.

"I still remember the day that The Horse Trust said they could take him in. I burst into tears as I knew I wouldn't have to worry about him there," said Tina. "The grooms at The Horse Trust have the most enormous care and love for horses and Sean had the most marvellous retirement there." Sean will also be missed by all the staff, visitors and volunteers at The Horse Trust, in particular his groom Claire Clark, according to Shirley Abbott, Stable and Estate Manager at The Horse Trust.

"Claire is devastated to have lost him as she's been looking after him for 10 years," said Shirley. "He was a quiet little pony who loved meeting the visitors to the sanctuary. He was one of the kids' favourites so I'm sure they'll miss him too." Sean has been suffering from laminitis for the last decade, which was managed by restricting his grazing and stabling him regularly. Recently, Sean developed melanomas in his mouth, which meant he found it difficult to eat and was losing lots of weight.

Staff at the sanctuary felt he no longer had an acceptable quality of life, so the difficult decision was made to euthanize him. If you would like to make a donation to The Horse Trust in memory of Sean, visit http://www.horsetrust.org.uk/ or contact 01494 488 464.