It's walkies for porky ponies

IT is not uncommon to see dog lovers taking their pets for a lunchtime walk, but what about Shetland ponies?

IT is not uncommon to see dog lovers taking their pets for a lunchtime walk, but what about Shetland ponies?

Staff at the World Horse Welfare are looking after more than 100 horses and ponies, five of which are Shetlands with larger than average waist bands.

Manager of the Recovery and Rehabilitation Centre in Snetterton , said: “We keep a very close eye on all our horses and ponies to make sure they are all at the right weight.

“Some of our Shetland ponies are too small to ride and despite being on restricted grazing and spending an hour a day on our horse walker, they are still not as trim as we would like.

“As the Shetland ponies often take part in demonstrations on our open days they are all really well behaved and have been trained to walk to heel.

“We came up with the idea of asking the non dog-owning staff in the office if they fancied talking a pony for a lunchtime walk and the resounding answer was yes. In fact there are more volunteers than there are ponies so we will have to draw up a rota.”

The World Horse Welfare Centre is open every Wednesday and weekend, and entry is free.

For more information and to learn how to assess the right weight of a horse or pony visit the website at www.worldhorsewelfare.org.