“I would recommend rehoming any horse or pony from World Horse Welfare”

Many of you will already know Jojo Moyes through her wonderful writing. Her novels have sold in their multi-millions, been translated into forty-six languages and have been number one bestsellers in twelve countries. However, one thing you might not know about Jojo is that she has also rehomed from World Horse Welfare. 

Today, around 2,200 of our horses are enjoying a second chance in life through our rehoming scheme, which is the largest of its kind in the UK and comes with a host of benefits. 

Every rehomer gets a lifetime of advice, support and access to our expertise, as well as regular visits from our local World Horse Welfare Officers to see how everything is going. And, for every horse rehomed, we are able to take another horse in need into our care. 

We love to find forever homes for our horses, however, one of the benefits of rehoming from us is that all our horses come with a safety net, so if a rehomer’s circumstance changes they can always return the horse to us. No one knows what’s around the corner, so it can save a great deal of heartache to know this safety net is in place. 

We caught up with Jojo to find out more about her lovely World Horse Welfare pony Mayble and why this safety net was so important to support them both. 

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We bought our pony Freddy from a local riding school. He was sweet under saddle, they said, but shut down in the stable and withdrawn. He had been abused in his early life and was not coping well with the constant noise and change that comes with being a riding school pony. He was difficult to catch, didn’t trust men, and would panic if you put a rug on him too emphatically.  

He came to our house, attached himself to my horse, and that was that. He was with us for the next seventeen years. He loved children and apples, not necessarily in that order. He loved going to shows, was the safest of hacks, and once won a record for the most times a horse had thrown the owner at Pony Club camp. He taught all three of my children to ride, and we all adored him. Fred enjoyed his well-earned retirement until my other horse died, and my daughter’s horse went to a trainer for a few months. He hated being in a field by himself. Horses are social animals after all. He became slowly more withdrawn and sad again, like the pony we had first met. 

So, I approached World Horse Welfare and after a visit to their Norfolk centre, we found Mayble, his match in colour and size – they were both dun and around 13hh. She was not a riding pony and was also very much at the bottom of the herd as far as other horses were concerned. 

I signed the documentation, waited for Mayble to do loading practice with the staff there, and finally drove my horsebox up to collect her. An hour and a half later we were unloading her into our paddock. 

I will never forget the moment Fred saw Mayble. He was in the far corner of the paddock. His head shot up, and he came trotting across like a dressage stallion, floating, his tail up. He neighed and neighed, clearly immediately in love. Mayble – while relieved to see another pony – was clearly a bit alarmed by the strength of Fred’s affections and eventually told him off with a squeal and a buck. They then galloped around the paddock for twenty minutes before finally settling down to graze a short distance from each other. I have it on video and it still makes me smile to see them together. 

Fred, my shut down old pony, was completely rejuvenated by Mayble’s presence. We used to joke that they were like an old married couple, squabbling with each other but completely bereft if they were separated. For the first time in his life, he got to be boss. When the farrier came to trim their feet they had to be able to see each other or chaos would ensue. Managing their diets became more challenging as Fred grew older and skinnier and needed more food, while Mayble, who was much younger, grew fat on fresh air. But we managed to keep them together. 

Fred finally reached the end of the road at age 30, in 2022. He died in his own paddock, as the vet gave him the gentlest of endings. Mayble would not have coped on her own. Luckily, World Horse Welfare retains ownership of their horses so they were able to take her back again. We are not allowed to know where she ended up, but I know it will be somewhere good. I wish I had been able to keep them both forever.  

I would recommend rehoming any horse or pony from World Horse Welfare, even if it is only for a few years – every little helps to release the constant pressure on a very hardworking charity. 

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We are so very grateful to all of our wonderful rehomers who offer our horses, ponies, youngsters, donkeys and mules the loving home they so desperately deserve. 

Across our four rescue and rehoming centres we have lots of friendly faces waiting to be rehomed. Take a look at them today or find out more about our rehoming scheme.