Facts
- Breed : Welsh Mountain Section A
- Size: 11hands (112cm to his shoulder)
- Sex: Gelding (Male)
- Colour: Grey (white)
- Year of Birth: 2001
- Registered Name: Nantydwyl Medwyn
- Bought: 2007 and 2019!
- Area bought from: West Yorkshire and Utkinton (just 2 miles from me!)
History
Demi was originally bought for my daughter, Jess to ride when she was around 7 years old.
When we went to view him his teeny tiny rider happily jumped him then proudly showed us her ‘trick’ of standing on his back and leaping off! He was being sold as a ride and drive ie he also pulled a carriage and we were told he was happy in the heaviest of traffic. He didn’t put a foot wrong at the viewing and was a smart pony with great confirmation so we bought him and the carriage!
Demi and my daughter, Jess
Demi did all sorts with Jess – mainly at pony club but also with the school equestrian club. He’s done dressage, show jumping, showing, cross country and ‘day’ camps (where you come home overnight).
He was quite young when we bought him so not very experienced. He’d not done camp. Most of the time at camp the children are in enclosed arenas but they usually have a go at cross country in a huge field. I remember the first time Demi and Jess were off the lead (no adult for ‘just in case’ moments) for cross country – I had no idea what Demi would do – sometimes the ponies get a bit giddy when they’re in a group and in a lovely big field just waiting for a good gallop round. I took a deep breath and took the lead off Demi and hoped! Bless him he was such a little superstar – just cantered calmly into the little jumps and stood still when the others were jumping.
Demi and his other riders
When Jess outgrew Demi i used him for pony parties. When I paused whilst my children were doing exams I sold Demi to a friend as I just felt he was too good a pony to not give another child a fabulous experience. So Demi went down to Suffolk – I was desperately sad – he’d given Jess such a fabulous time and he was such a lovely gentle personality.
Demi gave that little girl a fabulous start – at 10, she is now jumping huge fences, looking to compete nationally and already has 2 sponsors who provide her with grooming products and physio (for her ponies!). They now live not too far away in Cheshire and we’re following her progress on our pony tv channel, Pony Tales Club.
Sophie moved on to a bigger pony quite quickly so Demi was sold again. He stayed with his next owner just a year – sadly this is normal for small ponies as the children grow too big for them. Sophie’s mum and I were desperate to find a really great home for Demi, preferably in Cheshire so that we could see him from time to time. Fortunately a local polo player was looking for a super safe and sensible pony who could wander round the polo fields between matches with a little rider. I probably guaranteed that he’d be perfect for them and so Demi came to live just a couple of miles away from me.
Demi comes home
Around a year later that lady contacted me. Her daughter really wasn’t interested in riding and hadn’t ridden Demi in months so she was offering Demi to me first before advertising him for sale. I jumped at the chance. I’d really missed Demi – he’s just one of those special ponies – beautiful inside and out. So Demi came ‘home’ and will live out the rest of his days here.
It was sad to see him when we picked him up – he was really sad – stuck in a field with no playmates, no one to ride or groom him – very bored and fed up. For horses to be happy they need some interesting things to do. Yes they just eat all day BUT in the wild they’d roam for around 20 miles a day picking at the hedgerows seeing lots of different things and eating lots of different things. We tend to keep them in neat paddocks sometimes with no hedgerow to snack in, only grass/hay to eat and nothing interesting to do. It’s important that they have a friend to play with, maybe some toys (yes!) possibly tit-bits such as scattered carrots/apples to search for and some work. The work can either use their brains, just like being at school, for example learning new things/tricks etc or can be exercise based like PE eg hacking on the roads or in forests with different views, jump practise etc. I hoped he’d perk up and remember his old home.
Demi calms the two geldings
It was very interesting when he arrived home. At that time I had Poppy his ‘old’ friend plus two geldings (boys) who Demi hadn’t met. The two geldings played all the time and I felt that sometimes it was a bit rough and tumble – it was like they were both trying to be the boss of the field. The minute Demi arrived the two geldings just calmed down – they still play but it’s ‘nice’ play – it’s as if they treat Demi as an older brother. Demi doesn’t get involved in the play but just by being there he calms them down. Fascinating.
Demi’s teeth!
Over late summer 2020 Demi had a series of sore tummies. I was quite worried that it was due to his age. One day I could see his heart pounding and his breathing wasn’t right. I was really worried and called the vet – she couldn’t pin point what had happened so she just treated him for a sore tummy.
I’d noticed that Demi kept rubbing one side of his cheek on me – bit strange. We also spotted that he was struggling to eat the apples in the orchard. He just couldn’t bite into them. So I called our specialist horse dentist to come and take a look. Unfortunately the roots of Demi’s front teeth were all in a bad way and he needed most of them taking out – the dentist was clearly concerned so he returned the next Sunday (!) to take the teeth out.
Vets (and owners) don’t like putting horses to sleep under anaesthetic for operations unless they absolutely have to. This is because it’s extremely risky in horses, party because they thrash around when they’re waking up and can injure themselves so badly that they don’t recover. Instead whenever they can, vets heavily sedate horses so they’re sleepy but can still stand PLUS they give them LOTS of pain relief.
Some of Demi’s teeth almost fell out, others needed a good tug (yuk!). He’s left with 4 lower front teeth. He still has his back teeth but as he can’t nibble the short grass I have to have the ponies on to make sure the others don’t get too fat. So I have to make sure Demi has long grass or hay to eat – sometimes he’s allowed on the garden! Sometimes he also gets a bucket feed to make sure he doesn’t lose any weight.
Since his teeth have come out he’s not had any tummy problems – I think that because he couldn’t eat the firm apples he was eating the soft, slightly gone off apples which were making his tummy bad. I still have to make sure he can’t get at any soft apples in the orchard!
Demi and the other ponies love living in a herd of small ponies. He shares his stable with his ‘old’ friend, Poppy who is also adorable inside and out. I like to think that the ponies are happy (and obviously healthy) – they certainly seem that way – always happy to see me, enjoy ‘grooming’ each other, get along with the others, easy to deal with and no behaviours that suggest they’re stressed/unhappy in any way.