Springwood Sanctuary
Nelson - The Mystical Herd
Nelson is a beautiful 16.2.hh bay Thoroughbred gelding. He is 18 this year - his birthday is 8th April 2006. He was rescued by Springwood Sanctuary in October 2017 and has lived with his bonded herd happily for the past 7 years.
Nelson’s past:
Nelson was bred as a racehorse, weaned early, put into training as a one year old and was put on the racetrack at just two years old – still a baby with bones still growing. Sadly this is not unusual. He was raced for 5 years til 2013, where he then changed homes 4 times before being rescued by Cleo who then asked us at Springwood to take him in.
Cleo bought him from a riding stables where she found him tied to a hitching post which is how he spent long hours of every day - because he was not handleable by any of the riding school pupils and when turned out into a small paddock some other geldings had chased him almost to his death. He was therefore deemed not able to be even turned out. He was in a very bad way, very nervous and very unwell.
Nelson’s life now:
When Nelson first came to live with us he was the only male horse in the herd. It really unsettled Nelson when another gelding arrived, because of his past encounters at the riding stables. We made sure the introductions were good and he was very safe. This gave Nelson a lot of confidence and really helped him to develop his trust in so many ways. He is now very happy with both mares and geldings in the mixed herd of Mysties and is confident enough to gently assert himself when he feels he needs to. It took him three years to recover from stomach ulcers and to release the trauma caused during his years in racing and then the riding school.
Nelson is extremely bonded with Polly, who looks almost identical to him, without his white blaze. They enjoy mutual grooming and grazing together. Nelson also really loves Thomas the donkey who he plays boyish games with often. It is lovely to see Nelson getting down on his knees to play like this! He also loves having a massage and a facial – often zoning out with eyes closed and head on my shoulder.
Nelson is fit, healthy, active and a charismatic member of the herd. It is our honour to care for this beautiful, huge hearted, wise and gentle horse and give him a forever home here with freedom to roam and thrive. If you’d like to sponsor Nelson, we’d love to have you join us to care for him. Thank you.
