Monday 22nd July - All 8 seen - The Great Escape!

We were informed that some ponies had escaped onto the Tweseldown Racecourse after being spooked by the fighter jets displaying at the Farnborough air show at around 16:00 this afternoon.  Five ponies had run away and were happily munching on fresh grass about 300 yards from the far southwest corner, where they had gone through some perimeter fencing.  It took a fair bit of effort, and patience, but we got them all back onto Long Valley at 18.40.  Victoria and Pandora were particularly challenging, with them both ending up outside the site, in the area where they had laid the pipeline.  They eventually came back in through the corral gate.

A big thank you to Alice, Sean and Tom from the Reserves Team for their help in getting the ponies back onto the site and for repairing the fencing.

The ponies were all in the area around ///fault.sapping.alas at 19:00.  Most were happily eating, with three of the escapees resting in the shade following their earlier antics.  I got to spend some proper time with the little one, who I'd only briefly said hello to earlier.  He was very affectionate, giving me lots of gentle nuzzles and licks.  He enjoyed a long neck and head rub.  After twenty minutes, he'd had enough and went and nursed from his mum.  I gave all the ponies a good check, just to ensure they had no cuts or scrapes from going through the barbed wire fence, and they were all fine.  They were all happy, relaxed and had all fully settled down when I left them at 19:30.

Please be aware that there are plans to move the ponies to another site in the morning, before tomorrow's flying display.  They will remain there until next week.  

The ponies were all good today.