Saddle-up! True-Life
When I noticed that two of my rescues had fallen head over hooves, I knew exactly what I had to do next…
Tammy Marx, 56, from Colyton
Looking at the bride and groom stood in front of me, I was ready to ask them the dreaded question.
‘Do you both pledge to be together forever?’ I asked, clearly.
However, instead of smiles and cheers, there was silence.
I think I’m going to take that as a yes, I quickly presumed.
‘I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride,’ I ushered to the couple.
And thankfully, right on cue, they had a smooch. Well, sort of.
You see, I wasn’t actually a marriage celebrant.
And the couple stood in front of me weren’t your conventional newlyweds at all.
You could say it was a pony matrimony instead.
The groom Bert wasn’t able to fit in a suit – he donned a navy hat.
They were a match made in hay-ven
And the beautiful bride, Poppet, had flowers spotted around her mane, with a unicorn horn sat directly on her head.
However, just because this wasn’t a regular wedding, it didn’t mean that we weren’t going to celebrate.
The ponies who we’d decided needed to tie the knot were a match made in hay-ven!
After setting up Munchkins Miniature Shetland Rescue in 2013, I’d always had a natural affinity for animals.
Especially those who needed the most help – it was my mission to nurse them back to full health.
Which was something that my hubby Paul and children Robert, now 30, and Felicity, now 23, were certainly used to.
I’d rescued a range of different ponies over the years, such as Tiny Tim and Tom Thumb, as well as Marmite, too.
Going on to rehome more than 100 mares – with over 40 held in the centre.
However, Bert and Poppet were different from the rest.
‘I’ve collected a pony who’s in a bad way,’ our welfare officer Sandy called me in March last year.
Finding out more, this 30-yearold female was emaciated, and it was likely that she wasn’t going to make it.
We can’t let that happen, can we? I thought.
So, even though it was touch and go at times, something that broke my heart to see, Poppet miraculously pulled through.
Within the space of just five months, it was like we had a different pony at the rescue centre.
She was back on her feet in no time – which meant she was ready to be introduced to the rest of the gang.
There were others, just like Poppet, who had been through hell and back – but had lived to tell the tail.
And as I walked Poppet past the field where the other ponies were having their morning munch, Poppet stopped in her tracks.
As a cert
