Help the working and rescue ponies on Gili T

Well 2022 was quite the year!  The first half of the year there were still no tourists or income, and we relied on donations to purchase all the feed.  Now that tourism has resumed, we are trying to find a way to become a self-sustainable business, by offering horse riding to tourists.  The issue is that out of the 19 ponies at Stud, only 6 are suitable for adults to ride.  It’s important for us to not overwork those ponies in order to feed all the others.  It was never our wish to be a chariy, or rely on donations to survive.  However, we never dreamed that we would be in this position with so many horses to feed, and so few that can earn their income.

In addition to keeping all our own ponies fed and healthy, we continue to provide pellet feed to local working ponies.  We would not be able to afford to do this without donations.

We have finalized the order for the horse shoes, and hope to begin the farrier training early next year.  International Farriers will come and train island residents how to trim correctly.  We hope that by improving the education, we can improve the welfare of many ponies on the island.  Several drivers are showing an interest in learning these skills, so we will need to purchase several sets of tools as well as the shoes.

We would also like to see more of the working ponies receiving tetanus boosters.  Having experienced first-hand the detrimental effects of tetanus with one of our own ponies in 2018, we were also recently called to a one week old foal who was showing horrific signs of some kind of brain infection.  While we are not convinced that in this case it was tetanus, we would like to find a way to be able to get access to more vaccines for the island ponies. At around $10 per booster, and around 300 working ponies on the island, this will require some funding.

We continue to get a steady stream of working ponies coming to visit.  Usually with small rubs or wounds, diarrhea or respiratory issues.  We are always happy to help where we can, often seeking advice from vets and giving any medication that we are able to provide.  The majority of our medications, including wormers have to be brought in from overseas.  This requires a lot of organization and of course funding.  We can’t simply go to the local tack supply and replenish stocks.  We would never let a sick pony leave without treatment if we had were able to help, but we don’t have an unlimited supply of medication.   Funds help us to be able to provide ongoing support for working ponies as well as our own.

We are excited about the links that are being made with Lombok vets, to make long term improvements to the lives of ALL of the ponies on the island.  There are plans for a clinic in February.

Donations are still desperately needed if we are going to continue our plans to help working ponies as well as care for the ponies at Stud.  As always, we are so grateful for all of the support we continue to receive.  We assure you that all donations are used to directly help ponies on the island of Gili Trawangan.  Thank you.

While life on Gili Trawangan slowly starts to return to ‘normal’, we continue to find ways to improve the working conditions of the ponies on the island.

The Gili Eco Trust has been organizing biannual clinics for the horses for over 15 years. While originally these used to provide wormers, vitamin injections and basic farrier services, they have grown to also include castrations (where requested as most of the horse owners prefer to keep their horses entire), equipment servicing, and so much more.

We continue to sponsor several working ponies around the island including Prabu, who we provide pellet feed too. He is managing to keep weight on and no longer looks like such a heart breaking case. By supporting Prabu’s owners and helping them, we have created a bond and they are now more inclined to ask for our help. We hope to continue to improve these relationships with more drivers on the island as trust is a the foundation for any future projects.

Our latest project is to improve the quality of the farrier care on the island. This not only includes making quality horse shoes available to the drivers, but providing the education to learn to trim hooves and safely nail on shoes without causing injury.   One of the greatest areas of concern is the hoof care and the issues that can arise from poor quality trimming and shoeing techniques.

With the support of The Biomechanical Vet, Animal Aid Abroad and Animals Australia, we will be holding a farrier training course on the island and providing quality equipment and horse shoes. This education is paramount if the welfare of the ponies is to improve. There is a lot going on behind the scenes for this project, we still wait for the arrival of supplies.

The horses onsite continue to thrive, and we are delighted to not have to rely so hugely on donations. We get a steady stream of tourists who wish to go for beach rides, and this income so far has been enough to provide basic food and supplies for the horses onsite. We have to be careful to keep everything balanced, as we don’t want to overwork any of our horses.

We have no plans to slow down and still need your help with our future projects! Our goal is to educate and provide resources that can benefit ALL of the horses on the island, not just the lucky few that get to live with us. The more support we are able to get, the more ponies around the island we can support.

Thank you again to everyone who has donated and continues to support our work.