Dustin ❤ the baby brumby who traveled from Kosciusko after being torn from his mumma at age 6months. He arrived wild, unhandled and scared of concrete, buckets etc. Now, our Dusty boy is one of the biggest characters on the farm. Dustin will stay at the sanctuary until he completes his education, I suspect he will one day make a young riders best friend for life!

Lewis 💙 Lewis was surrendered by a lovely lady who had tried all she could to help this old boy. Poor Lewis had been abused by a well known horse trader who then went on to sell Lewis in an auction as a child's pony. While Lewis is deep down a beautiful old boy who has no intention of ever hurting anyone, he is far from a child's pony (at this stage)! Lewis has a genuine fear of being caught, he doesn't see what us humans can provide him that is worth his time, yet!! I had a recent breakthrough where he allowed me to catch him in a big open space, it will take time, but he will one day realise that we can be loving and compassionate creatures and we can offer value to his life. At 18 years old it will take a lot of patience, but it'll be worth every second 💙

Ollie and Lucy ❤️ the little fluffy cutie that shows us his personality more and more each day. This little guy found himself at age 10 weeks alongside his mumma Lucy in the saleyards. It took a solid 2 months of endless discussion, constant let downs and painful dealings with humans to get these two to the sanctuary. Lucy is still recovering physically from malnutrition and being used constantly as a breeding vessel. Lucy will NEVER be required to give birth to prove her value ever again. Ollie will now only ever know kindness and understanding from us humans.

Hank 💙 our Grafton road trip boy! Hankles arrived scared of his own shadow, but really didn't take long to learn that we were the good guys. Hank is now one of the quietest horses here and has started under saddle on his journey to be a wonderful trail pony. He is often seen glowing with his beautifully bright chestnut coat 🥰

Blue ❤ what a loving old boy he is. Blue has likely lived a life full of misunderstanding and abuse. He is constantly on the lookout for a whip and is ready to bolt if you raise a hand. Blue has settled SO much in the short time he has been here. He wad transported by a lovely lady who did the trip from Wagga up to the sanctuary. Blue was another horse sold at auction to a kind woman who was sold a quiet riding horse. Not sure what to do next she surrendered this old boy to the sanctuary and can now watch him flourish 💙 Blue has a pretty chronic fear of his hind end being touched, especially his feet, and lashes out violently. I don't want to know what treatment created this phobia, but the way I'll work with it is exactly that, as a phobia. Not as bad behaviour and not as a vice, but as such a deep rooted fear that only patience will help heal.

Bowie 💙 the tiniest rescue pony we have made a huge trip from West SA/NSW border to the sanctuary. He is only just now starting to warm up to humans after spending the last couple years in an abusive home. Bowie is loving life with his foster family and has learned the joy of carrots 😆

Dahlia ❤ big beautiful Dahlia, at age 4 she has seen nothing but the worst humans in her short life. Being left with headstall and lead on for years she has finally landed with us here where our goal is not to catch her, but to set her free from the shitty headstall stuck on her. One day she will allow us in her space and that will be one of the happiest days I will have in rescue. She is such a special girl 💙

Joe ❤ big Joe! Our standardbred rescue with some of the absolute worst pigeon toe I've ever seen. This big boy is only 7 years old and has such a long life ahead of him. With his glossy black coat and huge Roman nose, he is easy to fall in love with. Joe is starting his education as a ridden trail horse and doing amazing.

Arthur 💙 the most gentle sweetest boy, Arthur. He was surrendered to the rescue after spending many years in a small 10x10m high fenced dusty yard that was full of bricks. Arthur hadn’t had any human contact or healthcare for a very long time. He arrived quite emaciated and in need of refeeding back to a normal and healthy diet. Arthur has very quickly started to gain condition. Arthur has now been gelded which is the first step to allowing him to go free in the paddock with the other horses.

Tully needed a place to go urgently before she faced euthanasia of no fault of her own. Everyone say hello to Tully 🥰 she has served most of her life as a riding school horse and is a very sweet little girl, she has pigeon toes and a swelling in her knee that we will have checked out for her. Tully is around 16-18 years old and deserves to now rest and recover from her busy hard working prior life. Tully will start rehabilitation ASAP and thankfully is currently sound despite her bad legs and swollen knee. You can see in her eyes she has worked so hard for so long and now just needs some time to decompress in a paddock with other horsie friends. I also suspect she may be suffering from stomach ulcers so will discuss starting her on treatment for that with our vet. Welcome to your new life beautiful little lady 💙

Sam was surrendered to me here as his owner just couldn't give him all the attention he needs to reach his full potential and she had her hands very full with many other horses. I have happily taken him on, he is such a beautiful and gentle boy, I can't wait to start working with him. Sam is a 10 year old welsh mountain pony who is overcoming some fears and in need of some re-education. This beautiful boy has so much potential to become an amazing second pony for an experienced young rider, Sam is the kind that gives his handlers respect, but ready to teach you a few bits and pieces to keep you on your toes! He does have a few patches of itch but I have no doubt I can get that under control with a nice soapy bath, some warm water and a cosy new rug to help his hair grow back. Welcome to the sanctuary Sammie! 🥰💙🐴

Lucy ❤️ mumma Lucy was rescued from the saleyards with her little baby boy, Ollie. It took a solid 2 months of endless discussion, constant let downs and painful dealings with humans to get these two to the sanctuary. Lucy is still recovering physically from malnutrition and being used constantly as a breeding vessel. Lucy will NEVER be required to give birth to prove her value ever again. Ollie will now only ever know kindness and understanding from us humans. Lucy is starting to trust us more and in her own time I can imagine her being a beautifully affectionate little mare

Cash is an 11 year old stockhorse gelding that has been surrendered as he has had a traumatic past and his owner wanted him to go somewhere where he would be given the time to just hang out and be a horse and slowly overcome his insecurities. Cash is an absolute sweetheart, he's quite nervous on the ground and can very easily spook, but just like all the horses here he can take as long as he needs ❤ Cash reacts quite dramatically to a raised hand/voice and will need a very gentle handler. He lashes out quite violently if you try to pickup his back feet so earning his trust is number one for his rehabilitation so we can safely have his hooves trimmed.

Nellie was born into the racing industry and appears to have gotten herself into a pretty bad accident with her hind leg which is covered in scars. Nellie then went on to be a broodmare, used for her uterus as her body was too injured to race. Fast forward and she found herself as a welfare case about a year ago with another mare and was rescued. Nellie has had the last 12 months with her previous owner who had helped get her back into good health but now is unable to keep caring for her so Nellie has found her way here where she can continue her rehabilitation 💕 For now I'll just focus on making sure I keep her physical health moving in the right direction and once I think she is ready to start further ground work we will go from there 😊 Nellie’s hooves are in pretty poor shape and she has quite a bit of work to get done with those before we can put her up for adoption.💙

This adorable little guy is Billy, he's been surrendered by his owner who was unable to help him lose weight and deal with a chronic case of severe laminitis. Little Billy is 6 years old and so full of life, he has to lose about half his body weight and completely stay off all grass, he will be getting a fine tuned diet with some corrective farrier work (thanks Amy!) I can't wait to help this little guy be able to walk comfortably, fingers crossed his hooves haven't deteriorated too badly. Welcome to the sanctuary little Billy! 💙

Say hello to little Tommy, this guy is a 5ish year old stallion (now gelded) mini Shetland, he's had years of neglect of his hooves and has had minimal handling. Tommy needed to see a vet and have x-rays of his hooves to ensure he was savable and we're delighted that his internal hoof structures are reasonably sound given how bad they were! Tommy has had an initial trim of his feet so he could walk again and travel, now he's on his way to the sanctuary to start his rehabilitation 💙

The beautify Esmay, Raven and Oakley arrived after quite a journey from the Bago forest into a domestic setting. Estimated ages around 7ish for Esmay, 3-4ish for Raven and 10mths-ish for the Oakley. We have mumma, daughter and son, a beautiful little family... Mare and filly are both unhandled, although not totally wild, bubba is handable (literally had to almost pick him up and put him on the float!) The three travelled perfectly on the trip back to Liz's after taking almost 1.5hrs to load (phew!). These three will spend their quarantine of 2-3 weeks with Liz and gain some confidence with handling etc until being brought out to the sanctuary to join the big herd 💕

The beautify Esmay, Raven and Oakley arrived after quite a journey from the Bago forest into a domestic setting. Estimated ages around 7ish for Esmay, 3-4ish for Raven and 10mths-ish for the Oakley. We have mumma, daughter and son, a beautiful little family... Mare and filly are both unhandled, although not totally wild, bubba is handable (literally had to almost pick him up and put him on the float!) The three travelled perfectly on the trip back to Liz's after taking almost 1.5hrs to load (phew!). These three will spend their quarantine of 2-3 weeks with Liz and gain some confidence with handling etc until being brought out to the sanctuary to join the big herd 💕

The beautify Esmay, Raven and Oakley arrived after quite a journey from the Bago forest into a domestic setting. Estimated ages around 7ish for Esmay, 3-4ish for Raven and 10mths-ish for the Oakley. We have mumma, daughter and son, a beautiful little family... Mare and filly are both unhandled, although not totally wild, bubba is handable (literally had to almost pick him up and put him on the float!) The three travelled perfectly on the trip back to Liz's after taking almost 1.5hrs to load (phew!). These three will spend their quarantine of 2-3 weeks with Liz and gain some confidence with handling etc until being brought out to the sanctuary to join the big herd 💕

Hali was listed for free on gumtree when one of our volunteers spotted her and reached out to see if we could take her on. After seeing her awful condition and that she was 22 years old after a lifetime of breeding I knew I had to help this beautiful mare before she ended up at the inevitable place all old and overused broodmares go to. Hali has had some pretty bad rain scald which is falling out, she has a ruptured melanoma on her face and her cheeks show obvious signs of dental issues going on in her mouth. Her feet were badly overgrown and she is quite underweight. With some extra special TLC I have no doubt that Hali will recover from this neglect and become an incredible companion horse. Somehow after the way she has been treated she is an absolute sweetheart with a heart of gold ❤💕

elysianfieldssanctuary's profile picture
elysianfieldssanctuary
Welcome Sally 💙

This case breaks my heart, say hello to little Sally. Late yesterday afternoon Kim and I headed out to collect a pony that we were told was struggling with laminitis and the owner lived in a remote location in a pine forest where no one could really get to it (7kms out in a pine forest actually, along a pretty rough 4WD track! Was a very slow trip with the float and then pony onboard) Sally was unable to walk on her own so we slowly shuffled her by lifting her bum with our knees and moving her front legs to help her 'step'. After pretty much lifting her up onto the float she was loaded and ready for the long haul back out of the forest and home to the sanctuary. Sally's suffering quite a bad case of laminitis and has been in this way for quite some time, for a young 4 year old it's so sad to see how much pain she is in. Today Sally has thankfully been shuffling along in her yard on her own and has started eating the teff hay on offer. Sally's situation is quite sad as her owner really did try to reach out to as many equine professionals as he could (including vets) to get her help but was unfortunately given a lot of advise that likely made Sally's condition much worse. He was given Sally as payment for a job he did for someone and had absolutely no idea how to care for a little pony. Sally is now safe here, next steps will be to tidy up her a feet a little so we can help her be more comfortable and then radiographs of those hooves to see if we can save her, we need all the luck we can get with her case, fingers crossed she still has some healthy bone in those poor little hooves! 🤞🤞

Charlie arrived to the sanctuary after quite a stressful situation to get him out of the hands he was in and up to the sanctuary where we could start to rehabilitate him. He required urgent radiographs of his hind leg where he had a massive old injury that had turned into a huge lump that refused to heal. It was nasty! Thankfully the radiographs came back with no major issues and we got to work fixing his leg. It’s been a long journey but we’re almost there. Charlie is a very polite boy who deserves a chilled out and happy retirement.

Lovely Cleo was surrendered to us after a racing career than then going on to be a broodmare. She’s an older lady, now in her 20’s and her body has started to struggle after a lifetime of being used. Cleo is such a gentle girl, she has a long way to go

Theo is such a tough little guy! Theo arrived needing urgent medical attention due to a ruptured and very painful eye. We had a specialist confirm that he needed eye surgery which we organised for him ASAP. A few months later and this one eyed little pirate is loving his life and ready to find his people :)

When we received an urgent request to take Bud on as a surrender we couldn’t refuse. Bud has a very deformed club foot that requires appropriate trimming to keep him sound as well as a low sugar/starch diet to prevent him developing any inflammation. Since entering our program the beautiful Bud has thrived and is no longer lame on his ‘funny foot’ which means that Bud has many more years left being a sassy companion in his retirement!

Annie was surrendered to our sanctuary for laminitis recovery. Little Annie has quite a painful pair of front hooves and is in our critical care yards slowly growing in some much healthier hooves with appropriate trimming and a balanced diet. We have no doubt that Annie will make a full recovery!

Kai was surrendered to us by her loving previous owner who could no longer keep her. Kai is a delightful big girl who has a heart of gold. She’s gentle and is a beautiful riding horse. Kai is very susceptible to laminitis and we believe she developed a head twitch as a coping mechanism to the pain associated with inflammation in her hooves. So long as we keep her diet nice and balanced and her hooves in tip top shape Kai is a wonderfully sound horse.

Little Cobber was surrendered to us as a laminitic case a few months back and he is now thriving! Cobber is such a cute and handsome little guy, his hooves are now growing brilliantly and he is a playful and happy little guy

Merlin (aka Buzz) was surrendered to us as he had been abandoned at an agistment center. Merlin is a beautiful big boy who has a heart of gold. He’s in great shape and just needs some time to decompress and figure out who he wants to be in this life.

Silky boy was surrendered to us here by his lovely Mum who had found herself very sadly in palliative care. She had owned Silky for 20 years and he is now pushing 27 years old. Silk is an incredibly gentle and kind boy he adores being pampered like he has for the last 20 years of his life. As his Mum was very unwell, she wasn’t able to get out to the agistment centre to care for Silk and left his upkeep in the hands of the agistment people. They didn’t maintain an adequate feed for Silk and he became quite skinny and malnourished. Silk also has a molar that will need extraction, but otherwise he will make a full recovery and should go on to live a full life as a retired gentleman.

Pio is a big gorgeous cuddle buy. Pio was an owner surrender as his owner had fallen into some serious financial distress and was struggling to keep up with Pio’s care. Pio is a really big gentle guy who adores cuddles and affection. He is currently unsound and sore in his body due to some really bad hoofcare, which is difficult to correct as he hates his hooves being picked up. We will be doing a lot of education around hoof pickup and correcting his soundness before finding him the perfect home.

Taffy came to us along with her bestie, Fuji, after living on an island! Yep, an island. As you would imagine vet and farrier care was virtually impossible for these two elderly ponies and they both needed extensive dental surgeries. Taffy and Fuji are inseparable and will find a home together.

Alongside Taffy, Fuji came to us as an owner surrender after living on an island! Fuji needed extensive dental surgeries and all over healthcare.

Peachie came to us as an owner surrender after years of dental abscessing and infections. Peach required emergency dental surgery, antibiotics and pain relief with a very slim chance of recovery due to the extensive damage the infection in her jaw had created. After months of intensive care at the sanctuary Peaches has miraculously managed to make a full recovery and find her forever home!