‘He’s so loved’: pony who survived Spindle Farm horrors comes home for good

A pony who survived the horrors of Spindle Farm has come home, to live out his days with the family who first loved him after his rescue.

Prince Rusty, who was one of 97 horses rescued from appalling conditions at the dealer’s yard in Buckinghamshire in January 2008, was originally rehomed from the RSPCA by Juliet Harbottle.

He has since had different homes and although they were good ones, Juliet did not know where he was. But when by chance she found information about him on social media, she acted instantly and he arrived back with her the next day.

“I can’t tell you how amazing it is to have him home,” Juliet told H&H. “It’s like it was meant to be.”

Juliet said she put her name in the hat once some of the Spindle Farm survivors were ready for rehoming and was successful. So she, her parents and son drove from their Buckinghamshire home to Norfolk to collect him.

“It took us five hours to get there!” she said. “We picked him up, and he was the prettiest little chestnut pony, a Welsh Section B with a flaxen mane and tail, who they’d called Rusty. He came home, and lived with my cob Humbug for many years.

“When we first brought him home, he was absolutely terrified; you couldn’t lead him or pick his feet up or things, so I did everything, getting his confidence, and I used to lead him off my other horse. He was really, really loved.”

When Juliet’s son was big enough, they backed Rusty, and when her son outgrew him, he went to another rider as a companion.

“It was a fabulous family,” Juliet said. “But their circumstances changed, and he moved to a new home with Liz [Richardson]. So he was always quite close, but I didn’t know any of these things had happened. Then Liz lost her land recently, so she put an advert on Facebook saying she had this little pony who needed to be loved, called Prince Rusty. And I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, I think that’s my pony’.”

Juliet explained that although Rusty had been named when he was in the RSPCA’s care, she found out more about him when she adopted him

“It turns out he was a pony off the mountains; he’d lived with a guy in Wales who called him Prince, then he went to auction, and from auction he went to Spindles Farm,” she said. “When I picked him up, the guy said ‘He’s called Prince’, and I said he’d always been called Rusty. So I renamed him Prince Rusty in his passport. Everyone thought that was super pretentious but that’s why I did it, and when Liz put ‘This is Prince Rusty’, I thought ‘This is too much, this is my pony’. I phoned her and said ‘I’d love him back, if that’s ok’. I phoned her at 8pm on the Wednesday, she came to see me at 10am on Thursday and he was home by 2pm.”

Juliet said when she saw Rusty at Lizzie’s she was not sure if he would recognise her after 10 years apart.

“I went into the field and called him, and he came galloping straight up to me and tucked his head under my arm,” she said. “I’m delighted to have him home, and when he came back, he knew exactly where he was.

“He’s back home. I phoned the vet this morning to add him to the record, and they said ‘We’ll just reactivate him’. It literally was like it was meant to be, the whole thing. He’s come full circle and he’s back with us.”

Juliet said Rusty has chummed up with her Tennessee walking horse Free Spirit, two chestnuts enjoying life together. He may be ridden again or not, but he will not move again.

“He’s very loved, and has clearly been very loved all the time, it’s just been a series of quite unbelievable circumstances,” she said. “It’s the ultimate feel-good story; the pony who’s overcome all the odds and has come home. He’ll have a lovely time; he may be ridden but if he lives out his life just being a happy horse, he deserves it. Liz has been amazing and she’s only half an hour away so she can still see him too. Everyone’s delighted it’s worked out so well.”

• To stay up to date with all the breaking equestrian news throughout 2026, subscribe to the Horse & Hound website

You may also be interested in: