A pony rescued from a 'horror farm' near Bristol has learnt to smile - after being nursed back to health by an animal welfare charity.
Three-year-old Dakota was one of 13 horses rescued from Manor Farm in Ingst, Almondsbury in 2015 and taken to Horseworld in Whitchurch.
RSPCA, police and trading standards officers visited the farm they found animals left dead and dying, and eating carcasses, amongst livestock.
Staff at Horseworld said Dakota was part of 'one of the worst rescue cases the charity had ever seen.'
When she arrived at the welfare centre, she had a small foal by her side, was heavily pregnant, underweight and completely feral.
Sadly, due to her neglected state, the foal she was carrying died shortly after it was born.
Horseworld spokeswoman Keeley Mitson said: "The conditions from which Dakota was rescued were unimaginable and despite being only three years-old it was obvious she had experienced serious neglect and did not have any trust in people at all.
"Our team didn’t push her handling and gave her time to recover."
Now, after four years of hard work, love, care, attention and training, things are looking brighter for Dakota.
Dog dies on M5 after being seen weaving in and out of traffic
She now smiles when asked by her trainers and can even count to five using her hoof.
She is also now an accomplished agility pony and loves making her way around an agility course where she walks under archways and even climbs up on a podium.
Dakota's journey back to health has been led by Horseworld trainers Kayleigh and Caitlin who have extensive experience in handling horses from all backgrounds.
Kayleigh said: “The horses from Dakota’s group were unlike any we’ve ever worked with.
"It wasn’t just that they were frightened of us, their instincts overwhelmed them and told them to run from us so none of our usual methods worked.”
The training team spent hours sitting on a stool in a barn with Dakota to get her used to being around people.
Even when Dakota had finally overcome her fear of people, she had her own ideas about her training programme, with everything having to be done on her terms.
Python 'escapes' from Patchway home as residents warned to keep distance
Kayleigh added: "Dakota is intelligent and will do anything for a treat, so the team started to clicker train her to do tricks and she is now a fully-fledged agility pony.
"Dakota will follow her trainers around an agility course, over small jumps and tarpaulin, through water and underneath archways.
"She will smile on command and can even count to five with her hoof.
"She is an amazing pony, she is intelligent and has got such a funny character.
"We are all really proud of the progress she has made."
Farmer Susan Smith was prosecuted for what was described as a ‘total animal welfare disaster’ in 2014 and 2015.
Smith was found guilty of a total of 36 individual charges.
She was convicted of ten separate charges relating to not disposing of the bodies of dead animals properly, and another 26 ranging from animal cruelty and neglect through to not registering births or using unlicensed feed.
Activists to delay city centre traffic with 'biggest ever vegan march' in Bristol
Mark Downs, 50, from Blands Row in nearby Pilning, was convicted of 22 separate charges relating to animal cruelty, neglect and failure to dispose of bodies.
Georgina Blizzard-Smith, 21, who used to live at Ingst Manor Farm was found guilty of two offences relating to two dogs at the farm in April 2016.
Smith was ordered by a judge to sell or give away her animals.
An investigation was launched after concerned members of the public alerted authorities about escaping animals and dead animal carcasses.
Inspectors found piles of dead bodies littering the farmyard, surviving animals near death and pigs eating the carcasses.
The animals that were still alive at Ingst Manor Farm were waist deep in faeces and dead bodies.
'They are part of the family' - Circus Mondao challenges animal rights activists
Smith is now appealing against some of her convictions, starting with seven trading standards breaches and four charges brought by the RSPCA.
Dakota will be making her first ever public appearance Horseworld's first open day of 2019 this Saturday (April 13).
She will also be performing at other Horseworld events throughout the year.
For more information visit http://www.horseworld.org.uk/about-us/events.
