Alice Slattery and family have owned their lead-rein pony, Salbrook Rockafella (aka Rocky) for five years. During this time he’s been their pony of a lifetime for Alice and her family he’s always done everything they have asked and more.

Says Alice “All he wants to do is please you, he’s a smart, loving pony who is never sick or sorry, we have formed the most tremendous bond as a whole family with Rocky”.

This year with Covid 19, he’s been having some down-time, so Alice decided to bring him in for a good groom and tidy up.

It was only when grooming under his belly that they discovered a tumour on the end of his penis. Alice commented “We rang our Vet straight away and they arranged for us to take him to see a surgeon at Hambleton Equine who confirmed to us he has a Squamas cancer, which is an aggressive cancer and needs an operation. The Vet added that he thought Rocky has had it a few months.”

The good news is that the overall prognosis is good with an 80% chance of recovery. There is always the risk it can return as it is quite common in geldings.

Alice is keen to raise awareness to all horse and pony lovers of this form of cancer and highly recommends all owners of ponies in particular to regularly check, especially if they are between the ages of 10 – 14.

Rocky is booked in for an operation on 7th January and Alice is also putting out a desperate plea to help cover the cost of Rocky’s operation. However small, every little bit of support is much appreciated. Alice added “Rocky needs our help, he is my two daughter’s world and being such a relatively young pony, he’s got many more years to give”.

If you wish to donate, Alice has set up a ‘gofundme’ page which can be found at https://gofund.me/cda67560

Alice added “The support already shown is just amazing and what a kind world we live in despite the desperate year we have had. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts to everyone.”