By Casey Neill
PRECEDE: Pakenham Pony Rescue all started with a tiny horse named Muffie. Dean Cowan showed CASEY NEILL around the equine escape and explained how the group has grown.
QUOTE: “Every single one of the horses you see, they all should have been dog food at least six months ago.”
Dean Cowan knew nothing about horses before a chance encounter with a pony in need three years ago.
“My dad’s first boss, he was into horses,” he said.
“When I was a kid I used to go down and do odd jobs on his property.
“I looked at the horses – I was a little bit nervy of them.
“I like animals, always have liked animals.
“Muffie was my first horse – you may as well start small.”
It was January 2014. Temperatures were topping 40 degrees and Dean was completing a gardening job at a property in Narre Warren South.
“She’d been left in the back yard of this house,” he said.
“She came out from behind this shed, frightened out of her little mind.
“She was not a well little girl.”
He called the owner and told them he’d found a horse.
“They said ‘that’s Muffie. That’s our pony’,” Dean said.
“I said ‘it’s a hot day, where’s its water bowl?’.
“They said ‘she doesn’t need a water bowl, we gave her water two weeks ago’.
“They kept booking up more and more work.
“The job took me two weeks.
“Every day I was with her.
“Within two weeks we were the best of friends.”
They asked Dean to dig out some extra trees but refused to pay extra money for the work.
“I negotiated and got Muffie as part of the payment,” he said.
She’s eight years old and is a miniature pony with a little bit of dwarfism in her.
“Muffie stayed with me for a year or so and became my best little mate,” Dean said.
“We used to go walking every day.”
In January 2015 he was offered two more little ponies.
“At the time I was agisting in Toomuc Valley Road in Pakenham,” he said.
The owner gave him the OK to accept brother and sister Hope and Lucky.
Hope was two years old when she arrived.
“She had been dragged with lead ropes tied around her feet 200 metres,” Dean said.
“It took me three months to be able to touch her.
“Lucky was a nine-year-old when he turned up.
“He has a few psychological issues.
“Horses, I’ve worked out – I’ve made some mistakes, I’m the first to admit it – they do communicate with you through their mannerisms, their personas.
“I’ve taken advice from our vets, asking questions, reading books – I’m always reading a book on horse nutrition, horse welfare or training techniques – and working with people with experience with horses.”
Pakenham Pony Rescue, a not-for-profit organisation, has grown from there.
Dean moved the operation to a Ballarto Road property in Pakenham South in November 2015.
“I spoke to the gentleman next door, a lucerne dealer, on the off chance I asked him about agistment around this area,” he said.
He spoke to Ray Lightowler and his wife Joan and set up on 25 acres of their 150-acre property.
The Lightowlers have cattle but weren’t using several smaller paddocks.
“If those paddocks are left there, the grass grows, the weeds grow, so it’s better for them to be used,” Ray said.
Dean has 23 horses. His aim is to “give unloved, unwanted, abandoned, mistreated little equines a second chance”.
“Pakenham Pony Rescue Organisation is virtually the end of the line, it’s a last resort,” he said.
“Every single one of the horses you see, they all should have been dog food at least six months ago.
“But look at them – they’re lovely.
“You spend the time.”
He has a dedicated group of volunteers to help, including Pakenham’s Jules Springfield.
“Jules has been supporting me with this for the last 18 months to two years,” Dean said.
“She’s my right hand.
“She just takes care of everything.”
The group has built hay sheds, horse stables, shade areas for the horses from disused trampolines, feed troughs from old wheelie bins and more.
Jules has helped with it all.
“There was an article when Dean only had Muffie, Lucky and Hope and the small paddock that he had,” she said.
“The council were reclaiming it so he needed somewhere.
“There was an article in the paper and I read that, went up and saw him and the rest is history.
“I do the weekends, plus I do all the admin work. I do that from home.
“Weekends it’s usually our fund-raisers or we’re out here cleaning paddocks.
“It can be very hard work but it’s all about these guys, it’s not about us.
“We’ve had three of our ponies already adopted.”
Rehoming is their ultimate goal.
“The ideal is to get them back to health, get them to trust humans again and, eventually, when they’re ready, when they’re healthy, strong – they get adopted, rehomed,” he said.
“I grew up riding horses and being around them but then work, kids, life got in the way.
“It’s good to be around them again and give them that second chance.
“They’re beautiful little guys.
“When they come in, some of them, their condition … how people can do it is beyond me.”
Barbie was rescue with her mate, who has been rehomed, while she was pregnant with Gracie, who is now five months old.
Of Barbie’s older daughter, Maggie, Dean said: “When she got here she didn’t know what this green stuff was.”
“She didn’t know what grass was.
“They came from Rushworth.
“We got contacted by another organisation, REIN Rescue.
“They take care of bigger horses.”
Nugget and Lady came from a woman who rescued them but hadn’t been able to get close to them.
“It was such a hard decision for her,” Jules said.
“You could see how torn she was – wanting the best for them but not wanting to get rid of them.
“They need someone who can spend the time with them, work with them.”
