A HORSE charity has issued an urgent appeal for donations after rescuing nine abandoned ponies from Runcorn.

Horse Sense Wirral, based in Thornton Hough, helped Cheshire Police rescue the six mares - three of which are heavily pregnant - and three foals on April 30 from Moss Lane.

All the ponies were infected with parasites and their fur matted but are all at a good weight.

Last week, a vet came out to assess one of the ponies called Mika who was covered in sarcoids when she was rescued.

It was first thought that Mika was pregnant however test results came back as negative while more results show that there is significant cell damage in her liver.

Another pony called Ferne is heavily pregnant but is struggling. She does not have any milk yet and so cannot be induced by a vet.

The team are monitoring her progress in the hope that there will be some change soon.

However, the rescue has pushed the charity's finances to the limit and they are now hoping to raise £5,000 to help care for the new additions.

In a statement, chairwoman Amy Pirie said: "Although they are all a good weight, they all need their feet doing and are all riddled with parasites and matted.

"One pony who was named Mika at the scene, after the police officer in attendance 'Michael', is not as well as the rest, her chest is covered in nasty looking sarcoids (tumours), she isn't carrying as much weight as the others and also has chronic diarrhoea.

"A huge thank you and well done is in order, to Cheshire Police, who really did everything they could for these ponies and have seized them and placed them under our ownership, to the many lovely people who went and helped round up the ponies and some stayed with them all day from approximately 9am, until we left near to 8pm, happy to help us handling and loading, proper pony angels to Rik Pinchin for running out of work to transport, Trevor Jones for putting his paint brush down and transporting, Rosie Joyner for travelling a fair distance to transport and also Ange who also dropped everything to help transport too.

"We also have an amazing team of volunteers and liveries, who don't get enough credit for the work they do, Samantha Cumbers, Fran Randles and her partner Ian, all attended on scene with me, whilst Joanne Cumbers, Wendy Parker, her partner Phil, Emma McCabe and her dad Tony, Lorraine Westhead and her daughter Lucile, Molly, Angela and Trustee Rachel Tyrie all manned the fort at home, looking after our residents, preparing for the new arrivals and receiving them, they really are an amazing team of people, thank you everyone who assisted in anyway.

"We also had several people including Carol Pinchin, Caz Lucas, Sam Mee and many more who were all on their phones trying to round up transport for us, these rescues aren't possible without a whole team of dedicated people."

To donate to Horse Sense Wirral visit

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/mikaandfriends