Naomi Baskerville met a Shetland pony named John Willy Parker when she was 6 years old. Two years later, the little girl from Scotland would take him in as her own pony. But by the time she was 14, she’d begun to outgrow John Willy. Schoolwork was preventing her from visiting him, so she finally made the selfless decision to allow a younger girl to take the pony. “When it hit me that I would probably never see John Willy again, I was devastated,” she told SWNS.
“It is the biggest regret of my life.” Naomi was heartbroken. Unbeknownst to her, John Willy developed went on to develop health issues that put him in Blue Cross pet shelter in 2005. Flash forward 12 years: During a chance visit to the charity in 2017, Naomi saw a poster of John Willy. She feared that he may have died. “As soon as I saw his picture, I just burst out crying,” she recalled.
Naomi mustered up the courage to call Blue Cross and discovered the pony had been happily living with a new family. “He was alive and well and living with a family in Scotland. They even had pictures of him with his new family,” she added. But a few months later, she got a shocking phone call: the shelter said John Willy was back with them. The family decided to re-home the pony.
For, Naomi the solution was a no-brainer. She took John Willy right back. The horse welfare coordinator, Maria Kavanah, believes the reunion is what was meant to happen. “He could be quite aloof with all of us, but when he was with Naomi it was obvious — they have a wonderful, deep bond,” Maria said. “We are delighted they have been reunited after all these years. Fate has brought them back together.”