When two young lads went walking over Llangynidr Moors early one evening in May they came across a sink hole and, to their horror, found a very young foal trapped inside.

There was no sign of the mother but they managed to free the little creature, who had nasty gashes to her head and her legs, which had been bent in all directions.

The older boy carried her half a mile down the mountain to the car and she was taken home to their parents.

With no knowledge of horses and certainly not the care required by a very young injured orphan foal, they were given details of Monmouthshire-based charity the Society for the Welfare of Horses and Ponies by a local vet.

The family then took the foal to SWHP’s MacGregor Centre where a warm bed awaited her and her injuries were treated by Yard manager Ann Walker - who was due to go on holiday but stayed up throughout the night with her, feeding milk replacer every two hours.

The Cooper family who rescued her asked if they could name her and so the little orphan now two months old is called Chance.

A spokesperson for SWHP said, “Without the fast thinking of the two young boys and the Cooper family being so caring Chance would not have survived, and we are very grateful to them for their amazing efforts in saving this foal’s life.

“Chance has to go to Abbey Vets twice a week to have the plaster cast removed and replaced on her hind leg which is taking some time to heal but she is a great little character who is still being hand-reared.

“Her milk replacer alone costs just over £50 a week and her veterinary fees are going to be extremely high and probably the highest we have experienced for an individual foal.”

Chance along with Cracker, last year’s orphan foal, are just two of the rescues that can be seen when the charity throws open its doors for its Annual Summer Open Day on Sunday (July 10) from 11am to 4pm at St Maughans near Monmouth.

In addition to the parade of horses and ponies being nursed back to health at the centre, several who have been adopted will be re-united along with their current riders for the public to see how they have progressed.

There will be various stalls including the tack sale, usual crafts, gifts, SWHP merchandise and tombola with refreshments throughout the day.

This year Lynn Mann will be signing copies of her recently published book ‘The Horses Know’ which is inspired by her SWHP rescue horse Pie who arrived some years ago with her foal Pippin just before the open day in a deplorable condition. A percentage of profits from the book will be going to SWHP.

All proceeds from the day will go towards the much-needed continuing work of SWHP which is totally reliant on fund-raising, donations and bequests.