Bud the pony saved from winter weather with new foster placement

Bud the pony is safe and cozy for now in his new foster home after his plight plucked at the heartstrings of horse lovers across the province.

Rescue NL, the animal welfare group that wasasked to assist in Bud's rehoming after his previous owners had trouble giving him away, dropped Bud off at his cozy new stall and pasture on Sunday.

"We trailed him over just like a pro. He was excellent," said Heather Ballard, the Rescue NL worker who's been handling Bud's case. "He seems to be settling in quite well at his new place."

He was living in a pasture on Bell Island without adequate winter shelter.

Ballard expressed concernlast week about finding Bud the right winter stable not for lack of offers, she said, detailing all the emails and phone calls she received from concerned locals. It was Bud's medical demands that made rehominghim a challenge.

"He has a condition where one of his testicles hasn't dropped, so he just can't be gelded like regular horses," she said.

"He needs to go to a place where there's no other studs and no mares, because obviously we don't want him to reproduce. His condition is supposed to be genetic so obviously we wouldn't want to pass that on."

Bud also can't have surgery until the rescue group is able to raise the funds needed to ship him off the closest animal hospital that can perform it, which means loading him on a ferry to Prince Edward Island.

Once the winter passes, Ballard says she hopes Bud can find a permanent home.

"We're not quite there yet," she said. "But for sure, he's going togood places."

With files from ZachGoudie

Read more from CBCNewfoundland and Labrador