Tender loving care helps horse team tame Silver

She was so dirty, no one knew her real colour and several owners had given up -she was destined to be put down.

But then a North-East police officer put her negotiating skills to good use and helped to tame the wild horse.

PC Mandy Payne had heard of Silver by reputation. When the pair met, PC Payne hoped she would be able to help.

PC Payne, from Coxhoe, near Durham, said: "We made eye contact and I could see that she was so scared. I said to her then owner, if ever you are going to part with her, do not let her go to anyone but me."

Silver came to PC Payne, 38, in September.

It is believed the horse, aged ten to 20, had been mistreated in the past.

PC Payne took Silver to the Learning to Listen Centre, near Masham, North Yorkshire, where Sarah Kreutzer and her team worked with them. The centre takes on horses with behavioural problems.

To get Silver to allow people to touch her, PC Payne and the team at the centre spent hours reaching out with a glove on the end of a pole because, at first, no one could get near.

PC Payne, a police officer of seven years based in Darlington, said: "For the first time in her life, as far as we know, the animal has allowed someone to touch her and put a head collar on.

"You can look at her and see she has so much to give. It is all down to horse whispering, where you talk to the animal in a language they understand."

PC Payne has two other horses and hopes to take Silver to live with them in the future.

She said: "Every time I look at her, I wonder what could have happened in her past. If it had not been for the work we have done with her, she would not be here."

Horse trainer Katie Marshall said: "We think Silver has been wild a long time. She has been surviving on her own and the only experience of people she has had has been negative.

"We gave her a bath the other day and she is now willing to come to you in the field. It was all down to that initial touch."