Since 2018, The Backwater Sanctuary has treated, rescued and re-homed hundreds of horses and donkeys across India. The Sanctuary is currently home to 40 equines as well as three rescued camels.
Along with our resident equids, we also support multiple lower income stables across the city by providing free vet care, grain and fodder.
It doesn't stop there though; We also do free consultations for horses across the country, helping other individuals, shelters and rescue organisations with our expertise on equine care.
We also have a smaller set up in Bangalore for more severe cases/animals that can’t travel to the main sanctuary. At the moment we have nine horses, including two amputee horses with prosthetic legs, and a donkey in our shelter in Bangalore, that is under the care of Rudrapratap Singh.
Now enough about us, go on and meet our rescues!
backwater babies
Breed: Thoroughbred. Sex: Gelding. Age: 14 y/o. History: Ex-racehorse (Mangalore). Rescued: July 2017.
Mother : Zoha Jung Nambiar
Breed: Pony. Sex: Female. Age: 25 y/o. History: Cart Horse (Tonga pony) (Mysore). Rescued: March 2018.
Sponsor: Divleen Jeji
Breed: Thoroughbred. Sex: Gelding. Age: 14 y/o. History: Ex-Racehorse. Rescued: August 2018.
Sponsor: Anusha Dandekar
Breed: Pony. Sex: Filly. Age: 6 y/o. History: First backwater born baby! Born: (Premature) 30th September 2018. Mother: Piper
Sponsor: Divya Sabanayagam & Athira Menon
Breed: Pony. Sex: Colt. Age: Yearling. History: Born October 12, 2023
Sponsors: Sameera Prabha & Anusatya Addala
Breed: Pony. Sex: Gelding. Age: 5 y/o. History: Unkown. Found abandoned (Mysore) with his mother (Gypsy) Rescued: July 2019.
Lifetime Sponsor: Anonymous
Breed: Pony. Sex: Gelding. Age: 18 y/o. History: Found Abandoned (Mysore). Rescued: November 2019 with help from We Save Animals.
Sponsors: Nisha Alosious
Breed: Pony. Sex: Colt - gelded. Age: 2 y/o. History: Found in Bangalore with broken leg. Leg has healed. Rescued: August 2021 with Shiv Patil.
Sponsor: Sanaa Shaikh
Breed: Pony. Sex: Gelding. Age: 14 y/o. History: Found Abandoned (Coimbatore) with broken leg. Rescued: June 2023
Sponsor: Riddhi Kulkarni
Breed: Miniature Donkey. Sex: Female (Jenny). Rescued pregnant. Age: 12 y/o. History: Unknown. Rescued: May 2018.
Sponsor: Vinay Shetty
Breed: Miniature Donkey. Sex: Female (Jenny). Age: 4 y/o. History: Found abandoned with broken leg in Mysore. Rescued: July 2023.
Lifetime Sponsor: Kehkashan Merchant
Breed: Pony. Sex: Mare.Age: 6 y/o. History: Found abandoned in Coimbatore with broken hoof. Rescued: May 2023.
Sponsor: Rishika Menon
Breed: Pony. Sex: Mare. Age: 3 y/o. History: Found on the road pregnant and neglected. (Coimbatore). Rescued: September 2023.
Sponsor: Monika Mehla
Breed: Large Pony. Sex: Mare. Age: 3 y/o. History: Abandoned with hoof injury. (Coimbatore). Rescued: September 2023.
Sponsors: Amy Jackson & Ed Westwick
Breed: Marwari. Sex: Colt. Age: 8 m/o. History: Born with no eyes to a Marwari breeder. (Coimbatore). Rescued: Dec 2023.
Sponsors: Sanjana, Divleen & Pukhraj Jeji
Breed: Marwari/Thoroughbred mix. Sex: Mare. Age: 19 y/o. History: Retired at the sanctuary.
Sponsors: Nayan, Sai & Kabir Khemka
Breed: Dromedary Camel. Sex: Male gelded. Age: 6 y/o. History: Abandoned Circus Camel. Rescued by Besant Memorial Animal Dispensary, Chennai. Re-homed at The Backwater Sanctuary: January 2021.
Sponsor: Anusha Mani
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Breed: Thoroughbred. Sex: Mare. Age: 11 y/o. History: Ex-racehorse. Rescued: August 2018.
Sponsor: Prachi Kaapse
Breed: Pony. Sex: Gelding. Age: 10 y/o. History: Cart & chilldren’s riding pony (Tamil Nadu) Rescued: September 2018.
Sponsors: Aditi Sindhwani & Neha Dhanuka
Breed: Pony. Sex: Colt. Age: 10 months. History: Born January 25, 2024
Sponsors: Purnima DN & Mrinal Shankar
Breed: Pony. Sex: Gelding. Age: 12 y/o. History: Cart Pony (Bangalore) Rescued: September 2018 along with Piper and Sawyer.
Lifetime Sponsor: Kavya Ganesh & Abhishek Rao
Breed: Pony. Sex: Mare. Age: 4 y/o. History: Found Abandoned (Mysore) with a newboarn foal, Podrick. Rescued: July 2019.
Sponsor: Khushbu
Breed: Pony. Sex: Gelding. Age: 16 y/o. History: Found Abandoned (Mysore) with a paralysed hind leg which is now fully functional. Rescued: April 2022
Sponsor: Sanaya Baltoda
Breed: Pony. Sex: Gelding. Age: 10 y/o. History: Found Abandoned (Bangalore) due to aggression. Still very dangerous, but healing. Rescued: January 2023.
Sponsor: Aditi Bagri
Breed: Miniature Donkey. Sex: Male (Jack). Age: 11 y/o. History: Abandoned with broken leg. Hobbles happily. Rescued: July 2022.
Sponsor: Chaitaly Mehta
Breed: Miniature Donkeys. Sex: Males (Jack). Age Range - 4 - 28 y/o. History: Rescued on their way to slaughter. Rescued: December 2022.
Sponsors: Click for more
Breed: Pony-Marwari mix. Sex: Gelding. Age: 3 y/o. History: Found abandoned with broken leg. Rescued: May 2023.
Sponsor: Muffaddel Cementwala
Breed: Pony. Sex: Colt. Age: 7m/o. History: Born at the sanctuary to rescued mare, Everest (Coimbatore). Rescued: September 2023.
Sponsor: Shivangi Singh
Breed: Large Pony. Sex: Mare. Age: 1 y/o. History: Abandoned with mother. (Coimbatore). Rescued: September 2023.
Sponsor: Rina Charaniya
Breed: Marwari. Sex: Gelding. Age: 28 y/o. History: Given up by owners as they were no longer able to look after him.
Sponsors: Kumkum Sharma & Adithi Bharath
Breed: Thoroughbred. Sex: Gelding. Age: 5 y/o. History: Retired race horse with fractured knee.
Sponsor: Neha Chowdhry
Breed: Dromedary Camel. Sex: Female & Male. Age: 4 y/o & 8 m/o. History: Neglected mother with mastitis and weak calf that had to be bottle fed. Rescued by BMAD. Re-homed at TBWS: July 2024
Nyla Sponsors: Savane Shinde
Khufu Sponsors: Nikita Mankani & Lakshana Viravalli
The city Herd
While our main sanctuary is in the Jungle, we have a smaller space at the Palace Grounds in Bangalore City where we keep our more severe rescue cases who require regular vet care. At the moment we have nine equines, including two amputees with prosthetic legs, who are doing beautifully.
Breed: Marwari Horse. Sex: Mare. Age: 5 y/o. History: Abandoned with hoof missing.
Sponsors: Kamya Shah
Breed: Indian Pony. Sex: Mare. Age: 7 y/o. History: Abandoned with chronic laminitis.
Sponsors: Preet Arora & Ishika Menon
Breed: Indian Pony. Sex: Gelding. Age: 11 y/o. History: Abandoned and severely neglected.
Sponsor: Rudrapratap Singh
Breed: Indian Pony. Sex: Colt. Age: 11 m/o. History: Abandoned with severed leg. After surgery, he is our first amputee with a prosthetic leg.
Sponsor: Suneil Shah
Breed: Thoroughbred. Sex: Gelding. Age: 3 y/o. History: Severely neglcted OTTB.
Sponsors: Vanya & Tushar
Breed: Indian Pony. Sex: Mare. Age: 2 y/o. History: Abandoned with missing jaw.
Sponsors: Taruna Chowdhry
Breed: Miniature Donkey. Sex: Gelding. Age: 10 y/o. History: Abandoned with broken leg.
Sponsor: N/A
Breed: Indian Pony. Sex: Colt. Age: Yearling y/o. History: Broken leg that required amputation. After a successful surgery we are now in recovery, awaiting prosthesis.
Sponsor: Ferrier
over the rainbow bridge
While we rescue as many animals as we can, we can’t save them all. Here are the animals that stopped by our sanctuary on their way to horsey heaven. At the very least they left knowing there’s still love in the world.
Breed: Thoroughbred. Sex: Mare. Age: 10 y/o. History: Severely neglected OTTB - was rescued along with Boris, Hannibal & Zelda. Rescued: September 2018.
Breed: Donkey. Sex: Male (Jack). History: Abandoned Donkey. Rescued: September 2018.
Breed: Pony. Sex: Gelding. Age: 2 y/o. History: Born at the Sanctuary.
Breed: Thoroughbred. Sex: Gelding. Age: 29 y/o. History: Ex Race Horse, Champion Show Jumper/Eventing Horse. Retired: August 2020.
Breed: Pony. Sex: Gelding. Age: 14 y/o. History: Found Abandoned (Bangalore). Rescued: September 2018.
Breed: Miniature Donkey. Sex: Male (Jack). Age: 12 y/o. History: Unknown. Rescued: May 2018 with Peach & DonkeyKong.
Breed: Thoroughbred. Sex: Gelding. Age: 24 y/o. History: Retired from Embassy International Riding School.
Breed: Thoroughbred. Sex: Mare. Age: 25 y/o. History: Retired from Embassy International Riding Schoo
Breed: Pony. Sex: Mare. Age: 30 y/o. History: Retired from Embassy International Riding School.
Breed: Donkey. Sex: Female (Jenny). Age: 11 y/o. History: Abandoned Donkey. Rescued: July 2018.
Breed: Marwari Horse. Sex: Mare. Age: 12 y/o. History: Found abandoned in Erode. Rescued: June 2023.
Breed: Thoroughbred/Marwari mix. Sex: Gelding. History: Riding horse, Ooty. Found abandoned with broken leg. Rescued: April 2019.
Breed: Miniature Donkey. Sex: Male (Jack). History: Abandoned with broken leg. Rescued: May 2018.
Breed: Thoroughbred. Sex: Mare. Age: 6 y/o. History: Ex Race Horse. Rescued: April 2021.
Breed: Donkey. Sex: Jenny. Age: 2 y/o. History: Backwater Born Baby (May 20th 2019). Mother: Peach, who was rescued while pregnant and neglected.
Breed: Pony. Sex: Gelding. Age: 25 y/o. History: Cart Pony (Mysore). Rescued: Feb 2019.
Breed: Marwari Horse. Sex: Gelding.Age: 17 y/o. History: Wedding Horse. Rescued: December 2019 from Bangalore.
Breed: Thoroughbred. Sex: Gelding. Age: 29 y/o. History: Retired from Embassy International Riding School.
Breed: Thoroughbred. Sex: Gelding. Age: 30 y/o. History: Retired from Embassy International Riding Schoo
Breed: Pony. Sex: Mare. Age: 30 y/o. History: Retired from Embassy International Riding School.
Breed: Thoroughbred. Sex: Gelding. Age: 12 y/o. History: Ex-racehorse. Rescued: August 2018.