January has brought difficulties largely linked to the ongoing wet weather which continued from the summer. Parts of our land has become extremely waterlogged and muddy. Our donated mud mats have made a difference outside of the field shelters but the remainder of the land is becoming very muddy. The alternative to turnout is more time on the yard and stable areas. We have been feeding more hay and using more bedding as a result of this. Our funds have rapidly depleted and so we are running a Crowdfunder to try and help with costs.
0 Comments
This summer we welcomed two new ponies. Bear and Finn. Both have a story to tell. It had been intended for Finn to return to the moor after his castration. However Finn was a very nervous pony and became very stressed at the Castration Clinic and on welfare grounds the vets decided not to castrate him. The farmer was then unsure what his future held and he remained with her for some time. We were contacted & asked if we were able to offer a space for Finn and luckily two of our ponies (Beth and Berry) had recently been offered a home and so we were able to offer a space for him. Whilst at the farm Finn befriended another pony Bear. He had been rescued by the farmer last summer when he had been stuck in a cattle grid on the moor – there was quite an injury to his leg but due to close proximity of a stallion and his mare who was being extremely protective of her foal it was decided to leave him out with her but monitor him. The mare was very protective of her foal for example she took him to the stream to clean his wound and kept him in the shade to protect him from the flies. After some time the wound appeared to be healing nicely. Bear and Finn both attended a castration clinic and then came to us at HPR.
|
Another year passed and we are still here! Last year we moved fields, took in more ponies, rehomed ponies and continued to work with our long term ponies. We worked in extreme weathers including storm, heatwave and torrential rain. Towards the end of the year our funds began to dwindle but luckily we were successful in achieving a few grants which kept us going. |
Unfortunately our grazing agreement came to an end in February and put us under some pressure to find somewhere new or our Charity would have to be folded. Many kind people contacted us with suggestions and offers and we were so grateful that our long term supporter has offered us a new site to move the ponies too. It has just over 4 .5 acres 3 stables and a hardstand area - it is perfect! Thank you so much to Chrissy for helping us in our time of need. We will however still need additional land so that we can manage our grazing and prevent a situation where we are over grazed again, so will be keeping our eyes open for something suitable |