Remus Winter Hay Appeal 2024

When grazing is not possible on our site in the winter months, hay is even more vital for feeding the 200+ equines at our Sanctuary, like little Mopsey, Dickie and Clementine pictured here.

With so much mud and waterlogged paddocks during the winter months, hay is even more vital for feeding the 200+ equines at our Sanctuary. It costs us a minimum of £6,947.49 in Hay and Feed every single month, and that’s before the snow starts!

How can you make a difference?

We are asking our supporters to consider a gift to help us to buy more hay to feed our four-legged residents over the coming winter months.

Your gift will be used to buy hay that will help our residents, like those pictured and many more, through the rest of the winter until they can enjoy the spring grass when it arrives.

Spread the word!

Please share our cause with your family and friends, inspiring them to help too!

Thank you for your support.

Visit our JustGiving page to make your donation.

What is Give as you Live Online?

You may have seen our social media posts in the past, or perhaps previous blogs about ‘Give as you Live’ – but perhaps you’re unfamiliar with how it works and whether you can trust it as a means of making donations to us. After all, most things that are too good to be true, generally are right! Well we think this is probably one of the few exceptions.

However, if you’re still in doubt, we’d like to share some further information with you.

How does Give as you Live work?

By shopping through Give as you Live Online supporters can raise free funds for us and other charities. Give as you Live Online work with over 4,300 popular high street retailers, as well as dozens of insurance, energy, broadband and utility providers. Supporters simply sign up to Give as you Live Online and use the website, iOS app, start page or Donation Reminder to browse retailers and make a purchase. Once you have shopped online a free donation is raised for the charity!

Where do the funds come from?

As a ‘thank you’ for bringing users to their website, the retailer pay Give as you Live Online a commission – they then turn this into a donation for the supporter’s chosen charity.

If their services are free, how do they make money?

Put simply, the Give as you Live team make their money through the retailers – part of the commission they receive from the retailers is retained by them to cover their costs. They donate 50% of the commission they receive to charity, and the other 50% is used to fund the ongoing development of Give as you Live Online.

All of this is done in the background – this means the donation amounts they display represent the actual amount the charity will receive – a 5% donation really does mean a 5% donation!

How do I sign up?

We have our own dedicated landing page on the Give as you Live website. It’s easy – and free – to register so you can quickly sign-up and start raising funds. It can be done with only a few clicks!

Click on any one of the links above and, once you’re on the Remus dedicated landing page click on the green button on the right hand side which says: ‘Support us, it’s free’ and follow the simple steps.

Your support in this way, makes a phenomenal difference to us here at Remus Horse Sanctuary. You’ll be able to see how much is being raised online via these simple steps.

And remember, whether you’re shopping for groceries, the Christmas and New Year sales, your holiday, or just switching your energy supplier, every little really will help!

SIGN UP NOW

Happy New Year!

Can you Help us Win a Share of £50,000?

Animal Friends Pet Insurance have £50,000 to share this Christmas and want to hear how they could suppawt Remus with some local love this winter. Whether it’s funding to cover the rising costs of energy bills, food, horse rugs and blankets, vet bills, or anything else, they want to help make a difference.

Nominations only take a couple of minutes and are open until 23:59 on 16 December 2023.

Please nominate Remus Horse Sanctuary and share this with your friends and family to spread the joy this festive season, together.

Once you have clicked on the nomination link you will need:

• Our web address: www.remussanctuary.org
• Our charity number: 1134951

Animal Friends recently donated £25,000 to The Tree Council, to support planting projects that provide habitats for thousands of species across the UK. They continue to work together with The Tree Council, to create a healthier, tree-filled future for us all. Helping Rhinos received £6,000 too, which went towards helping to care for orphans at the Zululand Rhino Orphanage. A further £5,000 was donated to DogsnHomes Rescue, in light of an animal welfare crisis caused by the war in Ukraine. Their donation has already helped DogsnHomes Rescue to send over 10,000kg of supplies to help abandoned animals.

Suppawt small. Believe big.

Nominate Remus Horse Sanctuary Now

Never Forget Finds his Forever Home

The winning bid for ‘Never Forget’ – the not so little elephant donated to Remus following the ‘Herd in the City’ initiative in Essex – raised an incredible £2,400 for the charity. He is now back near Southend at his new forever home.

The Herd in The City trail took place from 14 July to 4 September and consisted of 46 elephants and 72 baby elephants located around Southend-on-Sea, Leigh-on-Sea and Shoeburyness. Each of the wonderfully decorated elephants had a meaning and significance and were part of a trail that people could follow.

‘Never Forget’ was gifted to Remus for fundraising in October 2023. Read Never Forget’s story on our website.

Giving Tuesday 28 November 2023

This year, Giving Tuesday takes place on Tuesday 28 November 2023.

Giving Tuesday is a global day of giving, a day to do something for charities and – if we may be so bold – specifically for Remus Horse Sanctuary. You can give your time, give some money, donate something, buy something, or campaign for something. Giving Tuesday is one day to make a world of difference and all we’re asking is for you to do something!

If you haven’t already got your Giving Tuesday ‘something’ planned, here are 10 last minute ideas to help you make a difference! Don’t forget to share your ‘something’ on social media, use the #GivingTuesday hashtag and tag Remus Horse Sanctuary. You’ll find the links to all of our social media channels below.

1. Browse our wish lists. There’s always something we need here at Remus, whether it’s food for the animals, treats or medical supplies. Browse our wish list. ‘Tis the season – buy something for Remus.
2. Fundraise on our behalf. This year we have been celebrating our 40th anniversary. Have you signed up to our 40th Anniversary Challenge? All you have to do is fundraise £40 for us. If only 1000 people took part, we would raise a massive £40,000!
3. Write to your MP. Earlier this year we launched our #BornToDie campaign. Please write to your MP and ask for change. Please remember, always be polite and respectful. Find your local MP and just pop in your county or postcode, or the name of your MP if you know it. This will provide you with both an email and a postal address. It only takes a few minutes.
4. Give some money. Make a donation to Remus to help us through the winter months.
5. Charity Christmas cards. Buy your Christmas cards from our online charity shop this year, or donate the cost of the cards and postage instead. Remember to let all your friends and family know via text message if you’re not sending cards this year – you don’t want to disappoint Great Aunt Molly!
6. Sign up to Give as you Live. Give as you Live Online generates charitable giving from your everyday shopping and enables you to raise money every time you shop online – from groceries, fashion, gifts and holidays! And it won’t cost you a penny extra.
7. Volunteer. You may not be able to give your time regularly, but perhaps you can help out at the odd event, or perhaps micro-volunteering might be more your thing!
8. Give a charity gift this year as a present. Visit our online charity shop, we have lots of charity gifts to choose from, or why not surprise someone by sponsoring one of our animals as a truly unique gift.
9. Become a member. Your Membership is hugely important to the Sanctuary, the financial support is a major source of income for us and provides funds to enable us to continue to feed and care for the animals here. It also supports our welfare work in the wider horse community in Essex and beyond.
10. Talk about Giving Tuesday. Tell your family and friends about Giving Tuesday, challenge them to do something on the day. Together we can make a world of difference. #GivingTuesday

Share your something on social media with the hashtag #GivingTuesday and tag us in your posts:

• Instagram: Instagram.com/RemusHorseSanctuary
• Facebook: facebook.com/RemusHorseSanctuary
• X (formerly Twitter): @RemusHorse

Ten Ideas for Supporting Remus Horse Sanctuary this #GivingTuesday 2023

Remus Horse Sanctuary is thrilled to announce that once again it will be taking part in this year’s global day of giving, #GivingTuesday, taking place on Tuesday 28 November 2023.

This Giving Tuesday 2023, the charity has produced a list of ideas on how people can help them – whether it’s by giving time or money, donating or buying something, or campaigning for their #BornToDie initiative.

Giving Tuesday is one day to make a world of difference and all Sue Burton and her team are asking is for you to do something!

Below is their list of ideas:

1. Browse our wish lists. There’s always something we need here at Remus, whether it’s food for the animals, treats or medical supplies. Browse our wish list. ‘Tis the season – buy something for Remus.
2. Fundraise on our behalf. This year we have been celebrating our 40th anniversary. Have you signed up to our 40th Anniversary Challenge? All you have to do is fundraise £40 for us. If only 1000 of our 6000 Facebook Followers took part, we would raise a massive £40,000!
3. Write to your MP. Earlier this year we launched our #BornToDie campaign. Please write to your MP and ask for change: Find your local MP.
4. Give some money. Make a donation to Remus to help us through the winter months.
5. Charity Christmas cards. Buy your Christmas cards from our online charity shop this year, or donate the cost of the cards and postage instead.
6. Sign up to Give as you Live. Give as you Live Online generates charitable giving from your everyday shopping and enables you to raise money every time you shop online – from groceries, fashion, gifts and holidays!
7. Volunteer. You may not be able to give your time regularly, but perhaps you can help out at the odd event, or perhaps micro-volunteering might be more your thing!
8. Give a charity gift this year as a present. Visit our online charity shop, we have lots of charity gifts to choose from, or why not surprise someone by sponsoring one of our animals as a truly unique gift.
9. Become a member. Your Membership is hugely important to the Sanctuary, the financial support is a major source of income for us and provides funds to enable us to continue to feed and care for the animals here. It also supports our welfare work in the wider horse community in Essex and beyond.
10. Talk about Giving Tuesday. Tell your family and friends about Giving Tuesday, challenge them to do something on the day. Together we can make a world of difference. #GivingTuesday

The Giving Tuesday campaign began in America in 2012 as a way to give back after the well-known shopping days of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. The campaign is coordinated in the UK by the Chartered Institute of Fundraising.

Sue Burton, founder of Remus Horse Sanctuary said: “If you haven’t already got your Giving Tuesday ‘something’ planned, here are ten ideas to help you make a difference!

“Don’t forget to share your ‘something’ on social media, use the #GivingTuesday hashtag and please tag Remus Horse Sanctuary too.”

For further information, visit www.remussanctuary.org or contact Sue Burton on tel: 01277 356191.

Born To Die – We Need Your Help

As you’ll know, Remus Horse Sanctuary provides rehabilitation and lifetime care for over 200 horses, ponies, donkeys, sheep, goats and cats near Ingatestone in Essex, and we are celebrating our 40th anniversary in 2023.

Over the past 40 years, we have rescued and rehabilitated hundreds of emaciated, terrified, beaten, and, in two cases, deliberately blinded animals – these two were both mares in foal.

The animals in our care are now able to live and enjoy a normal happy life free from suffering, hunger and fear.

So what do we need your help with? Well you may have seen details of our #BornToDie campaign which we launched earlier this year. Although we are calling on the government for change, you too can help support us in the following simple ways:

1. Contact your MP to press for change. We urge you to write your own message, as this will see the best response. However, you can copy the information from our web page if that’s helpful. View our ‘BornToDie’ campaign page. Please remember, always be respectful and polite in your emails. The link to find your local MP is https://members.parliament.uk/FindYourMP just pop in your county or postcode, or the name of your MP if you know it. This will provide you with both an email and a postal address.
2. Make a donation today. Help us fund our work both at the Sanctuary and for this campaign. You can donate online or of course telephone the office to make a donation over the telephone. And, of course, we accept cheques too!
3. Improve your CSR. Please get in touch if you are able to support us as a corporate partner and improve your corporate social responsibility (CSR).
4. Get involved. Please take part in our 40th Anniversary Challenge. We have estimated that if only 1000 people raised only £40 each, you could fundraise a massive £40,000 for us!
5. Share our news. Share the details of our campaign on social media, and tag us in your posts using the hashtag #BornToDie

We provide a safe environment for those animals that have been victims of physical and mental abuse, whether because of ignorance or malicious intent.

Sue Burton co-founded the Sanctuary in 1983 following the plight of the horses on Rainham Marshes in Rainham, Essex, where over 100 horses were left on the bleak marshland. As the water inlets flooded, they became cut off resulting in 13 horses dying in the most awful conditions.

You might also like to visit our Christmas Shop.

Our Christmas Shop is Now Open

A gift for your friends and family doesn’t need to cost the earth and as the cost of living continues to be a challenge, we hope our selection below will help with your decision making and gift buying.

100% of the profits from our online shop go directly to help the rescue animals here at Remus and across the South East. Despite being based in Essex, we continue to help rescue animals across a wide area and even as far as Wales!

2024 Wall Calendar
£6.99

Visit Christmas Shop

Shop Now

Think Positive

When you love riding, it’s hard when things aren’t going so well. The exercise and social aspect of riding – as well as the bond with your horse – can be a real boost to your mental wellbeing.

But when things go wrong – whether your competition scores are not what you’d hoped, your horse is out of action, or you’re frustrated by some other aspect of horse ownership or riding – there are ways to deal with it.

Create a Plan

If you are feeling negative, try to have a clear plan about something positive you can do. If you can’t get out on your horse, go for a walk, or perhaps give your tack room a clearout. As long as you end up with a positive outcome, this will help.

And stick to a routine – if you always go to your horse at a certain time, stick to that, even if you can’t get them ready to ride. The brain responds positively to the consistency.

Positive thinking can help too – at the end of each day, reflect back on any wins or successes – however small. Ending your day with a positive thought will set you up better for the following morning.

Start Small

You can also set small daily goals – it’s hard when things are out of your control (such as when your horse is injured and you just have to wait for him or her to get better) – but by concentrating on the things you can control, your mindset will be improved.

This is so important for us here at Remus – when we have sick or injured horses brought in, it would be easy to feel negative, but we have to look for the small positives every day, so that we can feel optimistic about the future.

This excellent article by sports psychologist Charlie Unwin offers more techniques to help you…

Autumn Update

Well it was certainly a busy summer, and blighted by rain! The Sanctuary flooded so many times, including the buildings because the drains were just unable to cope with the sheer amount of water. The first week of September certainly dried things up a bit – though it was a little too warm for the animals really. They will be much happier now it has cooled down a little.

We have, of course, been busy dealing with horse welfare, horses and ponies, across the area that needed our help plus the usual issues which involve caring for so many older and sick animals and a lot of nursing work.

Sadly, we lost two out of our four Open Days and one Afternoon Tea due to the bad weather, which plays havoc with our fundraising, especially as we are rattling at an unhealthy speed towards Winter! However, our September Open Day and Dog Show was a great success as was our October Open Day when we also celebrated World Animal Day.

40th Anniversary

We were delighted to receive a visit from HRH The Duchess of Edinburgh during the summer to mark our 40th birthday. We are very lucky and proud to have her as a Patron. It was lovely that despite her increased workload now, she was able to spare some time out of her busy schedule with us and the Remus animals. Pictured with the Duchess is Dolly, and Heidi and Jakey.

If you’ve not already signed up to our 40th Anniversary Challenge, please do so. Its extremely easy, just create a fundraising page – it’s all automated – and ask your friends and family to donate.

If only a 1000 people met a target of just £40 each, we would raise £40,000 to assist our #BornToDie campaign and celebrate our anniversary! You could make a real difference to our future.

Born To Die

We also used the opportunity of the Duchess’ visit to launch our #BornToDie campaign.

Far too often we see horses born that we know have just been ‘Born to Die’. We spoke to the Police recently about a horse that was roaming loose that we rescued. The response was to report it online as lost property! When we answered the required questions that it wasn’t worth a lot of money, nor was it hazardous in that it wasn’t carrying a gun, nor was there any serial number on it to identify it, the advice was ‘we can’t help so just dispose of it’.

How can this be right? We see instances time and again where these animals are left to suffer or worse because no one wants to get involved.

Legal Enforcement

No horse, pony, donkey or mule should be subjected to the shocking conditions that we see on a regular basis. The Animal Welfare Act and a raft of other legislation and guidelines should ensure that all equines, and other kept animals, are protected.

But the protection of these beautiful animals, animals who have stood with humans for centuries – from farming to war, from friendship to servitude – falls to charities often stretched for resources.

Sanctuaries across the UK collectively know that over 7,000 horses are at risk of neglect – and those are just the ones on our radar.

Too often, members of the public have no information on how to act. And this is, in part, because there is no clear answer. If you see a neglected horse today, who do you call? Local authorities can choose to appoint inspectors, but don’t have to, many signpost to charities, including every local authority website in Essex that we researched.

Different levels of authority, ie, County Councils versus Borough Councils, have different responsibilities. The Police – who must be relied upon to enter property or confiscate animals – will often not investigate, telling us they too signpost the public to the RSPCA, who have no statutory powers, and are also overstretched!

At the start of this year, we asked two Police forces in our area through ‘Freedom of Information’ for data on equine neglect crimes – one told us that they didn’t collect that information and the public are asked to contact the RSPCA if they are aware of crimes against animals, and the other failed to respond.

So, we have animal welfare laws, covering horses and equines, but the enforcement of these laws is down to a patchwork of organisations, with differing levels of authority and responsibility. And what good is a law that isn’t enforced?

This is why we are calling for greater enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act in relation to equine welfare – saving horses, ponies, donkeys and mules. We will bring you more information in due course!

Between us we can, and we will, end this needless ongoing suffering. Please click on the link to make a donation to Remus Horse Sanctuary.