Food for Thought
Many of the horses and ponies that find their way to us here at Remus arrive underweight and hungry. One of the ‘five freedoms’ that we choose to align our Horse Welfare Watch with is, of course, freedom from hunger or thirst. With us, these horses and ponies are free to live a safe, happy life and regularly enjoy a bucket of their favourite dinner!
We all know the way to our horses’ hearts is through their stomachs, but sometimes it’s tricky to know what we should be feeding, how much and how often. With winter more or less upon us, you may have started to reassess your horse’s diet in preparation for the colder weather. This article from Horse & Hound looks at how to feed your horse what he needs, while keeping an eye on what you’re spending.
You may also like to take a look at our winter feed appeal, which will help us to feed the horses and ponies that have no one to care for them.
Raise FREE funds for us this Christmas
Did you know that you can raise vital funds for Remus Memorial Horse Sanctuary for FREE when you do your Christmas shopping online via Give as you Live?
Whether you are buying the perfect present, looking for dazzling decorations or ordering the family’s festive feast, remember to shop via Give as you Live and raise money for us, at no extra cost to you. If you haven’t signed up for your Give as you Live account yet, it only takes two minutes and is totally free!
Enjoy the magic of giving this Christmas!
Help spread the word and get others raising free donations when they shop online through Give as you Live. Use Twitter and Facebook to tell all your friends today.
Co-op Local Community Fund
Great news! We have been chosen for the next round of the Co-op Local Community Fund.
The funding round will start this Sunday 28 October 2018. From this date, Co-op Members can choose our cause to give their 1% to, when they spend on selected own-brand products and services.
The funding period will run for 12 months until the 26 October 2019.
We’ll supply further information as soon as we can.
Raise FREE funds for us this Halloween
Did you know that you can raise free funds for Remus Memorial Horse Sanctuary when you shop for Halloween goodies via Give as you Live?
Whether you’re buying sweet treats, scary costumes, or spooky decorations, please shop via Give as you Live at over 4,200 online stores and raise money for us, at no extra cost to you.
Have a spooktacular Halloween!
Help spread the word and get others raising free donations when they shop online through Give as you Live. Use Twitter and Facebook to tell all your friends today.
Online Auction
Coming soon! A special Facebook-only auction of various items from some great brands including vouchers, products, goody bags, training and more, all to raise money for Remus Horse Sanctuary.
The Remus online auction will take place on the Remus Facebook page at www.facebook.com/RemusHorseSanctuary on Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 October 2018. The auction will start on Saturday morning and will end at 9pm on Sunday evening, with bidders placing their bids directly onto the Facebook page, throughout the weekend, in the comments section under the relevant image and description of the item they want to bid for.
All bids commented are final and selling. The winning bid will be the highest amount commented under the photo accompanying each lot by 9pm on Sunday 28 October 2018.
Payment must be made to Remus’ PayPal account within 24 hours of the auction end and the lot donators will dispatch the items and vouchers at their earliest convenience.
Please note that Remus Horse Sanctuary cannot take any responsibility for bids which are incorrectly submitted or not received. Auction lots are non-transferrable and there is no cash alternative.
This is our first of (we hope) many Facebook auctions, so please bear with us while we trial the format, collate the details and communicate with the lot donators.
All proceeds will go to Remus Horse Sanctuary, Registered Charity: 1134951.
Thank you for your support!
Autumn Update
It has been a tough 6 months at Remus. We have rescued eight horses from a multi-animal rescue including Daisy, top left, who is emaciated and had cancerous lumps through her body and is in her 30s.
Tiffany, middle left, stood out in a field with no shelter in all that extreme heat with a thick shaggy coat – since coming into Remus she has been clipped and feels so much better for it. Both mares are dear old girls and did not deserve to suffer in this way. There is a long way to go with their care but we hope to pull them through, although we aren’t sure with Daisy but if we can at least give her some months of happiness with a full belly then we will be happy we have achieved something and helped her. She is devoted to Tiffany and they are just loving their life at Remus where they are comfortable and have access to all the food they want.
Flint and Marmite 2 spent much of their lives in a cage but are now enjoying their freedom at Remus and absolutely adore each other. It is increasingly hard to comprehend how people can treat such innocent animals in such an awful way. We also rescued four stallions, one of which was in the most awful condition and all of them had spent the last two years cooped up in dark dirty stables with no access to the outside.
As the problem was so dire last winter, what will happen this winter? All the Traveller mares have foaled and all will be heavily in foal again by the winter so yet more thousands of horses born to die. This is a huge crisis and one that we have to be able to help with by dealing with the bigger underlying issues and also by getting in there and monitoring the horses and getting food and shelter to them. Sometimes it is just a case of getting lorry loads of hay into fields each week to keep these horses alive – this is not something we have needed to do on this scale before and it set the Sanctuary back many thousands of pounds last winter. Hopefully we can help keep them alive whilst we work in the background to get something done at Parliamentary level to help the overall problem.
We are still finding horses in poor conditions as they are uncared for, and the dry weather has meant little grass growth, so we have not yet experienced the usual summer time lull. We desperately want to keep up this vital help for these innocent and majestic creatures but can only do this with your support.
Here at Remus we have to regularly put animals to sleep to prevent them suffering, It doesn’t get easier – if anything it gets harder, but we know our job is to prevent suffering, not cause it. If there is a chance, we will take it in the hope of allowing the animal to enjoy life longer. It’s always a hard decision and one that tears us apart to make. And every once in a while, whilst we don’t have favourites (how could you? They are all uniquely lovely) one comes along that captures your heart. Sparkey, bottom left, captured ours – a dear little guy who fought so hard against all the odds with all his problems – always driven by his love for people and his love for food. We were all heartbroken to have to make the decision to let him go to prevent him any more suffering. He had the major operation on his skull to clear all the food that had built up through a hole in his gums and he came through that but sadly the surgery brought on his laminitis and as much as he and we tried he couldn’t fight it. Rest in peace Sparkey boy – run free!
Shopping List
These are items always needed at the Sanctuary, which some members like to buy to help us out with costs etc.
- Reams of White 80g Paper
- 2nd Class Stamps
- Felix As Good As It Looks
- Cat Biscuits
- Cabbages for the animals
Christmas Items
It’s that time of year again!! It won’t be long now until Christmas, so you can now browse our Christmas Shop which includes our new calendar and Christmas cards, and lots of other new items for this year.
May I take this opportunity to thank you all so much for your help and support over the years – without it, we simply could not do our work and help so many horses. THANK YOU SO MUCH FROM EVERYONE AT REMUS.
Horse Charity’s Plea for Autumn Open Day
Remus Horse Sanctuary’s final Open Day of the 2018 season will take place on Sunday 7 October and feature a whole host of entertainment for children including: children’s entertainer, Magic Dave, face painting, many games and two bouncy castles; musical entertainment will be provided by local band, Midnite Blu; refreshments of sandwiches and cakes (including gluten free) will be available all afternoon; a raffle, tombola and numerous stalls will amuse the whole family.
Download our poster to display and share
However, its not all fun and laughter at the horse charity near Ingatestone in Essex. The summer heatwave meant that grass everywhere struggled to grow and Remus, in particular, needed to buy in food throughout those many months stretching our already limited budget. As a result, its already forecasting a need for additional financial support to get through the cold winter months.
Founder, Sue Burton, said: “We’ve never been a rich charity but just as we get our heads above water something else comes along to knock us back.
“Our work here never gets any easier – rescuing a horse is expensive and normally it’ll either be in ill health or suffering some other form of trauma. It then requires extra medical attention, round the clock care, medication and specialist food.
“Our bills seem to rise constantly, and the cold weather brought on by the winter means extra heat and extra food and nourishment for both the ill and the elderly animals. You can see why people liken us to a hospice!”
For those unable to visit on Sunday 7 October, Sue is pleading for donations to help with the task ahead, “Please help us get through another winter. I’ve given my life for the animals in our care at Remus, but we can’t continue to do it without financial support.”
Full details of how donations can be made can be found on the website at: www.remussanctuary.org/donate.
Entry to the Open Day event on Sunday 7 October is just £4 for adults and £2 for children and the gates will be open from 1pm until 5pm at the Sanctuary’s premises near Ingatestone in Essex. Parking is available on-site, with disabled access, and dogs are welcome on a lead.
The Sanctuary has been providing rehabilitation and care for over 200 animals, including horses, ponies, donkeys, cows, goats, sheep and cats for the past 35 years. All of the animals at Remus are victims of physical and mental abuse, be it as a result of ignorance or malicious intent.
Naturally, the Open Days are a vital source of fundraising for us as, due to our location on greenbelt land, we can only open to the public for a limited number of days each year.
Sue Burton concluded, “The Open Days are a really important to us, not only in terms of fundraising, but they also give us opportunity to educate people about what we do here. Visitors will have a fun day meeting our latest rescues and learning about our many other successes.”
For further information, visit www.remussanctuary.org or contact Sue Burton on tel: 01277 356191.
Here comes Autumn…
The nights are drawing in, the stubble fields have been ploughed back over and the winter rugs are coming out of storage…yes, summer is officially over! But what a great summer it was with wall-to-wall sunshine and record temperatures – we can’t complain, can we?
Unfortunately the unusually hot temperatures and long dry spells meant the grass really struggled to grow. We’re sure, like us, many horse owners had to feed hay throughout the summer; a time when we’re usually complaining we have too much grass! Of course, limited grass also means a limited new crop of hay and so we also need to be prepared going into winter.
If we do end up facing a hay shortage, this article from Your Horse has some useful information on feeding forage alternatives. As we all know, the fibre our horses get from forage is essential to their digestive health.
It currently costs us around £20 a week to feed hay to one of our residents here at Remus. There are many different ways you can help our fundraising efforts – our ‘how you can help’ page has more details. Amongst others:
Pass On Something Wonderful
How can we protect more horses from neglect in the UK?
This week Remus is joining forces with 200 other charities up and down the UK to launch Human – the world’s first charity-powered search engine.
The activity is part of Remember A Charity Week, 10-16 September, which sees hundreds of charities come together to encourage people to leave charitable gifts in Wills and, by doing so, pass on something wonderful to the next generation.
Drawing upon Remus’ unique knowledge and expertise in horse welfare and combining it with insight from other charities, Human will enable the public to ask some of life’s biggest questions and to hear directly from charities, including Remus Horse Sanctuary, what they are doing in response.
This Remember A Charity in your Will Week we’re inviting our valued supporters to help us find the answers to life’s biggest questions and pass on something wonderful.
Through the search engine, people can select from over 100 questions such as: ‘How can we cure the deadliest common cancers?’ and ‘How do we ensure no one has to sleep rough?’ and see video responses showing how charities address these issues and how the public can help, by leaving a gift in their Will. Remus Horse Sanctuary has contributed to the search engine by providing responses to the question: “How can we protect more horses from neglect in the UK?”.
Gifts left to charity in Wills are a crucial source of income and help fund key services, including the rescue and rehabilitation of horses provided by Remus. We rely on charitable legacies from supporters like you. Once you’ve taken care of family, friends and loved ones, you can help us to continue our vital work long into the future by leaving a gift in your Will. Even a small gift could make a big difference.
Sue Burton, Founder, commented: “Our mission is to protect more horses from neglect in the UK. We do this by rescuing animals, lobbying and campaigning, and by educating and informing the public and we are delighted to bring our charity’s mission to life via the innovative human search engine and help shine a light on how important a gift in Wills can be.”
“Like others, gifts in Wills are crucial to our charity’s work – both now and long into the future. Leaving even a small amount – after taking care of friends and family first – makes an enormous difference.”
Rob Cope, Director of Remember A Charity, says: “Every day people use Google to find the answers to their questions, but it’s real people and charities we turn to when we want answers to life’s biggest challenges.
“This campaign has been designed to showcase just how vital charities are in responding to many of the world’s biggest problems and how gifts in wills can help combat those issues and we’re delighted that Remus Horse Sanctuary is taking part. We hope it will encourage the public to think about their deepest concerns for the world we live in and to consider leaving a gift in their will.”
Remember A Charity Week, now in its ninth year, brings together charities, government and stakeholders to highlight the importance of leaving gifts to charity in Wills. The search engine is part of a broader public awareness drive, which showcases the impact of legacy donations and calls on the public to ‘pass on something wonderful’.
To find out more about Human and how Remus Horse Sanctuary is helping to tackle the world’s biggest challenges this Remember a Charity Week, visit humansearchengine.org
Thank you for your continued support!
Look out for the Human Search Engine
What does the future hold? We are proud to be one of 200 charities working towards a better future.
Discover the answers to the world’s biggest questions on 10 September at HumanSearchEngine.org #HumanSearchEngine.
Take a look at the web page here to find out more and look out for our next blog on the 10th for the big launch!
Other Appeal
