Horse Sanctuary Joins Giving Tuesday Movement
Remus Horse Sanctuary joins #givingtuesday movement to encourage people in Essex and the surrounding counties to do “good stuff” this Christmas.
Remus Horse Sanctuary has announced it will be taking part in this year’s campaign and will be using the momentum of #givingtuesday which will be taking place on Tuesday 27 November to launch its winter feed appeal – a date which is all about supporting and celebrating Britain’s charities.
Sue Burton, Founder of Remus Horse Sanctuary commented: “We are launching the new winter feed appeal to help raise £2,500 to feed the many neglected, unloved and abandoned horses that are either tethered by their necks on waste ground or just left wandering and unwanted with no food, water or shelter, whatever the weather.”
Further information can be found on the JustGiving appeal page and donations can be made on our JustGiving page, via the website or by texting FEED36 £10 to 70070 to donate to Remus with JustTextGiving.*
Additionally, Remus offer numerous foodstuffs via its online shop where people can buy a bale of hay, bag of animal food, straw bedding and more. A week’s supply of food and hay for a tethered horse will help improve their life and wellbeing for just £25 and help get them through the cold winter months.
The #givingtuesday campaign, which began in America, is an antidote to the mass consumerism of Black Friday and aims to get people thinking of others in the run up to Christmas, be it through donating to charity, volunteering or simply helping a friend, neighbour or family member.
Since its inception in 2014, #givingtuesday has become one of the biggest events in the global charity calendar, breaking successive Guinness World Records for the most amount of money donated online to charity in 24 hours. In 2016, £48 million was donated online via PayPal with the UK accounting for the second largest amount of donations. An estimated 4.5 million people in Britain also did something to support a good cause on the day.
Ben Russell, Director of Communications at CAF, said: “Giving gifts is a big part of most people’s Christmas celebrations and because of this, it is no wonder that Black Friday has become such a feature of the Christmas calendar. However, while many of us will be sharing presents with loved ones this year, millions more will spend it alone, hungry or worse.”
Sue Burton concluded: “The aim of #givingtuesday is to get people thinking about others this Christmas and doing little things that can make a big difference. It could be donating money or volunteering but, if we all do something small this #givingtuesday, it would make a real difference not only to the hundreds of abandoned horses in this area but Remus too.”
* Please note that text donations can only be £1, £2, £3, £4, £5 or £10. However a donor can donate up to three times per day. £10 is the maximum donation amount for all mobile operators.
New for Christmas 2018!
Special Offer from Sara Abbott – Oil on Canvas Animal Portraits
In support of all the work that is done, and to help towards the costs involved I would like to extend to Remus Horse Sanctuary on-going support through my contemporary animal portraits.
I’ve been creating these for nearly 20 years and have built up a worldwide client list and painted many wonderful animals. Horses, dogs, cats, cows…the list is endless.
With each Formal Oil on Canvas portrait I donate £100 from my fee to animals in rescue. I would like to include Remus Horse Sanctuary in my fundraising, so if you get in touch with a view to commissioning a portrait of YOUR animal, now or in the future, please mention REMUS and I will send them the donation in your name.
These Formal Oil on Canvas works are £580 for a 60 x 60cm deep edge canvas. This cost also includes a gentle photo shoot at the animal’s home – I travel nationally to meet my subjects. I have a six-month waiting list so always ask for a 50% deposit to secure a slot in my work load.
I also offer Loose Sketch on Paper portraits too – these are also in oil but are as the name suggests, a more relaxed piece of work. You need to send a suitable, high resolution jpeg for these and once done the finished works are posted to you rolled in a tube ready for you to frame under glass.
The Loose Sketch on paper is approx 50 x 50cm and is £250 – £25 of that would be donated to Remus too, so remember to mention them!
Please have a look at the Domestic Animal page of my website for more examples and information, if interested you are able to email direct from the website or make contact via my professional Facebook page.
Yours in rescue – Sara
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:
Other Appeal
