Horse Owners Prefer Pets to Partners!

This probably won’t come as much of a surprise to most horse lovers, but recent research has shown that the majority of animal owners have stronger bonds with their pets than their families!

The recent research was carried out by equine charity Brooke and revealed that more than a quarter of animal lovers would rather stay at home with pets than meet up with family and friends, and three in five people prefer to cuddle with their pet rather than their partner!

Brooke is using the survey to raise awareness of the plight of working donkeys, horses and mules in Pakistan following the recent floods. Find out more at: www.horseandhound.co.uk.

Closer to home, we have recently launched our Winter Hay Appeal. Please visit our appeal page to find out more.

Happy Valentine’s Day, whether your plans are with your pets or your partners! 😉

Our Urgent Hay Appeal

Can you help us – again?

We thought the last two years were tricky enough with Covid and the lack of fundraising! Little did we know that 2022 would bring us the hottest UK temperatures on record, and over such a sustained period!

The soaring temperatures have meant the grass in the paddocks can’t grow – in fact it’s turned to dust as you can see from the images. So even those animals that aren’t laminitic and can eat grass, have none to nibble!

We’ve had to increase our hay stocks by 75% over the past month! This, combined with increasing fuel and transport costs, mean that we’re also having to buy our hay, straw and woodchip bedding at higher prices than before too.

We know the rain will come at some point, but it will be too late to replenish our stocks this year which means we’ll also be heading into the winter and through into next spring with a shortage.

We fully understand these are challenging times for many, so we know our timing is not good. You’ve helped us in the past and we really hope you can again. However little, every penny really does make a difference.

Please make donations via our Donation page directly on our website or via our JustGiving Appeal page.

If you prefer you can telephone the Sanctuary on 01277 356191 to make a donation via a credit or debit card, or post a cheque to Remus Horse Sanctuary, Little Farm, Buttsbury, Essex CM4 9NZ.

New Shelter Roof Proves to be a Success

Remus Horse Sanctuary, experts in the care of elderly equines, has shared pictures of its new shelter roof following a fundraising campaign earlier this year.

Remus raised £3,735, via JustGiving, in January and February to replace the roof after it began leaking again, despite two previous repairs.

Image 1: More beams were added to strengthen the roof and wooden supports were attached to the sides of the building to make the whole structure stronger. The electrics that had been getting wet from the previous leaking roof were removed and new timbers added before the lights could be reinstated.

39-year-old Megan can be seen here crunching on some tasty fresh hay. She has been with Remus since 2012 and has a heart issue, laminitis, arthritis and EMS (Equine Metabolic Syndrome). She is the sweetest of ponies.

Of the shelter, Sue Burton, Founder of the charity said, “We grew very concerned last year as the roof began to leak really badly. Pippa, Sophie, Dickie and Megan all share the shelter which opens out to a large laminitic paddock.

“The quote to replace the roof was £3,600 including VAT which seemed an awful lot at the time, especially as we’ve received very little in the way of donations over the past year and haven’t been able to carry out our normal fundraising efforts”.

Image 2: The completed project from the outside with the box profile steel sheeting attached. Treated timber battens were fixed over the existing felt to the entire roof area to reduce the bow in the roof bays.

Image 3: Pippa, warm and dry in the newly improved shelter. 25-year-old Pippa has been residing at the Sanctuary for many years now. The team worked with her to re-build her health and to encourage her confidence after previously having her spirit destroyed. In 2013/2014 Pippa underwent two serious eye operations to repair her sight and is a different animal now from when she arrived in 2009. She also has various health issues which we see in older horses including arthritis. The Ophthalmologist that performed her surgery sees her from time to time and is very pleased with how well the eye is performing. The surgery was for cataracts after she went blind, and it was because of Pippa being kept in whilst she was blind that the charity introduced music to play around the Sanctuary for the animals as it really helped calm her.

Like many charities, Remus has suffered greatly as a result of Covid-19.

“Towards the end of last year, we calculated that our deficit was somewhere in excess of £337,000 and obviously it has just continued to escalate since then.

“Winter is always much more expensive, with us needing to provide so much more food when grass isn’t available and the paddocks turn to mud and, even worse, get flooded. And many of our elderly horses require additional warmth too, which we provide via special electric lamps.”

There are numerous ways for members of the public to support the Sanctuary. Obviously donations are critical, but leaving a gift in your will, recycling, microvolunteering and clothes recycling are just some of the other ways that people can help. Visit www.remussanctuary.org/how-you-can-help to find out more. Both Megan and Pippa can be sponsored here.

“We are delighted to share pictures of our new shelter roof and we, Pippa and Dickie, Sophie and Megan are eternally grateful to everyone’s support. Our thanks to Malcolm and Paul at Ablefelt Roofing for the great job that they did. 

“Hopefully we will see everyone in early May for our first Open Day – weather and safety permitting!”

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

Buy a Bale of Hay to Support Charity

In late March, Sue Burton, Founder of Remus Horse Sanctuary was told to close the horse welfare charity and stop all fundraising – one of her worst nightmares! As a result, the ‘Buy a Bale of Hay’ appeal has been set up online to help raise funds to continue to care for and feed the animals at the Sanctuary.

£5 will help us buy one bale of hay, £10 will help buy two bales of hay, £15 will help the charity buy three bales of hay, whilst £20 will ensure one animal receives hay every day for a week. As one can imagine, the volume of food required to feed the charity’s 200+ animals is by far its biggest expense and challenge.

Ms Burton commented: “Thankfully our animals, for the most part, remain oblivious to everything going on around them. But we have been reliant on a handful of people to look after everything – and believe me, its hard work! Fundraising and events are crucial to our survival and there have been many days when I’ve wondered if we would even see it through to the autumn!”

After the winter months the charity is always desperate for its fundraising and events to start, to bring in much needed funds to feed the animals and pay the bills that have been mounting up over the winter period. The heatwave in spring meant that the normal grass supplies in the paddock were sparse, whilst the subsequent downpours have flooded the fields.

Due to the very stringent and necessary requirements about re-opening from the Government, Local Authority and National Farm Attractions Network, it is the charity’s intention to host a further virtual Open Day on Sunday 2 August but to welcome the public and host a live event again on Sunday 6 September – the first one this year.

Ms Burton said, “We have thought long and hard about opening to the public and we are very mindful that if we do we have to keep ourselves safe – if we go down with the virus then the animals wont be cared for. Also, a lot of our stall holders and volunteers are older, so we need to keep them as safe as possible and, of course, its very important that we keep our supporters safe too.

“It is important to us that we follow the guidelines and do things to the letter, so we will be making some changes to the way that the Open Days are run during September and October.”

To find out more about the appeal and to donate, please visit the JustGiving website here: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/buyabaleofhay.

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

Remus Winter Feed Appeal

This winter we are aiming to raise £2,500 with our winter feed appeal, to help feed not only our veterans and permanent residents at Remus Horse Sanctuary, but also those neglected unloved, abandoned animals that are either tethered with no access to food or left wandering and unwanted with no food and no shelter, such as those pictured alongside.

You can contribute to our appeal here and help save lives!

The Importance of Winter Feed

With 40+ veterans at Remus alone, we decided early in November to step up and start a winter campaign to help with their feeding bill. Every single donation no matter how large or small will be of huge benefit not only to them but to the starving animals that no-one cares for.  Keeping these animals safe, warm, well fed and with the special dietary care they need is at a considerable cost. Keeping an animal fed over winter will give it a chance to thrive into Spring.  Forage also helps a horse keep warm. Without your help, many animals will die a slow, painful and unnecessary death.

We believe that ‘old horse’ should not equal ‘thin horse’ and all of our horses are weighed weekly on a weighbridge to ensure that we can monitor their weight. They have high fibre and high caloric food if we require them to gain weight, and those with poor dentition have this in a sloppy porridge consistency.  Old age is not an illness and horses can cope very well with being old. However, its important to recognise that it does take a lot of work to keep on top of the needs of the older horse and as they live longer, naturally the problems increase.

We’ve said it before, the Sanctuary is full and we literally cannot take any more animals in right now and, as we are entirely self-funded, without your support here is just no way that we can continue. Everything costs money and the onset of the cold weather makes it even more tough as feed and heating bills increase. Please donate to our Winter Feed Appeal here.

Any donations, large or small, are welcomed and all will impact on our fundraising total and help feed animals in need.

We believe, that with your help, we can make a difference.

DONATE HERE with Just Giving.

You can also donate up to £10 by text. Just text FEED36 £10 to 70070 to donate to Remus with JustTextGiving. Please note that text donations can only be for £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. 

Remus Winter Feed Appeal

Welcome to our winter feed appeal. This winter we are aiming to raise £2,500 to help feed not only our veterans and permanent residents at Remus Horse Sanctuary, but also those neglected unloved, abandoned animals that are either tethered with no access to food or left wandering and unwanted with no food and no shelter.

The Importance of Winter Feed

With over 40 veterans at Remus alone, which is basically an animal 20 years+ we decided to step up and start a winter campaign early to help with their feeding bill. Every single donation no matter how large or small will be of huge benefit not only to them but to the starving animals that no-one cares for.  Keeping these animals safe, warm, well fed and with the special dietary care they need is at a considerable cost. Keeping an animal fed over winter will give it a chance to thrive into Spring.  Forage also helps a horse keep warm. Without your help, many animals will die a slow, painful and unnecessary death.

We believe that ‘old horse’ should not equal ‘thin horse’ and all of our horses are weighed on a weighbridge weekly to ensure that we can monitor their weight. They have high fibre and high caloric food, if we require them to gain weight and those with poor dentition have this in a sloppy porridge consistency.  Old age is not an illness and horses can cope very well with being old. It does take a lot of work to keep on top of the needs of the older horse and as they live longer the problems increase.

We’ve said it before, the Sanctuary is full and we literally cannot take any more animals in right now and, as we are entirely self-funded, without the support of the public there is no way that we can continue. Everything costs money and the onset of the cold weather makes it even more tough as feed and heating bills increase. Please donate to our Winter Feed Appeal here.

Meet Malibu

Meet Malibu, pictured alongside, our oldest animal at the Sanctuary – aged 39 years.

Remus has been fortunate to home not one but two of the oldest horses in the world – Shane and Orchid. Sadly, these two gorgeous creatures eventually passed on, but Malibu is now our eldest veteran. Malibu came to us from a riding school and very arthritic. She suffers from narcolepsy and has become good friends with Guinness our veteran shire of 28 years – also pictured.

Any donations, large or small, are welcomed and all will impact on our fundraising total and help feed animals in need.

We believe, that with your help, we can make a difference.

DONATE HERE

You can also donate up to £10 by text. Just text FEED36 £10 to 70070 to donate to Remus with JustTextGiving. Please note that text donations can only be for £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.