Corona effect on horse rescues
It’s Monday morning and I am sitting here thinking about what to write for our weekly blog. A little behind this week due to new-found motherhood of 4 kittens who require around-the-clock care. The night feeds on top of our already hectic life have turned me and Edo into zombies.
So it’s relatively calm for a Monday morning, the volunteers are all working hard on their projects — some collecting material donations, some building, cleaning, etc. The horses and animals are all relaxed and happy and the supermarket food delivery is on its way. Perfect — the kittens are sleeping so it’s a perfect time to sit for a bit and write this week’s blog!
Until my phone rings from our regular native rescue helper, with an emergency horse rescue on its way. He will be passing near our finca in 45 minutes — can we take a look?
This same helper rang us just days before with another rescue case — a poor little white horse “skinny and with a foot infection,” apparently. We said we need to think; we are so full, space is limited and we can’t help them all. “Can you send us photos and videos?” we asked him.
This feels horrible. A poor horse clearly needs our help and we have to ask for photos to see if it’s “bad enough.” The only reason why we can’t take it is because we don’t have enough land. We have the volunteers, we have the monthly sponsors, we have the vet support, we have the will. I wish we could help them all, but we do not have the space.
Last night the photos of this poor little white horse arrived. Before we had time to speak and make a decision, he rang me again this morning. I was going to say, please give us a chance to speak. But to my surprise he said he has a sudden rescue horse from the south and he will pass our finca in 45 minutes. “Can you take a look?” he asked me. So of course I said sure, stop by to see why this one he decided needed our help more. He is the same as us — he can’t take them all either even if he wants to help.
None of us want to make this decision — a horrible game of roulette… “You horse can have our help, but you horse can’t, please continue to suffer; your time is not up yet!”
How do we decide? Could you decide?
“Look how far we have come already, how many horses who are now happy and healthy without any really big sponsors. Imagine how many horses we could actually help if we could find that person or people to help us buy the neighbouring land.”
“You horse can have our help, but you horse can’t, please continue to suffer; your time is not up yet!”
Amazing donators
We know that we have so many amazing sponsors, donators, volunteers and helpers and we couldn’t have rescued even half of these amazing horses without you. So we want to thank you for everything you have done for us. Our goal is not to put the pressure on the same group of people to keep donating and helping us. What we need is to find that rich equestrian, the vegan celebrity or the sponsoring animal-rights enthusiasts. Sharing will help with this cause. So, please share, share and share until maybe your long-lost Facebook friend’s family member is one of these people. Maybe you know someone you could send an email to? Look how far we have come already — how many horses are now happy and healthy without any really big sponsors. Imagine how many horses we could actually help if we could find that person or people to help us buy the neighbouring land. No more Russian roulette.
The nameless new boy arrives
Turns out I didn’t have enough time to finish the blog before the new arrival. He came from a stable so small he could barely turn round. He was only fed once a day from a height, so his teeth have grown totally wrong and haven’t ground down properly. This makes it difficult for him to eat; he is skinny (but not as bad as usual — which on first glance made him seem “not bad enough”). But this isn’t the main problem — please watch the video to see why we took him; he can barely stand up on his back legs. It took us 15 minutes to get down the ramp, including falling down twice. We couldn’t say no.
Luckily the skinny paddock are all very accepting horses at the moment. Although before too long, Zingaro we think will find his young lost voice. The other horses made no fuss to allow a new boy into their paddocks. Good old grandad Turbo has taken now 3 new rescues under his wing in under 1 month — this has to be a record. We have never taken so many in one time, especially since we said we were full. Sadly, we expected this — the aftermath of lockdown, the repercussions of the corona effect. It affects horse rescues as much as it affects humans.
The humans have lost their incomes mainly due to the island relying almost entirely on tourism. Which more or less stopped for the year, so people struggled to pay house, electric and food bills. If the essentials were a struggle, then people had to give up the luxuries — which sadly often include pets and hobbies, which horses are regularly considered as here. This results in them becoming abandoned or left to starve in the corner with the bare minimum to keep them alive until the lucky winners of the roulette game get to come to us or other horse lovers lucky enough to be in a situation to help.
If you are in a situation to donate to the new horse or towards our new land appeal, we are very grateful. If not, please help us find someone who can donate to our new land fundraiser. On our how to help page you can read more about our new land appeal.
