| We would like to welcome our new subscribers to our Newsletter, we hope you enjoy our updates and blogs. Please encourage your friends to sign up too! |
|
|
|
“Water, water, everywhere,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink.”
|
|
|
|
With last month being the hottest July for 40 years our welfare officer spent a lot of her time answering welfare calls about horses with no water. Lisa has been ensuring all the local horses have had plenty of water and shade to ensure they remain comfortable and healthy throughout the heat wave.
The above image of is a sample of an education board that we use when running events in the community. We also have a Pop Bottle Pyramid, to give a visual interpretation of just how much water horses need. This gives the owners the opportunity to physically see just how much water is needed. It has proven to be effective in the communities. Since our intervention, groups in the area have praised us on our efforts and seen a marked improvement in the horses having access to water.
- 70% of a horses body weight is made up of water
- Horses drink on average 25 to 50 litres of water a day
- When dehydrated horses are more susceptible to illnesses e.g colic
|
|
|
|
Some of our herd wanted to get involved in the newsletter, so we have been teaching them to proof read.
|
|
|
Our horse friends
Some of you may remember Bella. We are delighted her new forever family has shared this image of Bella on her 16th Birthday.
|
|
|
We have been visiting Teddy and Flaxi. How amazing do they look? We are so proud to that we managed to find an amazing home for them.
The final picture is of Holly with her human, loving life to the max.
It fills us with such delight to see these amazing ponies being so loved, every horse or pony no matter their circumstances, deserves to live a happy content life.
|
|
|
Ragwort
.....the colourful silent killer. We receive lots and lots of calls regarding horses being grazed in fields of ragwort. The toxins within this plant cause .irreparable damage to the liver. If a horse eats an excess of ragwort in short period of time, this can lead to acute ragwort poisoning, or if they consume ragwort over a long period of time, this leads to chronic poisoning.
Common Ragwort, is one of the plants covered under the Weeds Act 1959, in the UK.
|
|
|
|
Rescue is...
Rescue is not about causing a media storm, it's about taking control and more importantly doing what is best for the horse. Having the knowledge and ability to ensure that the horse's well-being comes first, takes courage, time and experience. Having the wisdom to remain calm and effective leads to those whom are responsible to be punished.
This takes bravery.
Whilst we cannot publicly display the cases we are working on, we are proud to be a part of system that allows for Justice for the Horses that we assist with. The animal welfare Act 2006 works when used correctly. This post has outperformed any other that we have put on social media platforms.
We have been exceptionally busy the last month with welfare calls, some of the cases have been extremely serious. Horses being kept in horrific situations and in dire need of rescue. Whilst this is nothing new in the horse crisis, it is alarming and growing.
|
|
|
|
We fear for the winter, with the dry spell, many owners are feeding winter supplies now, as the grass just is not growing. This in turn will drive up the price of winter hay, haylage and bedding. The cases we are attending now, have horses that are already struggling, we fear the winter will bring many more to our attention.
We can only answer calls with your support and donations. Could you commit to a monthly donation? Each welfare call cost approx. £20.00 . This covers basic mileage, biosecurity, phonecalls etc. Without your help we cannot continue.
|
|
|
|
As part of our outreach education, we cover equine identification regulations, indiscriminate breeding, worming, feeding and water to name just a few. This week these are the topics we covered in two urban horse owning communities.
Communities For Horses, provides support to owners whom sometimes do not have the confidence for vet visits or treatments. We are always happy to assist, especially when our education works, mares were injected this week to bring them back into season after some rogue colts run amok amongst them. Preventing more foals, in this ever increasing crises.
Working and supporting these communities is allowing change to happen, previously every year unwanted foals were born in this area, The numbers are decreasing and this is due to awareness and education.
|
|
|
|
Horses can perceive our emotions but can we perceive theirs?
So research shows that horses can perceive our emotions - however, can we perceive theirs? A report by World Horse Welfare and Bristol University showed that one of the four key challenges to equine welfare in the UK is that owners and professionals alike can often not correctly interpret fear and stress behaviours in the horse. So horses can understand our emotions but we are terrible at understanding theirs - we so often think they are 'happy' and 'majestic' when really they are showing fear and anxiety.
At Communities For Horses we are passionate about educating the communities we work with not only about horse care but also about the emotional needs of the horse, how to recognise their emotions and how to address any fear and anxiety in a responsible, ethical, caring way.
|
|
Amazing Supporters
This month we have received some much needed funds from the following amazing supporters:
- Leah Millenship - Leah kindly donates to support our phone line. However with an increase in awareness, our costs have increased so all our costs are not covered.
- The Smith family are regular donators
- Daniel Towers who regularly donates to help support our costs
- A kind donation by Beverlee Chapman
Thank you!
|
|
|
Support us
We need funding to be able to develop this project, any little you can spare would be a great help and make a real difference. We will keep all our donors informed of our progress through newsletters and emails, by donating you are part of the project as you are making it happen.
|
|
|
|
|
|
