26 June 2020

#CoronaChronicles: Week 14

What a sunny week most of have been enjoying! We know the warm weather is a great opportunity to get out and explore, especially after such a long period of lockdown, and we’ve had many enquiries this week about when our visitor centres will be reopening.

At the start of this week, the Government announced the easing of restrictions in England, due to come into effect on 4^th July, allowing hospitality venues, cafes and children’s play areas to reopen and reducing the 2m distancing rule to 1m plus.

We’ve been incredibly heartened by your messages about our centres and we know many of you are desperately wishing you could come and see your favourite horses and donkeys again. We can’t wait to see you either, but at the moment, although it is under review, they remain closed at this time. There are still many careful considerations we have to take before deciding whether it’s viable for us to take this next step and in these difficult times for charities our priorities have to be the care and welfare of our horses and keeping our staff and supporters safe.

There are many other ways you can keep in touch with us through this website or our social media channels and you can continue supporting us by sponsoring a horse through our Adoption Scheme or treating yourself to something lovely from our online gift shop, which both help support the care of our rescued residents while our visitor centres remain closed.

Last week our online fundraiser The Mane Event was featured on Fox News’ website and several other media outlets across the pond in the USA. We’re so pleased to have been made so many people smile with this hair-raising initiative, but there’s still time to join in! Before you head back to the hairdressers or barbers, send us an image of your lockdown locks with a donation and we’ll match you with your lookie-likie horse or donkey living at the Sanctuary. To take part, click here https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/the-mane-event

To find out more about these and other ways you can support us at this time, including donating to our Coronavirus Appeal, please click here.

And here's why that support is still so vital. We’re delighted to be able to update you this week on eight-month-old pony Matilda, who arrived at the Sanctuary just as the lockdown began. You may remember her rescue story from a previous edition of the #CoronaChronicles.

Now living at our headquarters in Norfolk, little Matilda has fought back to health and has transformed from an emaciated foal into an adorable young pony (see image above) thanks to the efforts of our vet team and her carers. She has recently been befriended by super foster mum Mildred who has taken her under hoof and is helping her to build in confidence every day.

We look forward to bringing you more details about her journey at the Sanctuary soon!

Thank you #RedwingsAngels for all your support which makes it possible for us to help ponies like Matilda that so desperately need us.

To read last week's edition of the #CoronaChronicles, please click here.