Charity’s duty of care is focus of new appeal
OWNING a horse or pony can be a decades-long commitment and the South West’s largest equine rescue charity is driving home this message with its latest fundraising appeal, writes Athwenna Irons.
The Mare and Foal Sanctuary has launched Foals Through the Years to highlight the years of specialist care required to rehabilitate, retrain and rehome abandoned, mistreated or orphaned foals, ponies and horses.
The charity, founded in 1988 by Rosemary Kind and headquartered in Newton Abbot, is asking for the public’s support to help ensure it can continue to provide a ‘sanctuary for life’ for the next 30 years or more.
Dawn Vincent, the Mare and Foal Sanctuary’s director of fundraising and communications, explained: “For each foal rescued or born at the sanctuary, we need to be around for the next 30 years to provide them with the expert care and training they need, as well as a safe home for life.
“We’re looking back at some of our foals through the years who have faced either complex rescues or lifethreatening births and updating you on their training and rehabilitation.”
One of the foals cherry-picked as a case study for the appeal is Diangelo, now a handsome and strapping twoyear-old. “Diangelo’s dam had health problems when she arrived in foal at the sanctuary in 2018,” said Ms Vincent.
“She was monitored 24 hours a day in our foaling stables and grooms slept in an adjacent room so that they could provide emergency care if necessary.
“Thanks to the dedication of the experienced grooms, the mare gave birth to healthy young colt. After two years of care, Diangelo now stands at 16hh.”
Another benefiter of the charity’s long-term care is Dartmoor hill pony, Breeze, who arrived within hours of his birth in 2013 after being rejected by his mother. Gravely ill, he received life-saving treatment and made the national newspapers when pictured taking comfort from a giant cuddly teddy bear. Ms Vincent added: “Seven years on and Breeze has progressed with his handling after requiring rehabilitation from his past trauma.”
■ For further information about the Mare and Foal Sanctuary’s Foals Through the Years appeal and to make a donation, please visit the website www.mareandfoal.org/ foals-through-the-years