A change is as good as a rest, they say...

Many things are changing on our farm, and we've been thinking about how on earth we got here... and why we do it all in the first place.We founded My Lovely Horse Rescue in 2011, but we didn't move into our current farm home until 2014.
After three years we finally had a place where all our animals could be together, a place to base ourselves and to grow from. No more paying for livery or relying on the generosity of friends and volunteers for stables for our horses.
Our My Lovely Horse Rescue centre is an old fashioned rented farm. It’s far from glamorous, and a lot of hard work and long hours went into making it suitable for us.
When we weren’t hauling buckets of water from the river for all of our animals’ needs (it would be a year before we got our present system that pumps water from the river through underground pipes to our water tank in the yard), we were building stables out of the old cowsheds amidst the constant daily feeding and caring for the animals. Nothing came easy or cheap, but then no-one said that rescuing horses would be either. 2018 was a hard year for us and our animals, enduring freezing winter snow and a scorching summer heatwave.
The farm badly needed an overhaul and we decided we couldn’t wait any longer. Our old farmyard was compacted earth and every time it rained it turned to deep muck, where everything from wheelbarrows to wellingtons got stuck. It couldn’t be cleaned properly and the horses were getting mud rash from standing in it.
We needed proper dry standing areas for our wonderful equines and a surface that was easy to clean.
So, the very expensive decision was made to concrete it over. We couldn’t really afford this but it was necessary for the future of our horses and our rescue. Now, €40,000 later, we have four dry standing areas and a quarantine that can be cleaned daily without anyone losing a boot or a wheelbarrow and more importantly where the horses can move with ease.
Then there was the stable issue: we simply didn’t have enough.
So, for €16,000 we bought four dome-like shelters made of waterproof canvas that protect our horses from the harsh sun and the beating rain.
The difference that these two changes have made is indescribable and just a couple of weeks ago Noah was born in our smallest shelter, on a bed of hay, our first foal to do so.
We love our rescue farm and we’re so proud of it. It is the only true home that our animals have ever known. Our animals are the beating heart of My Lovely Horse Rescue farm, and they remind us daily why we do what we do.
And we thank you, dear supporter, for your part in allowing all this to happen. Without you, we wouldn't' be able to give our rescued animals a life worth living.