We are appealing today to secure the funds to help us provide essential forage to our ponies.

Our greatest outlay every year is spent providing forage to our residents who, due to being of native type & susceptible to conditions such as Equine Metabolic Syndrome & Insulin Resistance & are kept on a minimal or grass free diet of hay & barley straw all year round. This can equate to a sum in excess of £25,000 a year, sourcing suitable good quality forage from local & national sources.

This last year has been made even more expensive due to a national hay shortage meaning the hay we source from out of county has been rising in costs every month. This year with the heatwave conditions affecting yield even more significantly than last it is a hugely worrying time with talk once again of shortages & inflated costs. This week we have spoken to our local supplier of hay who provides us with the specialist analysed bales that we know are safe for our extra sensitive EMS ponies like Skye and Rebel and they expect supplies to run out sooner than usual with yield being down on previous years. This is a huge worry as we know that this forage helped us reduce & maintain Skye & Rebels insulin levels & since having to change on to an alternative low sugar and starch hay, even after soaking, their insulin has become unmanageable once more! They very kindly allow us to buy their large 4ft square bales in bulk & in advance and deliver as & when required due to our limited storage space. Each bale costs £45 however feeding 13 ponies+ each day at HQ a bale does not go far!

Last year we managed to secure funding towards forage allowing us to bulk buy and safeguard a reasonable supply, however this year, all of our funding applications have been unsuccessful, we were originally seeking support for forage and a trailer to allow us to become more self sufficient & reduce our overheads however forage is now our No.1 priority, it has been a very difficult year for us financially! We do not have huge reserves like so many other organisations & without this support, the future is very uncertain for us...

We are appealing today to you to help us to ensure we can provide the essential forage needed for our special herd

Thank you