UPDATE - Monday 21st June

In May, we launched our Urgent Hay Appeal to cover the cost of hay to feed our 38 horses through the summer months. The generosity and kindness of our supporters has been overwhelming and last week we were able to celebrate as we reached our target of £5600. We cannot thank you enough for your donations and continued support for Mane Chance.

Having seen our celebrations on social media, we were contacted by Petplan Charitable Trust who wanted to set Mane Chance, and our supporters, a challenge. Petplan want to help Mane Chance raise more money, enough to cover our hay costs for the whole year.

Petplan Charitable Trust have agreed that if we can raise £9000 through the Hay Appeal, they will round it up to £10,000!

We need your help! If you have already donated, thank you so much. Please can we ask you to share the appeal & challenge with your friends, family, and work colleagues.

The Urgent Hay Appeal was set to see Mane Chance through the summer, then come August we could reassess the situation and review our budgets. However, if we could raise enough money to cover our hay bill for the entire year, it would be incredible and really take the strain off our tightened budget.

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We need your help now, more than ever. The country is facing a national hay shortage, which means the price of hay has increased significantly. The extra spend has put further pressure on our already tightened budgets which have been significantly impacted by the coronavirus lockdowns of 2020/2021

Due to the extreme wet weather conditions at Christmas, followed by snow and subsequent thaw, and a very cold and dry start to the year hay production has been hugely affected. For many farmers, they would have already made their first cut of hay, but the weather conditions since Christmas have meant their hay simply hasn't grown.

In addition to hay not growing, the very cold and dry weather so far this year has meant the grass in our fields hasn't grown and we rely on grass for our horses to graze. This means we're having to feed our horses more hay, and if we have the dry, hot summer as predicted this year...the hay feeds will continue into and long after the summer months

Until now we have been paying approximately £3 per bale of hay, but with the soaring costs this could rise to as much as £7 per bale. With 38 horses to feed, we use between 7-10 bales of hay each day.

Our hay bill is going to be extortionate, but with your support we can raise the funds to keep our horses fed.

Please donate what you can to our Urgent Hay Appeal.