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~~ FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ~~ |
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What is the difference between an
EHPPS Field Officer and an EHPPS Fostering Officer? |
| Field
Officers investigate welfare concerns that are reported to us. Where
necessary, the Field Officers have to implement the requisite legal
procedures required to seize a horse or pony under the relevant Act.
It is imperative in our work that Field Officers are familiar with the
laws governing animals.
Fostering Officers have an equally important role, as they are the people who monitor the ongoing well being of our rehabilitated horses that are put in foster homes. |
| Why don't we open the Sanctuary to visitors during the week? |
| We
are so busy in the week with stable chores, paperwork, foster
appointments, veterinary, farrier and dental visits, fund raising work,
producing our quarterly newsletters, field and home visits, in addition to
attending emergency callouts and manning the phones, that we simply do not
have the manpower available to open the Sanctuary other than at specified
times (i.e. Sunday afternoons and Bank Holiday Monday afternoons - 1pm
until 4pm from April to December).
We have quite a hard job at times with people who turn up without an appointment expecting to be seen when we have our hands full with other commitments. Sometimes people drop in to see what ponies/horses we have available for foster, as though they were on a supermarket expedition, actually becoming aggressive when we had to ask them to go through the usual process of filling in a foster form and waiting for us to contact them with an appointment. What people like this fail to realise is how we, as an organisation, perceive them – we now won’t even consider would be ‘droppers in’ as suitable fosterers, as they are clearly so uncooperative to deal with. |
| I love animals and would like to volunteer to help with your horses, however I don't have any experience so can I learn as I go along? |
| Like any animals, horses can be unpredictable at times, even more so horses that have suffered trauma. An inexperienced handler not only puts themselves at risk of injury, but also jeopardises the safety of our staff, experienced volunteers, visitors and our other horses. Further, there are serious Health & Safety implications that we have to adhere to, which tie in with our insurance cover. Unfortunately, we have to turn down offers of help from anyone without sufficient experience. |
| Have you got any kittens/puppies for sale? |
| Yes HONESTLY! And no, we haven't! |
| We are having an Open Day/Fete. Can we borrow a couple of your ponies for rides? |
| No! We are not a riding school, we are a rescue and rehabilitation centre. Rideable horses and ponies belonging to EHPPS are placed in carefully assessed, experienced and loving homes. Most of the Sanctuary residents are either too old to be ridden, too young, unbacked, ill or injured, undergoing rehabilitation, hard to handle or waiting to go into foster homes. |
| I can't afford to pay my vet bill. Will EHPPS help? |
| Yes, believe it or not, we do get ask this question from time to time. The answer has to be no. We can't emphasise enough the importance of getting your own horse fully insured. Some people that have older horses for whom it is difficult to get insurance cover often put aside some money each month into a small fund for such eventualities as their horse requiring veterinary treatment. |
| Are your horses for sale? |
| No. The majority of our horses have been rescued from appalling conditions or totally unacceptable circumstances. Should we sell them on, we would have no control over their future. As horse owners know, horses can be sold on from home to home - who knows where some of them end up? By putting our horses into foster homes on loan, we can always monitor the animals' future. Our fosterers are very carefully assessed by us and we are happy if their foster horse stays with them for the rest of his/her days. However, should the fosterers' circumstances change and they are no longer able to care for their foster horse, he or she comes back to us immediately. |
| Why can't we hand feed the horses and ponies when we visit the Sanctuary? |
| Because (1) some of our horses are on special diets and we need to carefully monitor what they are eating; (2) hand feeding encourages biting and (3) we would be unable to monitor the intake of food. For example, if you own a laminitic pony, you would carefully watch the sugar intake of that pony. Carrots contain sugars. Imagine if every visitor that came through out gate on Sunday afternoon fed a laminitic pony a carrot? That could equate to over 100 carrots in an afternoon! Can you understand now why we ask people not to tit bit?! |
| My horse is no longer rideable. Will you give him a home? |
| EHPPS
was formed up back in 1986 to rescue horses, ponies and donkeys from abuse,
neglect and cruelty. Of course people's circumstances can change
quite dramatically and, in exceptional circumstances, such as sudden death
of a horses' owner or onset of serious illness of the owner, we try to
help where we can by offering a horse a home with us. We are simply
not in a position to take on horses that can no longer be ridden or are
too old to ride - we would face financial ruin within weeks!
We receive, on average, 20 calls a week from horse owners asking us to give their horse a home because it is no longer rideable. We cannot emphasise enough in these instances - the horse is the owners' responsibility - rideable or not! |