EHPPS Essex Horse and Pony Protection Society Registered Charity No. 297893

FORVER IN OUR HEARTS

KAZ - Chestnut Welsh Section D Gelding

1986 to 2 November 2011

Kaz was one of the first horses that came into our care back in 1987 - when EHPPS had just become a registered charity and Kaz was a sickly, emaciated foal.  He was in such a bad state that our vet feared that Kaz wouldn't make it.  Thankfully Kaz was a determined lad and, after some months, went on to make a complete recovery.  He eventually went out on foster some years later as a rideable horse.  Kaz also spent some years in later life at the Burches Riding School where he helped teach many a jockey to ride under the expert hands of Lynne Bush and her team.

Arthritis starting setting in as Kaz got older and he was retired back to the Sanctuary where he has enjoyed his retirement.  He was particularly close to one of our other geldings, Rainbow, who is now on foster as a companion pony.  Last winter Kaz went down a few times and needed our staff to help him back to his feet on a few occasions - other than that he was fine.  He had a lovely summer here, but as the cold weather set in Kaz stiffened up and once again found it hard to get back on his feet a couple of times.  Staff noticed that he was becoming very depressed over the last week and, although eating well, would hardly move. It was evident that he was not going to get through the coming winter, so we made the decision to have Kaz peaceably put to sleep today to prevent him suffering.

Kaz has been a great part of EHPPS history and it has been our absolute privilege to know and care for this lovely old gentleman.

 

Sleep well Kaz - we will always remember and love you.

Kaz and Rainbow

E.H.P.P.S.

Pitsea Hall Lane, Basildon

Essex SS16 4UH

Tel: 01268 584603

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PLEASE THINK OF THE WIDESPREAD TERROR THAT FIREWORKS CAUSE TO ANIMALS AND WILDLIFE!

Last night around 11pm, thugs crept up behind Brandy and Zuli's field shelter at the Sanctuary and let off a stream of bangers and fireworks.  Bad enough for ANY animal, but these are two veteran mares, Zuli being well over 30 years old.  Laura, our head groom, was on night duty and spent ages with Zuli trying to calm her down.  The Police were called and were extremely supportive but we could not locate the mindless idiots who saw fit to pick on defenceless animals - previously abused ones at that.

 

We do appreciate that folk are entitled to enjoy firework displays, but what used to be kept for one special night a year - i.e. 5 November - now goes on from Halloween until the New Year!  How can pet owners sedate their animals for months on end?  All we ask if that you think of the animals - both domesticated and wild - that are terrified and, in some cases, get injured or killed.  One of our staff had two guinea pigs die from shock when a firework landed by their cage one evening - nowhere around firework night.

All we ask is that folk are sensible and think of others.  Thank you.

YET ANOTHER "EXPENDABLE" LIFE - COLT DUMPED TODAY


A three year old colt was found wandering in the Tilbury area this morning.  He is in good bodily condition, although his mane and tail were absolutely knotted up with burrs.  He has a splint on his right fore and two huge abscesses on either side of his face above the nostril area.  The gentleman that found him wandering loose on the road SHOULD have called the Police as this is a Road Traffic Violation; instead he brought him into us.  So now we have yet another abandoned horse to care for - and to get castrated - an additional cost we could well do without.  


In the meantime, the lad has settled down well in our isolation unit - albeit that he is constantly calling to our mares in the laminitic paddock some 100 yards away!  We'll need to get the nasal lumps looked at by our vets asap - although they don't appear to be causing him any distress, they certainly shouldn't be there.  Please could we ask all you animal lovers out there to dig deep in your pockets today to make a donation towards this colt's veterinary bills and castration.  


Our books are closed for the forseeable future - but we didn't bargain on someone turning up at our gate with another needy case on board!  Thank you.  We shall keep you updated of the lad's progress.  Suggestions for a nice, original, name for him welcome!


Winner of the name chosen will receive a FREE EHPPS LIFE MEMBERSHIP and be feature photo on the front page of our January 2012 Newsletter along with the colt (who certainly won't be a colt by then!!!!!)

This picture shows the lumps on either side of the colts nose.

WINTER GRAZING CRISIS


As we have constantly reported to you, the Sanctuary is overstocked due to horses being returned from foster, but, in the main, due to abandonment cases.  The 55 acre site we occupy is a SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) and is governed by a Management Agreement between the Charity and Natural England.  During the winter months we do not have any turnout in our six main fields and have to rely solely on two small paddocks and our laminitic paddock (which do not fall into the SSI category).


Basildon Councillor Phil Turner, who is also Minister for Resources, came up trumps when we asked for his help in securing some vital winter grazing for our additional animals.  The team at Wat Tyler Country Park have also been so supportive in helping us to get the site ready and safe for us to turn our horses out on.  This additional grazing was the perfect solution to our winter grazing problem; as it is we have been getting through 200 plus bales of hay a week for all the residents – not cheap at £4.75 per bale (i.e. £950 per week in hay alone).  We could at least see a reduction in our hay consumption as the winter grazing is more than enough to keep 30 horses going for a few weeks.  Added to this, the site is just a five minute walk from the Sanctuary, so it was going to be relatively easy to move the horses across on foot.  It was also within easy reach for us to carry out our twice daily checks.

We have had a wait for a couple of weeks for all the electric fencing and tape to arrive from the manufacturers, and actually took delivery of it all yesterday (8 November 2011).   Our head groom, Laura Jardine, set off today to the site to start putting the fencing up, with the aim of moving the horses over during the next few days.


She was gobsmacked as she approached the site to see a horse box pulling away driven by a local traveller who is well known to us.  He had illegally dumped sixteen horses onto our winter grazing land – land for which we hold a lease.  Ironically, a pile of rubbish appeared at the very same time, which wasn’t there last week as we had spent ages clearing the area.  We are also concerned that unless there is electric fencing up around the area, there are very specific dangers for horses as they can easily get stuck in the mud of Pitsea creek should they venture into it when the tide is out.  The horses’ owner shows no concern whatsoever for their safety.


In the meantime, we are well and truly stuck.  Our winter hay supplies (3,500 bales) are never going to last throughout the winter as planned.  We shall be lucky if they last until Christmas if we are going to need to continue haying all our horses.  Equally disturbing is the fact that we are in danger of being in serious breach of our Management Agreement for continuing to have the horses on the land during the winter months.  Legal proceedings will be instituted by the Council to remove the horses that are illegally there, but this will take time.  In the interim, we are desperately looking for some winter grazing in the area for our hardier horses.



Curry night


Our curry night was again a massive success with it raising £735! Thank you to Stacey Lane, Kay Rush, Lynne Lane, Cindy Davel, Virgina Media, Toni Jopson and Red Justred of Virgin Media for donating the raffle prizes.


It was really lovely on the night - relaxed, happy punters and not too overcrowded - at least everyone got seats this time around!

Stacey and Kay who organised the curry night

EXCITING NEWS


We are absolutely delighted that our lovely Treasurer, Jan de la Mare, has tied the knot recently!  We wish them both a happy and long future,  OUR CONGRATULATIONS JAN (THE NEW MRS WILLIS) AND STEVE.  Lots of love and hugs from everyone at EHPPS x-x-x-x-x

Our EHPPS Lottery was drawn at the Sanctuary yesterday - raised £1,119.50 - £559.75 retained by EHPPS towards care of resident horses and ponies - other £559.75 split into three monetary prizes as follows:

1st Prize £279.88 - Mrs Elaine Stevens of Canvey Island

2nd Prize £186.58 - Miss G Jasper of Vange, Basildon

3rd Prize £93.29 - Mr Gerald Francis of Carlisle, Cumbria

The person who sold the most Lottery Sheets was Kay Rush who won a Life Membership with EHPPS, but she kindly asked us to pass it on to the next person who sold the most tickets as she wanted to continue to pay her annual membership subscription to our Charity (Bless her!) ... so the winner of the Life Membership was Jodi Skelton of Latchington.  Well done Jodi - your Membership pack is winging its way to you in tonight's post.

Finally thank you to all who took part in the Lottery.  Your support is greatly appreciated.



The Council are now taking legal recourse to remove the "farmer" who is illegally grazing 18 of his horses on the land we had leased from the Council - thus preventing us to put our own horses there.  Winter hay supplies are dwindling at an alarming rate.  Also, we are not supposed to have horses on our fields during the winter as we have a Management Licence that prohibits this - the land being SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) - so we are now also in breach of our Agreement with Natural England.  Please can we ask you all to dig deep into your piggybanks to make a donation towards the Winter Hay Appeal?




Can any of you offer one or two horses/ponies a winter home to help alleviate the strain on the land at the present time?  Long term fostering is preferable, but we are now in a situation of "needs must".  Please email Sue Allery at administrator@ehpps.org.uk with a contact number so that she can get back to you.