The Christmas shop is now open

New horses to adopt, cards, books and prints in stock, and lots of ways to make even a small gift to us go a long way towards our horses’ upkeep over the winter.

‘New’ horses Spotty and Santa are steadily gaining fans, and we’ve been asked if it’s possible to adopt them. So now the answer is yes. An adoption fee of £20 contributes towards the cost of keeping them fed, watered and healthy for a year. And adopting a pony makes a great Christmas present for yourself or someone else. You (or they) will receive a photographic print of your adoptee with a welcome letter and adoption certificate.

We’ve also stocked up on a selection of greetings cards, we have signed copies of Natalie’s book Only Heroes and Horses, and for an extra special horsey gift we have limited edition prints by photographer Paul Stuart.

Whenever we’re asked what we humans want for Christmas our answer is always the same – nothing! Instead, we’d love you to give us something that contributes to the upkeep of our 25 horses. The cost of feed over the winter months is huge when there’s no grass for grazing. While many of the horses eat hay, many require the more expensive haylage or ‘fast fibre’, both of which are gentler on the digestion and needed by most of our older horses. Regular dental and vet inspections are essential, and as you’ll know if you take your pets to a vet for a check up, they don’t come cheap, so you can imagine the costs applied to 25 horses!

Lots of small donations really do add up. If enough of you donate the price of a pint of beer, or a cappuccino from your favourite coffee shop, we could cover the upkeep of a horse for a month.

How we spend your donations:

£12 = a week’s supply of carrots

£20 = one 20kg bag of haylage, 21 bags needed each week costs £420

£22.50 = one 20kg bag of fast fibre feed, 5 needed per week

£50 = one bale of hay, 14 needed each week costs £700

£60 = cost of dental inspection for one horse

£80 = new shoes from the farrier, for one horse

And if you’d like to support us this Christmas, we’ve made it really easy by setting up an Amazon wishlist of really practical items ranging from salt licks to shampoo, and from hard hats to haylage. Prices start from £5, with lots of choice at under £20.

Head to our Shop and Donate pages for the full list of options.