Pet Articles

A DAY IN THE LIFE…
Sandy Houldcroft is the manager of Happy Horses Sanctuary in Poole Dorset. Here she describes a typical working day.

7.00am to 8.00am
I arrive at the Sanctuary and prepare the horses’ breakfast, there are numerous sites that we work out of so all the breakfast are made up in one place and driven to the individual paddocks.
While the horses are eating I take the opportunity to check them over for any cuts or bumps and generally assess their well being.

8.00am to 9am
L’Amour is turned out into her paddock; we have had to make a paddock especially for her as although she can differentiate between light and shade she is otherwise entirely blind. She loves being turned out, although she comes in every night to ensure she doesn’t hurt herself in the dark.
Once L’Amour is safe in her field I bring Delta in for a quick groom before he goes into his stable for a sleep. He is a thoroughbred stallion and this time of year he gets very excited by all the girly pheromones in the air, (if we put him in at night he doesn’t sleep because L’Amour is so close to him) so around 9.00am you will usually find him curled up in his stable snoring away!

9.00am to 10am
All the horses and ponies have finished eating by now so its time to collect all the buckets and clean them out ready for the evening feeds. Once this has been done most of the volunteers have arrived and its time to dish out the days jobs and update everyone on any news or special requirements any of the horses may have for that day.

10am to 11am
All the ponies get a lovely long groom before the horses are groomed and tacked up for their exercise.

11am to 12am
If possible we all ride out together; there are some lovely areas around the Sanctuary where the horses are exercised and can go for a gentle walk, trot and even the odd canter if they are up to it!

12am to 1pm
The horses are un-tacked and sponged off before being turned out in their fields for the rest of the day. The older horses are brought in for a nice groom a little lunch (being older they usually need extra feeds to help them keep their weight at the right levels) and any supplements they are on before the volunteers get lunch themselves!

1pm- 2pm
What a long day it has been so far, we usually find a bit of shade where we can watch the horses graze whilst we grab a bite to eat and discuss how each of the horses went during exercise, is gives us the chance to make sure each horse is getting the right level of exercise and reduces the risk of injury.

2pm to 3pm
Delta is brought out and exercised, he is in the process of being backed so some of the volunteers take it in turn to watch (to laugh at me more than to learn from me I think)  muck out the stable and complete odd jobs.

3pm to 6pm
Take your pick there are always loads of jobs to get done and they differ from day to day –  cleaning the poo up in the fields is probably the least pleasant, cleaning the tack or mending rugs , fixing fence lines and helping build shelters, clearing ragwort out of the fields and tidying the tack rooms up are all regular jobs that last most of the afternoon.
As we are a rehoming sanctuary we also use this time to invite over prospective parents to our horses and ponies, show them around the sanctuary and let them get to know their chosen horse or pony. We also visit prospective carers to make sure a new home is suitable and safe for our horses to move to.

6pm to 7pm
Horses on more than one feed a day (everyone in winter & and the riding and elderly horses in summer) are brought in to be feed and rugged up for the night if necessary. All the tools are tidied away, final jobs are completed and the buckets cleaned ready for breakfast. Inevitably there are volunteers still about and they are shooed out of the gate much to their disdain so the horses (and I) can get some rest. All the horses get a shout goodnight and we lock up and head home.

7.00pm to 8pm
You’d think it would end here but there is always plenty of admin work to be completed, emails to be answered, fundraisers to be organized and bills to be paid.

Roll on tomorrow I can’t wait!

Visit the Happy Horses Sanctuary at www.happyhorsesanctuary.co.uk