Hope and Valiente a week after arriving at A.R.C.H
I've frequently written about the opportunities our house sitting travel lifestyle presents, we began volunteering this week at the Andalusian Horse Rescue Centre. Before we arrived in Spain I asked our home owner, Michelle, about volunteering with animals, I volunteer with the SPCA when I'm at home. Michelle rescued Bruno and her mother works tirelessly rescuing dogs and cats while supporting other rescuers. She told me about a South African lady who cares for over 50 dogs, that's more animals than many official shelters can cope with and there are many more individuals in Andalusia working to make life better for all the animals the need is huge, cats, dogs, horses, ponies and donkeys, if you didn't know this donkeys have a very high pain threshold and will continue to work literally until they drop, giving their abusers even greater opportunity to create a life of misery for these gentle creatures.
Giving a few hours of help is the very least we can do and please note the collective “WE” yes my husband, the one who isn’t remotely comfortable around anything larger than a Great Dane, especially one that can buck, rear, wears shoes made of steel, has extremely large teeth and has the word Equine attached. I remember when John and I first met I had a beautiful Arab mare Samaya, one day I took him to the yard where I had her stabled as we approached her box she was lying down, trying to impress me with his new found confidence he said “She's amazing and so small” he was feeling quite comfortable at this point. I opened the stable door, walked over to her and just clicked when she started to stand I swear I saw smoke coming from my husband's heels as he sprinted to the other side of the yard, white!! " B***** h*** she's HUGE!" actually she was only **15.2 hands. So to have him accompany me and “work” in a yard is somewhat of a miracle, he's been content to shovel muck, stack hay, clear storm drains, fix fences and yes even get up close and personal with a couple of donkeys and little Hope and Valiente (pictured) it was the plight of these ponies which moved him to overcome his fear and volunteer …. the ponies, A.R.C.H and your wife thanks you!!
**" A "Hand" is a unit of measure equal to 4 inches, used to measure the height of a horse at the highest point of the withers. The number of whole hands is properly followed by a period, then the remaining height in inches. Thus a horse who measures 5 feet and two inches at the withers would be designated "15.2 hands".
Giving a few hours of help is the very least we can do and please note the collective “WE” yes my husband, the one who isn’t remotely comfortable around anything larger than a Great Dane, especially one that can buck, rear, wears shoes made of steel, has extremely large teeth and has the word Equine attached. I remember when John and I first met I had a beautiful Arab mare Samaya, one day I took him to the yard where I had her stabled as we approached her box she was lying down, trying to impress me with his new found confidence he said “She's amazing and so small” he was feeling quite comfortable at this point. I opened the stable door, walked over to her and just clicked when she started to stand I swear I saw smoke coming from my husband's heels as he sprinted to the other side of the yard, white!! " B***** h*** she's HUGE!" actually she was only **15.2 hands. So to have him accompany me and “work” in a yard is somewhat of a miracle, he's been content to shovel muck, stack hay, clear storm drains, fix fences and yes even get up close and personal with a couple of donkeys and little Hope and Valiente (pictured) it was the plight of these ponies which moved him to overcome his fear and volunteer …. the ponies, A.R.C.H and your wife thanks you!!
**" A "Hand" is a unit of measure equal to 4 inches, used to measure the height of a horse at the highest point of the withers. The number of whole hands is properly followed by a period, then the remaining height in inches. Thus a horse who measures 5 feet and two inches at the withers would be designated "15.2 hands".
Christmas message from A.R.C.H.
"Getting close to Christmas, why not sponsor one of our horses/donkeys. For just €20 we will send you your own adoption certificate with the animals name and picture. All you need to do is send me the name of the person that you want on the certificate and the name of the animal plus your email address"
Simply go to:
Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/ARCH/206324929402837or
website http://www.horserescuespain.org/index.php?cID=95
Help this amazing charity to rescue horses, ponies and donkeys, changing their misery into lifelong contentment. Thank you it'll make you feel just that much happier it did us!
"Getting close to Christmas, why not sponsor one of our horses/donkeys. For just €20 we will send you your own adoption certificate with the animals name and picture. All you need to do is send me the name of the person that you want on the certificate and the name of the animal plus your email address"
Simply go to:
Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/ARCH/206324929402837or
website http://www.horserescuespain.org/index.php?cID=95
Help this amazing charity to rescue horses, ponies and donkeys, changing their misery into lifelong contentment. Thank you it'll make you feel just that much happier it did us!
