Our Story

"When I started Foll’s Field Home for Life Centre my vision was that we would be a rescue centre for horses and ponies primarily but would take other large animals if the need arose. I soon discovered that there are many horses and ponies out there in need of a loving and caring home for the last years of their lives.
 

I’m talking about those horses and ponies who are no longer useful to their owners either because they have no rider small enough or they have developed problems that mean their health and quality of life may deteriorate over the next few years meaning they will need to be put to sleep. There are also many horses and ponies who are dearly loved but not getting the work they need but their owner is reluctant to sell them because they are a treasured friend, and all of us have heard at least one horror story where loaning is concerned.
 

I began thinking about how these owners and, more importantly, their horses or ponies could be helped. Many of these horses and ponies don’t need rescuing. In fact many were rescued by their owners in the first place. Keeping a horse alive after being diagnosed with a condition like navicular or arthritis is not necessarily ‘prolonging their suffering.’ Many of them could go on to live a good quality life for several years or longer. So, what could I do for these horses and ponies who faced being put to sleep far earlier than is necessary?
 

That was when my idea for a Home For Life Centre began to take shape. What was needed was something run along the lines of a rescue centre but how could I assure owners that their much loved horse or pony was safe for life and not likely to be passed from pillar to post until there was no way of tracing him or her? I gave the matter considerable thought and asked myself what would I want for my horse if, when his twilight years came I was not in a position to give him what he needed.
 

The conclusion that I came to was that I would want someone to provide him with a lifelong, loving and caring home where he would get exactly what he needed. Someone who would never let him leave them and who would let me visit as often as I felt I needed to. Sometimes we are lucky and find a person who will do just that but all to often people want a horse that can work and once his riding days are over will pass him on as a companion. This can lead to several homes within quite a short time as many owners want a small pony who will settle in from day one and not cause any problems in the field.
 

So, I could offer a home to one, or maybe even two horses or ponies that needed a quieter life due to age or health problems but how could I care for more than a few horses. I’d already taken on an 18hh show jumper who had been due to be shot because spavins and associated arthritis had ended his career. At only 9yrs of age Hercules was facing death until I offered him a home for life so that his owner could claim loss of use to buy another horse. The intention was, that once she finished her University degree, Sarah, whom we had met at some local stables when she was about 10yrs old and who had helped me ride and look after Tug, would take over the care of him.
 

Sarah began to come home more often at weekends so that she could ride Hercules. I felt that he would help her with the confidence issues that a rodeo ride at the stables had caused. Hercules is a great character and very gentle, he soon won Sarah’s love and they make a handsome pair out riding or ’kissing’ over the fence. I truly feel that Sarah has found the horse of her dreams and it would take something very drastic to part them.
 

That was when I began to wonder if I could find other people who would help out with the horses with a view to taking over the care of a suitable horse should one arrive
 

A few weeks after Hercules had come to us I took a bright bay Welsh section a gelding on loan with a view to buy. The intention was that he would become my son’s pony. Shalom had other ideas though and was quite feisty. He was far too strong to be ridden by a child and he was hopeless on the lead rein. Shalom was such a character that I really wanted to find him a rider who would help him become a great second pony so I placed an advert asking for a lightweight, confident sharer.
 

Time went by and there were no answers to the advert, I thought about re-advertising but didn’t get round to it. I was now quite busy as we were winter-feeding and I’d also taken on two elderly ponies whose owner was going to live in Cyprus for health reasons. Bimbo was 30 and quite clearly dying of liver failure and his field mate of 18 years was 23yr old Flicka. Sadly the owner did not want Bimbo to be put to sleep but one cold January morning he went down in the field and was struggling to get up. With an RSPCA inspector in attendance I called out my vet and he was sent peacefully to sleep. Flicka sought the company of Isis the 17.2hh Shire cross mare and is always by her side.
 

One evening we met Alec, he often walked his dog along the towpath and had seen the horses. We chatted for a while and he offered to help out if we needed anyone. For the rest of the winter Alec came down on Thursdays and Saturdays and put hay out for the horses and kept an eye on them. During the spring and early summer Alec rode Folly a few times but then his commitments meant that he didn’t get chance to come down again until late autumn. The year wore on and the weather became colder, Alec came down one Sunday to ask if we needed any help with putting the hay out again this winter. I suggested he come down to ride again but an injury meant that it was a few weeks before he was able to come again. Alec is now a regular helper.
 

On the 4th April 2005 I met Catherine as I was on my way to the field. We stood talking for a while and Catherine mentioned that she’d be happy to come and help with the horses. We arranged for Catherine to come down to the field on the following Sunday and after grooming and tacking up I asked if she’d like to ride Folly. Catherine was smitten and the following week she brought her partner Simon down to meet us. I suggested they shared the ride on Folly, which they both enjoyed even though Folly is so wide you need to do the splits to sit on him.
 

Catherine immediately offered financial support and made monthly payments towards the keep of the horses. I asked her if she’d be interested in being a carer should another horse come along. She said that she would so I decided to keep an eye open. Catherine and I rode out together in the week whenever she had time off work and Simon rode Folly on Sundays. It felt as though we’d known Catherine and Simon for years and the Foll’s Field ‘Secret Horse Society’ was born.
 

I decided to have another try at finding a sharer for Shalom, he really needed more work than I could give him with a slightly nervous child for a rider. I stuck another advert on one of the equestrian websites and this time I received a reply. The girl described herself as a small, lightweight, confident young adult rider and sounded like just what I was looking for.
 

I invited her down to meet us, and she fell in love with Shalom right away. She began working with him that day and put lots of work into his schooling. Although he will never be a first pony he has calmed down enough for Andrew to ride him on the lead rein (and occasionally off it.) and this has helped Andrew’s confidence as a rider.
 

One day I was looking through the equestrian adverts on ebay when I spotted an advert for Charlie, an elderly gelding who desperately needed a new home. I was about to report the advert but when I read it through properly it became obvious that Charlie needed somewhere safe to live. He was described as a 16hh warmblood around 23 years of age. He was blind in one eye and was going to lose the sight in the other eye at some point in the future. I couldn’t ignore this advert and got straight in touch with the owner to offer Charlie a lifelong home.
 

During the ensuing discussions I discovered that Charlie had been bought about three months earlier to rescue him from a neglectful home. On the way to his new owner’s field he had been involved in a crash which resulted in him being thrown under the breast bar onto his face. Consequently he was now frightened of loading.
 

It was clear that Charlie needed to move as soon as possible so I organised a transport company to fetch him from near Boston to Leicester the following Tuesday. Unfortunately Charlie was terrified of going on the lorry and the owner had not got the Sedalin we’d asked her to get. Gail decided that, as she had a few racehorses on board that were en route to the sales in Ascot, she would have to try again on the Saturday.
 

My brother accompanied Gail for the second attempt and I hounded the owner to make sure she’d got the Sedalin. She had but she wouldn’t give it to him so Gail tried again to load Charlie without it but he became very distressed so eventually the owner was persuaded to give him the Sedalin. Finally Charlie was loaded and came to Leicester. The next day I introduced Catherine to Charlie and asked her if she’d like to be his carer. I said that I didn’t know if he would be able to be ridden.
 

Catherine rang me the next day to say that she would take Charlie on regardless of whether or not she could ride him. After a few weeks of getting Charlie used to us Catherine climbed aboard and rode him for the first time. Both of them really enjoyed that day and Charlie is still her very much-loved friend.
 

In July I saw an advert for a home for life for an 18hh Black Irish Draught named Guinness. His owner had rescued Gin from a neglectful home but now she was emigrating to Canada and felt that he couldn’t make the journey. I contacted the owner and offered to help. We had a lot of contact over the next few weeks and she came down to see us. Eventually Lynda decided that I was what she was looking for and Guinness came to us at the end of August. Gin is a very forward going ride and doesn’t ‘do’ canter until he’s galloped the first 100yards. He will quite happily nip over a five bar gate to save you the bother of opening it and he is always willing to take you round the school. After I’d ridden him a couple of times Simon said he’d like to ride him so he took him out on a hack. It was obvious that they both got along with each other so I asked Simon if he wanted to be Gin’s carer. Simon decided to accept the offer and he took over as Gin’s carer at once. Despite having a nasty fall whilst cantering which resulted in a possible hairline fracture of the pelvis Simon is still Gin’s carer.
 

Foll’s Field had started out with just Folly, my Suffolk gelding and Isis, a Shire cross mare I’d taken on as a companion for him and now we had 5 horses and 2 ponies in our care. We had become a group of friends and spent many happy hours supping tea in the field whilst the horses grazed contentedly. The only cloud on the horizon was that Isis’s owner was threatening to take her away and take a foal from her before selling her for meat. He wanted £1000.00 for her but I persuaded him to take £900.00. We’d need at least the £1000.00 though as she’d need a passport and a course of injections, if we could ever catch her.
 

It became obvious that I wasn’t going to be able to buy Shalom so eventually Catherine paid for him. Sadly his carer was not able to commit to him over the winter and he really needed someone who could work with him on a regular basis so the decision was taken at our committee meeting in March to seek a new carer who would give Shalom the time and commitment he needed.
 

At the end of January 2006, Musketeer came to Foll’s Field. He has come on loan from Equine Market Watch. He was in need of a new home as his owner was starting full time work and no longer had time to look after him. They asked EMW to take him but wanted him placing within travelling distance so that they could maintain contact. Musky arrived on Wednesday 24th January 2006. Musky is a Welsh sec a, 12hh and black with a wide white blaze. He has already found a friend in Shalom but has decided that being caught is no fun; so it looks like we shall be playing catch the pony for some time yet.
 

On 12th February 2006 a little grey mare named Misty came to us. She is the prettiest little mare, a little nervous but very well mannered. Sadly one of her previous owners, a ‘traveller,’ had decided to cure conjunctivitis by putting neat Jeyes fluid into her eye! Needless to say, the eye was badly burned and had to be removed. A nearby farmer, learning of her plight, bought Misty, along with her dam and her half sister. He found the mare and her foal a good home but Misty was kept as a companion to the livery pony on his farm. When he decided to retire and sold the farm he asked the livery owner to take Misty, as no one would buy her because of her missing eye. Eventually Misty moved on to another lady as a companion before being offered to me for £50.00 provided I give her a caring home for life. In between the terrible start she had and her coming to Foll’s Field Misty has been an excellent Pony Club pony and we are now looking to find her a competent and caring rider in the hope that she can have many more years of fun at local shows. The owner generously donated the £50.00 to Equine Market watch.
 

Just before Christmas my eldest son’s childhood friend asked if she could come and help with the horses. We had taken Debbie to riding lessons with Iain for several years until she moved away. Now she was 18 and driving her own car she wanted to get back into horses. After a few months I found Katie, a 20 year old welsh cob cross mare. Debbie decided to buy her and within a couple of weeks they had begun to form a bond.
 

On Bank Holiday Monday in May this year we had to fetch Spirit back into the Centre as her carer had decided that if she couldn’t buy her then she didn’t want to keep her. Spirit was on loan to me, a 7 year old cob mare about 13.2hh who had had a less than perfect start to life having been broken to drive at around two then ridden by a nervous rider who did not realise that she had never been broken to ride. Spirit was easily confused and eventually, as her rider tightened up the reins more and more, learned to rear. Eventually her current owner took her on and began to make progress in getting Spirit to hack out. With her other commitments though, her owner didn’t really have enough time to keep this work going. Spirit came to Leicester in November 2005. Her owner didn’t want to sell her without meeting her carer and as she had to be moved within a few days and we only had the one day when there was someone available to tow the trailer we decided to fetch her back and put the whole episode behind us. Since coming back to the Centre we have tacked her up and had a novice child on her back so we are hopeful that she will soon be hacking out with us. We have started a fund to buy Spirit as soon as possible.
 

On Sunday 11th June 2006, Whisper arrived from Hertfordshire. Like many of the others he has been subjected to abuse at some point in his life and his owner had really hoped that he would live out his life in her care. Personal circumstances though made this now impossible and having spent many months trying to find a new home for Whisper I heard of her plight. It looked as though he was going to have to be put to sleep but he fitted our criteria and we were looking for a horse that Alec could care for so I offered him a home. It turned out that his owner had been sold what she thought was a 16yr old chestnut IDxTBX gelding and a vetting seemed to confirm that he was sound. Shortly after buying him she discovered that he was in fact about 26 yrs old and had broken wind. Still, they enjoyed some time together before her personal situation meant that she needed to rehome him. Whisper settled in with our ponies right away and seems very content with us even after so short a time. Alec feels that they will go well together, both being old gentlemen and his future is now secured.
 

In January 2006 we decided to apply for registration as a charity. We felt that as well as offering our horses and ponies a safe and caring lifelong home we could also offer riding and pony care experience to children from disadvantaged backgrounds and those with learning difficulties. We held our first meeting in February 2006 and elected the committee. We also stated the aims of the Centre and Debbie said that she was happy to take her BHS exams with a view to being our riding instructor. Sarah is considering adding to her psychology degree and becoming a equine associated therapist and I am looking at taking an equine management course so that I can teach the care of horses to the children who come to us for equine experience. We also decided that our first task should be to open a bank account for the centre and I asked that two of the committee volunteered to be signatories on this account. Sarah, our secretary and Catherine, Our treasurer agreed to do this and our account will be up and running in a few days.
 

Our project for this year is to find either a small yard to rent or some land where we can put some stables, feed rooms etc and a school. This will not be easy as we don’t want to move too far from the summer pasture and yards in Leicester are hard to find. We are determined though that we shall find somewhere before next winter so the fund raising is already under way. I am in the process of searching for some suitable land to rent where we can build the yard and school we need. We have found a source of free timber, which will keep costs down and hope to do much of the work ourselves.
 

Our other project is to get a newsletter up and running for those who donate. Lyn has volunteered to write the newsletter, which will probably be bi-monthly at first. It is our intention to begin seeking charitable status so that our horses can benefit fully from monies raised for them. At present there is no taxable profits but once we get the website up and running we intend to start selling supplements and possibly clothing for the rider and would prefer to put the profits from this venture into caring for those horses we rescue and those who can’t work rather than give it to the tax man.
 

I hope that this information sheet has given you an insight into our work here and that you will consider supporting us. All donations go into either the general fund, which pays for the care of our non-working residents, or one of our projects according to the wishes of the donor. As a group of horse-loving friends we feel that we offer our horses a happy, attentive and safe environment in which they can live out their remaining years. We will continue to offer this to as many horses and ponies as possible. Our practice of keeping all our horses within our centre means that none of them will ever again be put at risk of cruelty or neglect by the people who care for them. Please help us to give this security to as many horses and ponies as we can."

  June (founder member of Folls' Field)