Photo Gallery
On this page you will find photographs of residents past and present, current improvement works being carried out at the sanctuary, the natural flora and fauna that we are fortunate enough to have at the farm, and some of our most severe welfare encounters
The longest hooves we've ever dealt with! Lord knows when these were last trimmed but they were expertly sorted by long suffering farrier Dom Jones
The worst hoof xrays we've ever had. This is the result of chronic, untreated laminitis which has been left festering for several years. All four of this pony's feet were like this and, very sadly, she ultimately did not survive despite receiving intensive treatment from ourselves, our vets, and farrier
Current resident Lily, enjoying the (rare!) summer sunshine. Lily receives daily bute and milk thistle for a hip injury she sustained when she was younger which has left her permanently lame. For a long time she was a companion horse until her carer had a mental breakdown and was no longer able to care for her
Friends Polly and Misty came from Sussex Horse Rescue Trust when it very sadly closed its doors in 2020. Polly originally came from France in around 2000 with some donkeys and a mule while Misty was in a long term loan home until his loaner sadly passed away and he was returned to SHRT
Trevor Weeks and the team at East Sussex Wildlife Rescue Ambulance Service (WRAS) in attendance to capture and release a young stag who had unfortunately become tangled up in our electric fencing. WRAS do a sterling job of looking after the wildlife and like all animal charities, they run solely on public donations so please consider supporting them - WRAS
Firefly is currently (2023) our oldest resident at 33 years after former geriatric king Nutkins sadly passed away in 2021 at age 36. Firefly has started to show his age in his appearance more now but in attitude he is certainly a mere spring chicken!
Some more horrific looking hooves! Regular trimming of the hooves is vital to maintaining the health of the horse. There is a reason for the old saying, "no foot, no horse"! In the bottom image you can see the obtuse angle of the hoof. The correct angle for the outer hoof wall and up the pastern to the fetlock joint should be more or less 45 degrees in order to maintain correct weight distribution of the animal and reduce stress on the joints in the legs. For this poor horse, walking like this would have felt like the equivalent to us of walking only on our heels
A tiny owlet we found whilst walking in our woods. This tiny baby had fallen out of the nest and I only stopped to look because I thought it was an interesting type of fungus - imagine my surprise when I realised what it actually was! We took him to WRAS where he was reared before being released back at our farm
Longstanding volunteer Steve bottle feeding the two orphaned lambs, Lily and Lottie, who we took in back in 2017. Very hard work to bottle feed these two multiple times a day but they were incredibly entertaining! Unfortunately at the time we couldn't keep them when they grew up but they were placed in a permanent home with other 'pet' sheep via neighbouring charity SHRT
Some may remember Samson and Owen, the two ex RDA horses we took in back in 2016. They were very well loved by their owner until he became elderly and mostly blind and simply did not realise how bad the condition of the horses had become. Sam in particular had a growth on one of his front legs which his owner was told was just proud flesh from an ingrown hair. Being a heavy cob breed with heavily feathered legs, it wasn't until vet Heather Rea clipped the hair back that the true maggot filled horror beneath was revealed - it was not for the faint hearted!
A fundraising campaign, expensive operation, and a six month recovery period later and Sam was free from the growth, the extremely large wound had healed well, and all was good. Sadly it wasn't to last as a biopsy on the growth revealed it to be a basal cell carcinoma and unfortunately as it had been left untreated for so long, it had already metastasized into Sam's system and within a few months the tumour began to return. Within a year, it had travelled into his lungs and the very sad decision was made to send him over the rainbow bridge
On a lighter note, throwback to the time I dressed up as a highwayman and rode best friend Commanche down Uckfield High Street to hand out flyers for neighbouring Sussex Horse Rescue Trust's Winter Fest event, which had a highwaymen and smugglers theme and was a huge success on the day with stalls, hot waffles, pony rides, have a go archery, and various demonstrations. Image credit to EquusPix Photography
