Autumn Newsletter 2008 - Redwings

2WELCOME TO OUR AUTUMN NEWSLETTERDear SupporterWelcome to our Autumn 2008 Newsletter and even after ouramazing start to the year we continue to be really busy both withsupporters and horses! Thank you all for your patience over thepast months with our new office system to take your orders anddonations and for starting to get used to your new supporternumber – we’d love not to have to use computers but it seems wehave little choice! However, we have been caught sneaking intoour computers in our office tea breaks to log onto our new On-lineAdoptions. I have got Boo and Sydney on my PC and mucking outtheir stables, giving them fresh water and hay seems easier to do‘virtually’ rather than for real – we’ve even found time for a quickgroom and collecting the odd care rosette or two!It’s been rescue, rescue, rescue recently and the horsebox enginesand trailer truck bonnets have been kept warm. Unfortunately, for allof us we need to watch the fuel and mileage but we never intend todo an unnecessary journey and at the end of each rescue we knowwe have done the right thing. Our timely appeal is for ourtransportation needs, it’s one of our ‘specialisms’ and although wedo not run the horsebox equivalent of a Rolls Royce, the costs domount up to keep them on the road and even ready when needed.Re-homing has been productive too, after extensive handling fromthe Rehabilitation team, ponies such as Lindt and Rosswho came to us as incredibly nervous youngsters viaprevious rescues, have been undergoing training tobecome riding/companion ponies!We are also very excited about next year – theSanctuary will reach a mature quarter of a centuryand therefore we will celebrate Redwings’ SilverJubilee. Tony, our in-house designer, has comeup with a special logo and it’s already in print onour 2009 calendars. Helen, one of our keenestin-house photographers, tried transferring someof her pictures into black and white and weloved the look so much that 2009 has a special calendar inaddition to our regular ‘Scenes’ and ‘Adoption’ Calendars.We have unfortunately been forced to increase our postageand packing prices, it has been long overdue but needs must,it’s all in a good cause.Please do read on and take in all of our activities featured in thisnewsletter. Currently, at Hapton we unusually have foals in most ofour special care fields and some of our residents are so small thatthe maintenance crew have had to add an extra row of fence lineto keep them in! One of our special ponies, Chocolate, has been asurrogate Dad and taken to the job very well.Nationally, we were delighted to be invited to take part in a smallworking group on equine welfare whose work was inspired by andpresented to HRH Princess Anne. It was so very useful to share ourequine welfare experiences and needs with other organisations aswell as our friends at the major charities.This Summer Redwings has been out and about at Jimmy’s Farm,the Suffolk and Norfolk Shows, and several other local events. Ournew Education Ponieshave completed theirfirst year and were evenwell behaved when thecannon went off at theNorfolk Show! Theseponies are from theLincolnshire rescue –remember the onewhen we rescued 72horses and ponies inone day!Following our start this year when we were Charity of the Year at theBritish Equestrian Trade Association (BETA), we are delighted to bethe Your Horse Live Charity of the year this Winter. We appreciate allthe support we get from both associations and more importantly,from you, our supporters.Lynn CutressChief ExecutiveThomas the Haptoncat says... Don’tforget to use yourpostcode on anycorrespondenceyou send us. Ithelps us find youmore quickly!Address for all correspondenceRedwings Horse SanctuaryHapton, Norfolk NR15 1SPOur Mission StatementThe Charity’s purpose is to provide andpromote the welfare, care and protectionof horses, ponies, donkeys and mules.Key Contact NumbersGeneral Enquiries 01508 481000info@redwings.co.ukHorse Care and Welfare 01508 481008welfare@redwings.co.ukVisitor Helpline 0870 040 0033Web www.redwings.co.ukThis newsletter costs less than seven pence to print. All the design and photography is undertakenby staff with the help of supporters to keep our costs low.