Emma
Owner - Horse Fanatic
General Animal Crackers Chica
Emma, (32) from an animal loving family in the UK, grew up with animal friends instead of humans and an imaginary horse that looks like Shanti. A childhood spent rescuing bugs and frogs whilst begging parents for horse riding lessons. Grew up to study horsemanship, small animal veterinary nursing, animal first aid and various horse communication or barefoot short courses. With a lot of experience of being self-employed, from running a charity shop for a horse sanctuary in the UK, dog walking and dog training businesses and dancing. Because there has to be one interest that isn't covered in dog hair. All spare time is spent walking dogs or expanding knowledge on animal welfare and horses reading books and watching Youtube videos. Still has more animal friends than humans but has real horse friends and no longer imaginary ones!
A dream into reality!
"What we do at horse sanctuary is hugely necessary and incredibly rewarding. Large numbers of animals are used in Tenerife for agriculture and tourism. Then often find themselves unloved or neglected once their working use comes to an end. It’s a pleasure and a privilege for us to rescue, re-home and care for animals in need. But medicines and therapies are costly and in constant demand. And our need for feed, shelter and homing animals never ends.
Edo
Owner - Craftsman - Builder
Self Taught Farmer and Cowboy
Edo (34) from a small city in Italy having never had a pet before meeting Emma but always dreamed of retiring to a farm and living self sufficiently with a pack of dogs. After leaving school, developed a background in building, customer service, entertainment and having a natural skill for languages, speaking six of them. The couple met while Emma lived on a horse centre in Fuerteventura and Edo was on holiday. Bonding over their mutual dancing experience they worked with a stage show together for a year before starting to plan this project. Soon finding out that they had the perfect ingredients to develop it together. Edo realising his dream to have a farm far before retirement age, but the work has just begun.
"We’ve already learned so much from our adventure so far. We’ve learned to plan and register, then build up from nothing for us and our animal shelter. We’ve had to understand the business of fund-raising and running a charity. Solving problems by using solar-power and ecologically water systems. We’ve gained the help from generous local people and visitors to Tenerife. To create a team of people that work for the love of the animals and not for profit. Getting their hands dirty or by donating their hard-earned money when they can."
Here you will see an interview with Emma and Edo. You can see their backgrounds, their thoughts and plans for the future.
Emma and Edo may be the couple behind the project, but without their amazing team of volunteers they certainly couldn't do it alone. Here is some of our current team members that keep this place running and growing.
Kat
Emma's "right hand man!"
Managing the horse team and languages are her thing
Kat came to stay with us for 2 months, which turned into 3. After back to normal life for less than 1 year, she came back to us for good. Now we can not imagine her to not be here. She manages the horse team, takes care of the horses. Manages the German following and is the number 1 volunteer to show you around when you come for a visit in several different languages.
Andrea
King of the compost
Managing the gardens and composting with his team.
Andrea came to us for 3 weeks, where he met Kat. Now they came back as a couple to the place they first met. Managing the team of compost volunteers and gardeners. Keeping the place looking beautiful and growing our gardens. Experimenting with compost and creating a perfect product to eventually sell.
Allana
Weekend horse carer
Managing the weekends, caring for the horses and handyman
Allana is our weekend horse girl. She takes care of all of the horses and she does it with so much love. She knows every singel horse personally and does a great job making sure they are all perfectly cared for. She feeds, cleans, takes care of their feet and excercise with a smile
Will
Gardener and ferret handler.
carpentry and keeping people happy is his thing
Will came to us as a work away well over 2 years ago, he loves it so much that he has no plans to leave. Will is very skilled with gardening and has a great eye to make things look good even built from recycled materials. He is responsible for the plants and pretty wooden structures. Also, a great asset at welcoming the new volunteers and making them feel comfortable, entertains people with his jokes and stories over one of his home cooked curries. Last but not least he takes care of the ferrets as he is the bravest volunteer!
Adrianna
Visitor and influencer manager
Organizing, connecting and bringing people to the finca is her thing.
Adrianna is on her second trip here to continue to help us network and grow our online following. She also keeps the yurt full of influencers that are helping to grow social media. She takes care of the people and helps with anything they may need. Helping us to get sponsors, donations and well needed funds
Mitzi
R+ horse trainer and treat giver
feeding, caring and training horses are her thing
Mitzi is a relatively new member of the team but she has a very important role and we are very happy to have her here. She is experienced with positive reinforcement training and clicker training. Her role is to work with the horses to create positive experiences whilst training them. Helping to relieve stress, previous trauma and welcome them to their new happy lives here.
Simon
All round helper
Building and helping everyone is his thing
Simon has been with us for over 1/2 a year and is a great addition to the team. He always has a smile and everyone loves working with him. He keeps things organised and helps to build everything and anything that is needed. Since being here he has become an all round handy man and a fancy tiler!
Chiara
Cook and queen of the kitchen
Cooking for the volunteers and remembering 35+ peoples complicated diet restrictions
Chiara is actually on her second time here, she went home only to miss the finca and return with her dog Lucky. We are so glad she did as she is amazing at her particularly important and difficult role. Chaira manages the kitchen and keeps all of the volunteers fed so that everyone can work efficiently. She remembers what everyone likes, can't eat and dislikes. Making amazing dishes out of 100% waste food, especially her sugar free fruit cakes!
