Where do we want to be this time next year?
Meet Where do we want to be this time next year?
While I write this blog on week 7 or 8 (does anyone really know) of lockdown... our first answer is, out of lockdown hopefully is where we want to be next year.
That almost certainly will be the case, so what are our bigger plans for the year ahead?
As you may know it has been around 2 years now since the start of our project, since we bought an empty piece of land with no electricity, water or planning permission. In this time we have come a long way, we still have a long way to go, but we should for the beginning of this blog concentrate on how far we have come in the time. It has gone so quick, in the blink of an eye but to think back to the pile of rocks our finca was feels like a different life time, its hard to remember our previous temporary yard and getting kicked of with 5 horses having to move to our finca before planned, held in by emergency electric fencing and pallets, walking around knee deep in building dust from where the digger man dug the paddocks from the rock, its almost impossible to remember our kind supporters turning up with their old bottles full of tap water to fill the horses baths before we had running water, having only 20 followers on facebook and Only a few dogs and a handful of cats running around! I
That almost certainly will be the case, so what are our bigger plans for the year ahead?
As you may know it has been around 2 years now since the start of our project, since we bought an empty piece of land with no electricity, water or planning permission. In this time we have come a long way, we still have a long way to go, but we should for the beginning of this blog concentrate on how far we have come in the time. It has gone so quick, in the blink of an eye but to think back to the pile of rocks our finca was feels like a different life time, its hard to remember our previous temporary yard and getting kicked of with 5 horses having to move to our finca before planned, held in by emergency electric fencing and pallets, walking around knee deep in building dust from where the digger man dug the paddocks from the rock, its almost impossible to remember our kind supporters turning up with their old bottles full of tap water to fill the horses baths before we had running water, having only 20 followers on facebook and Only a few dogs and a handful of cats running around! I
ts clear how much has changed in 2 years thanks to facebook followers, work away volunteers helping us build, donations and visitors. We now have running water, solar panels, 4 horse paddocks and a big stable block ( built only for permissions and licenses, more on this another time) 19 small animal enclosures, a yurt with stone wall built kitchen, a cave house, our office, cat quarantine, 1/2 finished volunteer area and various other little areas. But we still are not done... not even close!
So now we reach the question, where do we want to be this time next year?
Soon we will have finished the Yurt rental, we are currently doing the finishing touches such as laying tiles and kitchen units. We then just have to finish the barbecue area and plant plants in the wall. This will soon be ready and we will be looking for our first guests to come and try it out and give feedback.
The cave house too is even closer to being finished but is currently full of volunteers using the kitchen, here we have a little complication..... our volunteer area is also very nearly finished, we just need a roof, but we can not lay a roof until the cave house is signed off, we can not sign of the cave house until the horse paddocks are signed off, we can not sign off the horse paddocks until the official stable block has been signed off... after waiting patiently 2 years for planning permission, it is built and the day before lockdown started the architect was supposed to send off the complete project to the town hall, who need to sign it off, to send to the farm department and then to the head horse vet!!! Long story short, What craziness, All of which is now delayed longer because of lockdown, but we hope hope hope to have out paperwork sorted this time next year! That is the big wish and the biggest stepping stone in our entire project, the animals are the easy bit!
So do we have other plans? yes we certainly do, as we have built on every inch of our land barely leaving any rock untouched we hope to expand and buy neighbouring land. After being here for 2 years we see the demand for rescuing horses is huge and we need 2 more spaces, a big retirement paddock for older and chronically unwell horses that need a place to see out their days in peace with freedom to move. Horses are built to move many miles a day and many of their injuries and illnesses can be cured through correct movement or at the very least controlled. Due to lack of big spaces, although our spaces are far bigger than most places we have see on the island we still believe it is not enough and currently choose to exercise all of our horses to keep them well, this may be 15 minutes in hand walking a day, free schooling or light riding for the healthy ones (please note we do not do excursions, nor make any money from them). This is why we have plans to build a big track system around the outside of the land which helps to encourage horses to move as they are designed to keep them fit and healthy, this is particularly important here due to the lack of space generally offered to horses on the island and this will help lower the need of our horses who need human intervention to keep them mobile, this will not only free up our time but allow us to rescue more. It will also benefit the horses who do not enjoy human interaction and prefer to be left alone, with enough space to keep sane and well. We sure know that Shadow and Trufa would particularly benefit amongst others.
We are happy to do the work, this is our life, we love it and would not have it any other way. But we can only do what the public wants us to do, we have ran out of savings and we cant take any more loans until we are more established, so we can expand only as much as we are offered. When we start renting our yurt and cave house, all of this will go directly to expansion ( after vet bills) and we will get there but just maybe not fast enough. So if you can donate even a little to the expansion fund then great, but more importantly please share, share this blog, share our facebook page, share on groups, share on instagram, share anywhere you can until eventually someone will be in the situation to help us, maybe our plea will even find Willie Nelson or Kaley Couco (penny from big bag theory) both well known for their love and help to horse sanctuaries.
Below is a direct link to our go fund me growth project, you can share this directly, donate via that or directly to us through paypal; horseholidaysinfo@gmail.com or via this website on the . How to help page .
This will be not even close to what we will need to build the track system but it would go towards the land for big paddock until we have been established enough to borrow more money for the big project, so maybe this is a little ambitious and we may not be there next year, but we hope to be in the right direction with 1 more space for horses at least.
Thanks for your interest and following our story, If you click on the picture below you will follow a link to a article on the benefits of track systems/ paddock paradise
