Welcome To Hopton Rehab Homing

Welcome to HRH

Welcome To Hopton Rehab Homing and Thank you for visiting our website. This is the start of a new era for Hopton Rehab & Homing Centre. We’re so thrilled that you’ve chosen to follow our journey. Many of you have chosen to help us fundraise for the care of these and many more horses & ponies!

The Beginning

Our mission started as a small private concern. We have a continuous stream of horses & ponies coming to us. We applied for and received UK charity status in July 2017 and we haven’t stopped since.

Your New Friend

It’s hoped you like and enjoy our website and that you might even find your new BFF! If you don’t see what you’re looking for now, please keep checking. We have a steady influx of gorgeous horses & ponies.

Donations

Everything we do for horses & ponies in our care comes at a cost! We don’t take salaries, but everything else requires £££s. PLEASE DONATE if you can. It can be a small one off amount, a monthly direct debit. You can find other ways to donate in our ”Get Involved” section of the website.

Don’t forget to share our social media pages – we need all the support we can get!

Thank you so much for your continued support, we welcome any feedback!

PLEASE NOTE!!

We want to try to explain the situation the charity is in at this current time and our reasons for the decision to actually ask people to cease applying for horses / ponies at this moment in time, unless you want a companion only.

This year we have been asked to take in very few horses, this in itself is fantastic but it means that we rarely have anything new in for you to view.

We still have high numbers at the centre but the ones we have are mostly ones that have been with us for some time that need some extra work / experience before they are ready to go to new homes. This then means that we can only have 8 riding horses in work at any one time and each horse is restricted to being viewed by a maximum of 3 people, preferably 2.

It is an understatement to say that this is a frustratingly slow process for us as much as it is for rehomers. Our aim is,and always has been, to get the horses out into their forever homes as quickly as possible.

Alongside this we have had an unprecedented number of applications, the interest and support is amazing. At this point we have to send a huge apology to people who have sent in applications and expressed interest but have not yet had a response. The quantity of applications is overwhelming and we quite simply do not have the manpower to respond.

For those that have applied we are slowly, oh so slowly, working though and you will be contacted in due course. This is not how we like to work, we used to pride ourselves in responding within 48 hrs but with over 2,000 applications via website, message, Facebook, answerphone the volume has completely swamped us.

At the centre we are busier than ever working on the horses that have been waiting for our time, catching up with post lock down yard visits and crazily thinking outside of the box fund raising for our winter hay. If you are someone who has sent in an application and haven’t heard from us by the end of September, can we ask that you re contact us and let us know that you are still interested.

We will announce as soon as possible when we can open applications again. We do still have 8 companions of different shapes, sizes, needs that we can continue to take applications for but can you call on 07989 602 773 in the first instance to discuss.

Again, SINCERE APOLOGIES to those that have applied and not yet had a response.

Covid-19 (Coronavirus) Update

It’s a while since we have updated you all on our approach to this current situation.

How it’s affecting us at this time:

40 horses are still awaiting rehoming. Of these 6 are taking advantage of the very kind offers of free local grazing. 5 are still out on foster at their winter homes.

This has been a tremendous help and we are so grateful to these people for helping us out.

The remaining 29 are cared for across our 3 sites by our two amazing staff members working alternate days.

With the continuing support of our landowners doing all they can to help. We have reduced our outgoings to an absolute minimum. Shoes are off and all are turned away to enjoy this lovely sunny spring sunshine. The rain this morning is very welcome to assist our fields to grow some much needed grass. Our fields were completely hammered through the most ridiculously wet winter. Whilst it grows, all, except the one laminitic, are having ad lib hay. Despite these reductions the costs still remain for basic care. Hooves still grow, worms still multiply, ailments still need attention.

Lotions and potions for the sweet itch ponies, we still need insurance and need to keep the lorry running. We still need to supply the hay, pay the staff wages and live in fear of vet visit needs.

Your Support:

The Charity is so, so grateful for your ongoing support and donations. This has enabled us to plod through these last couple months. As a group of trustees we will get our little precious charity through these difficult times. With the help you are all bestowing upon us, we are extremely grateful. We are trying to think up exciting and fun ways to fundraise. Our next event will be a virtual quiz coming very soon on May 7th. We are also looking to register to be a named charity for dontsendmeacard.com in the next day or two.

Obviously grants are earmarked for human charities and rightly so. We are in a tricky situation as the horses are with us. They can’t go anywhere, and still need their basic needs met. We are looking to start enabling rehoming of companions and beginning raising interest in potential homes for the riding horses.

Our Role:

This part of our role, and indeed the main focus of what we do, will take a good while longer. We will get them back into work and be able to access local facilities before they can be trialed. We will bring into work first those that have the most expression of interest in them. Obviously we can’t do them all at once. We will also make a start on finally bringing those backed last year back into work. A decision will be made on this resumption when we get the guidance at the next lockdown review. This will be In a couple of weeks a discussion between the trustees and staff together.

Overview:

We appreciate there are different thoughts on this as to whether people should be riding / not riding. Our decision will be based on the safety requirements of our staff, as to a start date. We will need to have them both at work together again. We have always tried to steer away from continually asking our supporters for money. It’s appreciated at this time people are having their own financial considerations in these changing times. As I say you have all been amazing. On behalf of the charity we want to send you a great big THANK YOU.

We also have to send a huge thank you to the Peter O’Sullevan Trust. They provided a follow up donation of £2k to further assist us with our ongoing costs. This was a lifeline we couldn’t have done without. #Staysafe.