Susan Weeding
AS always, it’s been another roller-coaster week here at the Easy Horse Care Rescue Centre.
Amazingly, we’ve caused quite an international stir.
We have even more German farmers involved in supplying hay to us, after last issue’s horrible story about the devastation of forage crops in the Vega Baja after the gota fría.
We were left with just six weeks’ of feed, with nothing in sight until next summer, and 140 horses and donkeys facing a colic epidemic.
This is all come about by a chap that lives locally, part of the German Golf Society, who contacted a German farmer with his own transport company.
He’s going to transport hay all the way to Spain at a cheaper rate, charging only €3,200 per trip, which saves us about €200 euros.
This particular farmer is based in the east of Germany, where they have a lot more land to grow hay. He is also bringing a mega-lorry-full of his own hay, and that of the kind-hearted Norwegian who drove all over Europe to help us.
Also, our Norwegian superhero has been in touch with animal welfare associations, one of which has already donated €1,000 and an ultrasound machine, which will come in very handy here.
All these amazing things are happening because of people that we’ve never even met.
I do find it quite incredible that total strangers from other countries show such kindness and go out of their way to help us for nothing but the shared love of animals.
It really gives us strength, knowing that what we’re doing means so much to people out there.
On another note, I went to feed our three famous pigs, calling out their names – Rupert, who ran away from a despicable slaughterhouse and turned up at our farm without warning in June, was the first to come.
But Penelope, who ran into our farm from out of nowhere just weeks after Rupert, was missing..
Eventually I found her in her dark shed, and all I could see was a pig with two tiny little things crawling all over her.
As first, I thought, ‘Oh no, she‘s died and she’s got rats crawling over her’.
I put the light on, lo and behold, Penelope had just given birth to two tiny piglets!
Obviously, I called Rod and we just stood there gobsmacked. We really didn’t see that coming.
Unusually, she’s only given birth to two (they can have up to 12) so we’re counting our blessings!
It will be a tight squeeze when they grow up, but they’re all happy and healthy, and already running around.
The piglets can see now, so mum is bringing them out into the fresh air. After last issue’s hay famine disaster, at the moment everything is (dare I say it) seems okay as it possibly can be.
