Compliments of the season to all! Hope you managed the Madness..
Started the month with a trip inland to fetch the old Lady Gladys. She was surrendered to us by her owner after the community brought her poor condition to our attention. Thank you to the community of Nieu Bethesda for collectively arranging her a safe place to stay until we could get there. Gladys is about 25 yrs of age. She is doing much better now and starting to pick up weight after Steven, Neighs and Nippers – Equine Dental Care, kindly floated her sharp, irregular teeth for her free of charge. Thank You Steven! We know it’s a long shot but if anyone out there willing to give her a kind and peaceful retirement home? She has great hooves and is actually pretty easy going, considering she only has one eye. Please contact us if you can offer her this as we will have to make a decision at some point with all the new kids coming in.
A concerned citizen from the garden route, insisting that a horse was busy dying. After both the SPCA and ourselves assessed the situation it was not nearly as critical as initially relayed. Yes the horse is old and yes the horse should NOT be ridden and fed separately but dying horse does not equal – walking , grazing , pooping , eating comfortably. Horse will be monitored.
Six horse’s and seven Donkey’s hooves trimmed.
One abandoned very lame horse was euthanased eventually after vets / SPCA/ Complainant could all coordinate timing. Well done to all involved.
A concerning complaint re beach riders behaving very badly. Please remember any riders on the beach need to be considerate around the normal beach goers.
Finally our Caltex was adopted by an early admirer who was initially denied but after the situation changed, turned out to work perfectly. Poor boy was with us for over a year, your day finally came boy. Enjoy X
A recheck on a few Thoroughbreds who are not doing great. I wish you needed a permit to own Thoroughbreds (Ex Race Horses). Let’s be honest, every horse owner thinks they know best, sorry guys but in this line of work I can say it’s primarily true. Tbs, because they have been bred to be athletes are prone to many more possible illness /damage once they have moved to their second careers/ homes. You need to have knowledge of how they ‘let down’ - the rest and rehabilitation period from a kept athlete (retired racehorse) to normal horse. These horses are highly sensitive to any change of their environment, they can develop life threatening conditions if their situation is not kept stable – Horses, particularly Ex racehorses thrive on consistency. In their location, In their companions, in their feed ingredients, in their feed times, in their exercise in EVERYTHING. That is the best way to care for your ex Racehorse BE CONSISTANT! If you are changing properties, feed, feed times , grazing companions every few weeks/months/days they are going to suffer a number of anxiety related illnesses. Please if your life is not stable and you insist on having horses let it be Cross breeds, they generally take a lot less intensive care to keep. And if you think buying and selling horses is a quick way to make money THINK AGAIN!! The vet/ feed /farrier bills will surpass your selling price way quicker than you think. Please DON’T buy, rather adopt. When money is made off animals / exploitation is inevitable. - Rant over
A recheck on more Tbs, owner is actually however listening to our advice. Thank you.
Then for our annual Wilbur Walk. The best one yet. We made a fantastic 22K from the days event. Thank you to GRASSROOF, Nicky and Princess, Thank you for all your hard work on the day. Thank you to Algoa FM and Carol Anne for promoting our walk on air and being our MC for the day. Thank you to all who bought a ticket and came on the day, It inspiring to see how many supporters Wilbur has ;). Also thank you to all the generous sponsors for awesome prizes. Hope to see you all again next year!
Our sweet old Ouma, the one who babysat the three mangy youngsters until we could collect them from Hankey, was given an early Christmas celebration. Watermelon for everyone and general spoils. Thank you Carli and the kind folk from Nieu Bethesda for organising and sponsoring the spoils. Ouma went to God soon after her Christmas, as with very few teeth left and a very tired body was ready to go to that home in Heaven. Thank you for your presence Ouma, you touched our lives and we were grateful to be able to give you the love and care we did in your final weeks. Rest easy now knowing how much you were loved. X And Thank you for taking care of the boys.
SEE PHOTO :Ouma enjoying her Christmas spoils. Gladys in the background was not keen :)
A young colt surrendered to us after previous ‘owner’ dumped him onto the kind but slightly naïve neighbour. Sweet boy will have to be gelded before he goes anywhere though.
Thanks to HOLLYWOODBETS and Teresa from Highveld Horse Care Unit, our very tired, overworked and dilapidated horsebox got the revamp of the CENTUARY!! Thank you to Genine Steyn all the way from Johannesburg for doing what three different contenders couldn’t /wouldn’t do here in PE. We are absolutely thrilled and know it is worth every cent. View our Facebook page for the details. Can’t wait to get her back in the new year after branding.
A recheck on 3tbs and 8 donkeys positive.
One very bad hoof situation tendered to after a bit of a struggle, regular trimming will ensure it doesn’t get out of hand again.
We moved four foster donkeys to their new home just in time for Christmas. Go well girls!
Another complaint regard thoroughbreds that are trying to be sold by a middle man who cannot even look after their own horses correctly. Monitoring closely
Jackson bought in his two cart donkeys for the silly season just before Christmas to prevent any unwanted shenanigans and to keep safe from all the fires popping up all over the place this time of year.
A complaint against trail rides, followed up. Yes not ideal, but good enough. Where animals are used for income….
Our three Mangy boys from Hankey are coming on well, weekly wash/treatments are becoming a lot easier thankfully, even though some of us staff members have managed to pick up ring worm yet again.. Anyone want to volunteer for washing? I didn’t think so ;) Eish the occupational hazards of welfare..
Two of our adopted out donkeys had their babies in their new home. One expected and one very unexpected Christmas baby. Congratulations to the proud parents of four now instead of two :)
A call out from one of our current cases that the horse was down again, a stallion that was kept entire for some reason. Please understand when you keep a stallion isolated near mares it creates a huge amount of stress on them and yes they lose weight and are more susceptible to chronic and autoimmune conditions. Please sterilise your animals, unused testicles cause a variety of medical issues related y their health. If they are in a herd where they can behave naturally fine, but confining them with inconsistent care causes massive problems. Vet called out to euthanase. Rest in Peace sweet boy :(
We completed 289 inspections/rechecks in 2025 A total of 967 horses and 444 donkeys were inspected/assisted. Unfortunately our rehoming numbers are down a bit from 2024 with only 17 horses rehomed and 35 donkeys.
Our big Boy Max, finally delivered to his foster home with two old friends. Go well Max, glad you have some space to move around again beautiful boy.
Another young filly surrendered to the Unit, admitted safe and sound.
Then the fires off Kragga Kama road. Panicked calls to move animals as fire and winds were raging. Carli and Selby left asap moving six donkeys and one horse to safety over the road where a kind resident offered a safe space. Terribly hot day. Thank you to all who assisted and to the kind Shelly Ward for taking them in. Community is key in unexpected disasters like fires. Thankfully the rains came that night and all were returned back home safely the next day. Shew.
Visited a colicing donkey who managed to pull through on one of our foster homes, Thanks to 9th Avenue for assisting.
A property check for one of our Tb’s went well. Foster mom knows what she’s getting into so we wish her luck. Should deliver her soon
Finally, our very large Oreo, had her baby girl safe and sound on the last day of the year. Oreo was Meadow’s best friend and after tragically losing Meadow earlier this year, we decided in honour of her best friend, we would name her baby Meadow too X and the cycle of life continues..
Till next time
Carla
GENEROUS DONATIONS RECEIVED DURING November FOR WHICH WE ARE MOST THANKFUL!
DONATION - 4 RGA Electrical – 15x grassmix bales
DONATION - Eva halters & flymasks
DONATION - Donation- Tack/ blankets- Kate Robson??
DONATION – 6 bales grassmix – Sara Wheco
DONATION – T7 Pet Supplies 4 bags of cubes
DONATION – Wolfgang old tack
DONATION – Lisa Theoderm – sweet itch shampoo(NBTSDA)
DONATION – Anon – old tack
DONATION – 11 saddles Jean
DONATION – 11 bags cubes from Murray from Lactech – Yay!!
DONATION – Oasis church 20 bales of teff Collected
DONATION – Mandy Watermelons
DONATION – Brett Kettle
DONATION – Feed bowls and water buckets – Rory
DONATION - Blankets and old tack
DONATION – SBGWE Donated R2300 for Christmas gift (Pony Rides from Sidiki and Christian Lee)
DONATION – Jean – Apples and Carrots and old tack
DONATION – AWS/ Anon GCX Max Joint supplement.
DONATION – 2 bales Lucerne Carli (NBTHSDA)
DONATION – In Memory of Pam Strauss R11 250. Rest In Peace Aunty Pam X
Please note we also have donators who put money into our account every month, even though we don’t mention your names and amounts, please know how grateful we are to you for it!
VOLUNTEER – Brett
VOLUNTEER – Uya
VOLUNTEERS – Sara
VOLUNTEER – Caydn
Banking Details: Eastern Cape Horse Care Unit: Standard Bank Current Account 080733875, Code 051001. Reference: Your name. Facebook: EAST CAPE HORSE CARE UNIT Contact numbers Office cellphone 072 357 2505 NO LANDLINE email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.