As families and friends sit down to their Christmas feast on Christmas Day and pile on the leftovers on Boxing Day, we're asking people everywhere to consider our rescued animals.

Sue Burton, Founder, commented: Every year we see hundreds of horses and ponies die during the winter months through starvation. This continues to be a huge crisis in the UK. We try and rescue as many animals as we possibly can, but this comes at a substantial cost.

Remus Horse Sanctuary will not euthanise by age alone and, as our rescued animals get older, the medical bills increase, and they require more time, care, special food, and heat to keep them warm over the winter months.

The news regularly features horses that are victims of physical and mental abuse and we continue to receive calls daily throughout the year. However, the cold winter months will make any situation worse and the animals at Remus need your help.

Keeping an animal fed over winter will give it a chance to thrive into spring - forage also helps keep horses and ponies warm. Without the Sanctuary's help, many animals would die a slow, painful and unnecessary death in the unrelenting cold weather.

Sue added: Were launching the new winter feed appeal to raise £2,500 to help feed not only the animals in our care at the farm, but also to help aid more rescue operations.