Update 13th February. The winning name has now been drawn and the winner is

WINNIE!

Thank you so much to everyone who entered and helped us hit our target 💚💚💚

This beautiful horse arrived at The Retreat on Tuesday 1st February, after being seized by border authorities when it was discovered she was being used a decoy to traffic two girls into the country. She's only 2-3 years old, but has already been through so much. Read more of her story below.

We want to give her a new name to mark the start of her new life of safety.

Simply donate £2 (or a multiple of £2 for more than one name) and enter the name(s) in the "Your Message" box. The winning name will be drawn out of a digital hat on Sunday 13th February.

One entry of one name is £2. You can suggest as many names as you like by donating a multiple of £2 (e.g. if you want to enter 4 names, donate £8) or, to increase the chances of your name being chosen, you can donate more than £2 - e.g. if you donate £20 but only submit one name, that name will be entered 10 times and have a better chance of being selected when the name is chosen at random. 

This is a lovely opportunity to name one of our new residents, perhaps in memory of a loved human or animal, while helping us raise vital funds. Getting our girl all the vet treatment and general care she needs to get into the best condition possible won't be cheap, especially if she is pregnant, as is suspected.

Update 4th February: thank you everyone for helping us reach our initial target of £500! Target is being increased, and any money that isn't needed to cover her treatment will go towards the daily running costs of The Retreat, which are £800.

Her story
One of our volunteers works on the border at the port, which is where our girl came in to. She ended up being seized by the authorities when they inspected the horse box she was travelling in and discovered two girls hiding in the trailer, which had been specially adapted for people smuggling. It turns out the girls were being trafficked into the country, using the horse as cover.  

It's suspected that our girl had been made to make the crossing several times, and we have no way of knowing where she came from originally as her paperwork was fraudulent. Apparently it is common for smugglers to buy horses from slaughterhouses so they can get them for particularly cheap in order to be used as cover for their operation. She was in very poor condition on arrival, as the traffickers clearly didn't care about her welfare.  

The authorities have been paying for her care in livery since she arrived in the country in December, but now her papers are sorted, legal proceedings are over, and no-one has come forward claiming she's theirs, she has come to The Retreat to start the next chapter of her life. The people who have been caring for her the past 2 months suspect she is pregnant, but we are unable to afford a scan to confirm this right now. She's only a baby herself, so we hope she isn't pregnant, but we will give them both sanctuary for their whole lives if they need it. 

She is the sweetest and most loving girl, and has already taken to giving cuddles to our team, but she also has a very playful side when going out on walks. She also loves her hay and food, and is pretty much constantly munching away!