We were nearly there

We were so close to achieving our goal…. 

We were offered a piece of land to start our center! First, we got two lovely miniature ponies, then spent all summer planning, building fences for the animals and obstacle courses for the children. We finally got bigger ponies for the children to ride on and arranged for a baby alpaca to arrive. Two weeks later - circumstances changed and we had to vacate the land! 

We were absolutely devastated! We felt terrible because we had to move all our animals to private stables and pay huge fees for them. Thankfully, we had a sponsor that covered that cost. We felt even worse because nobody could visit our animals there. The private owner, like all the other stable owners we contacted, would not allow people to come see our ponies. We felt we were defeated and we were about to give up.

But we did not give up and kept on looking for a place for our ponies! Luckily 2 months before the covid pandemic we were offered a piece of land by Fingal County Council. We still cannot invite people over, as it is a grazing arrangement only, but at least our costs are a fraction of what we paid privately. We were truly fortunate to get this land, as the sponsor for our horses went out of business due to the pandemic.

Our struggles are far from over

The land that we have is for 11 months only, until the beginning of December 2025. We will have to find somewhere to keep our ponies during December, while we reapply  to Fingal County Council again for land in 2026. There is no guarantee that we will get the land back in January, that is how things work with conacre. After all we have been through, we realize that we need our own place, so we are no longer under a constant threat of our animals being homeless!