Help Hold Fast to Dreams Sanctuary and Rescue Thrive
Hold Fast to Dreams Sanctuary and Rescue is at a critical crossroads, and we need your support to continue our mission of saving and caring for animals in need.
Over the past few months, we’ve made great strides, including the sale of the farm that secured a permanent home for our rescue. This rescue will be the forever home too our 100+ rescue animals (horses, donkeys, mules, hinnys, dogs, cats, chickens). However, as we build a strong foundation for the future, we’re facing significant financial challenges.
We are currently raising €20,000 to cover essential expenses and pay off pressing debts, including:
• Hay for our horses: €9000
• Small animal veterinary care: €3000
• Fencing materials: €7000
• Electricity bills: €5000
• Feed for our animals: €1200
Our sanctuary is home to numerous animals who rely on us for food, shelter, and care. But beyond caring for them, we also provide a place for volunteers to live and contribute to this mission. This time of year is an especially expensive to host so many volunteers due to the weather conditions and all of the electric heaters that run throughout most of the day. Additionally, without the funds to finish our fencing, our horses need to consume more hay than they would if we could let them graze more, which has added significantly to our costs.
We are determined to overcome these challenges, but we can’t do it alone. Your generosity will directly impact the lives of these animals and help us build a more sustainable future for the sanctuary.
Every donation, no matter how small, brings us closer to our goal and helps ensure we can continue providing care, love, and safety for the animals that call our sanctuary home.
Please consider donating today and sharing our fundraiser with your friends and family. Together, we can keep Hold Fast to Dreams Sanctuary and Rescue thriving.
Thank you for your kindness, compassion, and support.
THE PONIES YOU ARE HELPING US TO SEND:-
BOBCHO
LIL LUCY & BARCELONA II
STAR & PETERKIN
KALINKA & MALINKO
JIMENA
CAMPIGN STARTED ON 15-11-2024
LIFE – Lucy Irvine Foundation Europe (an animal rescue organisation in Bulgaria run by British expat Lucy Irvine*) has the unique opportunity to rehome 8 of its rescued horses to a super new home in Italy; a sanctuary where, according to their individual ages and abilities, they will either realise their full potential to become integral to the trekking centre based there, or be retired on site to live out their lives in peaceful security with all welfare issues covered for the rest of their lives.
A FANTASTICALLY LUCKY CHANCE BUT IF THIS IS TO HAPPEN, IT’S GOT TO HAPPEN NOW!
LIFE needs to get these deserving ponies to Italy by Christmas as this window of opportunity will close before 2025 is upon us, and right now the transporter is offering a ‘one-time special offer’ due to his professional relationship with the sanctuary and trekking centre. The centre, ‘The Travelling Menagerie Sanctuary and Rescue’ in Italy, is owned and managed by a long-time supporter of LIFE.
We need to cover every aspect of this move for each individual pony – it’s a significant investment but worth every penny, cent, nickel, and stotinki. Costs include:
Passports, microchips, vaccinations, blood tests, TRACES (movement) paperwork, health certificates, travel via equine transporter, and a short stay in quarantine stables.
This adds up to a total of £6300 / €7500. This is a cracking, never-to-be-repeated deal but needed as a matter of urgency, with an aim to collect at least half of this amount by the end of November 2024 and the balance shortly after.
Ultimately it will not only benefit each pony for its best long-term future but also free up financial obligations at LIFE where the daily struggle is real. Lucy herself admits that she is slowing down, health and age are becoming a factor and all the animals must have their futures considered: offers like this simply must not be passed by!
Each pony will be carefully selected and a short biography of each, including the circumstance of their rescue will be added here shortly, so please keep coming back to keep up to date!
THE PONIES SELECTED FROM LIFE TO TRAVEL TO ITALY
Bobcho
Bobcho first came to the attention of LIFE when he was seen as a very young stallion cutting himself on fencing separating him from mares. Enquiries led to a story of being harnessed and forced to run on hard roads, and with a feisty nature he broke his gypsy owner’s cart! They were reluctant to part with him despite his attitude, which manifested itself in a strong tendency to rear away from the men handling him and kick out in defence. Eventually he became ill with tick borne disease and at this point LIFE stepped in, bringing him to safety, curing him of the disease and teaching him that not all men are abusive. He remains at times apprehensive of men but has progressed to becoming a willing and safe partner for riding; he only lacks ridden experience due to being underworked. At about 10 years, he’s the oldest of the herd earmarked to travel to Italy, and his best friends are Lil Lucy and her gelding son who will travel with him.
Lil Lucy & Barcelona II
Lil Lucy was found as a young foal in a small, low pigsty, along with the resident pigs. She'd lost her mother and needed bottle feeding so LIFE took her on and hand reared her otherwise she wouldn’t have survived. Despite this poor start she grew into a fine young horse; sweet and calm with a very nice nature, and unflappable! She’s now 8 years old and has been ridden for short treks very successfully, and perfect to add to the trekking centre in Italy.
Barcelona II is her foal, now a 3 year old gelding and ready to start early non-ridden training. He already halter-broken, perfect to be groomed and have his hooves picked up, good to catch and well handled. He’s a super little unspoilt boy and very much the accepted son of Bobcho, making an inseparable family of three!
Star & Peterkin
Star (female) and Peterkin (gelded male) are a bonded couple, both 5 years old and absolutely ready for starting their training to become useful, happy trekking ponies.
Star was bought as a foal by a LIFE staff member to become his family’s own working horse. She wasn’t badly treated although often used to tangle herself on her tether. Unfortunately, due to the owner’s personal circumstances, he quickly made the decision to sell her, so LIFE took her on to prevent her from going to gypsies where she would have been harnessed and made to work at under a year old. She is a very sweet mare and had a good beginning. She has been well handled and introduced to working in harness.
Peterkin was rescued from an illegal foal meat facility, where he was found in a potentially lethal tangle of chains, wire and rope. He is a lovely, friendly character and quick to learn new skills, having put his poor early start behind him. He has come on magnificently at LIFE with an unflappable nature, and has been introduced to round pen activities from the ground as well as light harness work.
Kalinka & Malinko (aka the pigpen ponies!)
Kalinka & Malinko are another bonded pair, now 3 years old, who we wouldn’t dream of separating as they have relied on each other for survival and have an incredibly strong bond. They are from the rare Karakachan breed which, despite being small, are well known for being sturdy and hard-working. They were rescued together from a cramped, pitch dark shed where they'd been held from very early foalhood for the Christmas meat market. They had never seen daylight, they were extremely thin and riddled with parasites inside and out. Their bellies were extended by heavy worm burdens and they had lice and mange. They were nervous and dejected and Malinko was apt to lash out – simply a reaction from this awful situation to which they had been subjected.
Kalinka, female, is very friendly and calm, and will make a super child’s riding pony with very little training.
Malinko, male, is less trusting but no longer reactive. However, he remains more affected by his early life experiences, and due to a Wobblers-like condition, will never be put into work. However, he is invaluable as Kalinka’s companion, and with her by his side he can enjoy a happy, carefree existence as a sanctuary pony.
Jimena Two Socks
Jimena was another foal rescued at 6 months old from becoming a Christmas dinner. Almost immediately after coming to LIFE she was taken on as a foster at premises nearby with other equines, with the hope she would become a permanent resident as a riding horse. Although now 6 years old and very much loved, she never grew quite big enough for her foster mum (despite coming from a 17.1 hh / 175 cm dad. Her mum was a small working pony with a cart).
Jimena has been very kindly treated and doesn’t remember arriving as a shutdown foal, and is a well-adjusted and physically fit little girl. Despite daily handling with the basics, she has been left ‘green’ ready for a new owner to make the most of her – and now it’s time to realise her terrific potential as a trekking pony.
In her place, this foster home offers another of LIFE’s herd a home, meaning that the organisation will have at least 8 ponies relocated into premises away from LIFE headquarters forever.
THE PERMANENT HOME THAT AWAITS OUR PONIES IN ITALY
We want to show you the beautiful horse facility our ponies will be travelling to, where their every need will be catered for, forever! Set in over 50 acres, it includes 5 stables, 32 boxes, an arena, round pen, tack room, and everything in between!
Video - the Italian dream!
Background
Nicole DeBasio bought this working horse livery in Italy after an eclectic lifelong adventure which has included serving in the military, being employed as a race horse exerciser, and more lately being a nomad. Wandering throughout Europe with her cousin, she found herself rescuing animals wherever there was a need, drawn to the unloved, the abandoned and the sick. She called these altruistic adventures ‘The Travelling Menagerie’.
The moment she set eyes on the Italian horse base she knew in her heart that she had found the place to settle at last, somewhere she could call home, and in April 2023 she moved in with 45 dogs, 14 horses, 18 cats and a goat! Already those figures have grown (along with the number of staff and a good turnover of visiting volunteers) and every animal is a rescue except 10 livery horses and 10 of Nicole’s own horses. Now there are also chickens, more goats and some donkeys too!
The Travelling Menagerie is currently changing its name as it no longer fits the ambitions and purposes of a sanctuary that has stopped wandering, but instead fulfils more than Nicole could have ever wished for. So Hold Fast To Dreams Sanctuary and Rescue is born; a non-profit organisation with over 5000 followers already on Facebook alone.
For The Horses
Horses live out as a herd full time, with 24/7 access to hay, pasture and forest areas, and have stables they can come and go to freely. Automatic water feeders ensure fresh water whenever they want, whatever the time of year.
Each equine is individually assessed so that all needs and welfare issues are catered for. These include two feeds a day, six-weekly farrier and hoof trimming work, annual blood tests to monitor health, and regular parasite testing for prevention (and medication) as required. With a veterinary clinic only 5 kms distant, both non-urgent treatment and emergency cover are just a call away.
Horses employed in the trekking centre enjoy all the same benefits as the sanctuary ponies and work a maximum of seven months a year. As the client-base grows, so does the number of ridden equines, so that they are never overworked and enjoy a peaceful life between adventures! From December to March and in July / August they are turned away to live fulltime with the herd.
Young horses are handled and trained gently from the ground and are not backed before the age of five. And the aim will always be to retire horses before the age of 20 even if they are fit and healthy. In this way we can ensure that they all live their first and last years freely within their herd group and benefit from just being horses doing horsey things.
Hold Fast To Dreams is an amazing achievement, and as Nicole says, “We started as two cousins travelling Europe with our pets, and ended up embracing the mission to rescue.”
You can find out more about Nicole and her 'mission' on Facebook here, or on YouTube or Instagram.
More information about LucyIrvineFoundationEurope
The Lucy Irvine Foundation Europe, LIFE, works to relieve the suffering of horses, dogs and cats in rough ghetto areas in rural Bulgaria. We rescue, run vaccination and spay/neuter campaigns, rehabilitate, rehome and educate. Visit the LIFE page Facebook here or Lucy's own page Lucy Irvine where updates are made several times a day. To find out more about what we do and how you could be involved, please visit our website: Lucy Irvine Foundation Europe
*Lucy Irvine is best known as author of the best-seller Castaway, based on her extraordinary experiences on a remote tropical island. The book was made into the film Castaway in 1986 directed by Nicholas Roeg and starring Oliver Reed and Amanda Donohoe. Now in her sixties, after a tumultuous career, she’s settled down to work she loves: helping animals in need, in rural Bulgaria.
Bringing Liam Home
** this fundraiser is to urgently raise money to bring Liam to Italy, and save him from being euthanized!
We absolutely by no means want to have to go the route of Liam being euthanized, and this is why we are in this position and starting this fundraiser! Please read below to understand more, and thank you so much for your donation and for sharing!!
The Travelling Menagerie is an animal sanctuary based on a farm in Italy which provides life-long refuge for animals that need a second chance at life.
This will possibly be a surprise to many, but our very first rescue pony, Liam, is still located in England where he’s been lovingly cared for by an amazing friend of mine over the last six years… this is his story:
I purchased Liam on 11 Dec 2016. He was sold to me as a six-year-old, riding away, ready for finishing, sales prospect. I bought him intending to teach him to jump and sell him on to a nice kid looking for a cute Pony Club pony.
Liam came off the trailer alert, a little wary, but under control and no more or less edgy then any horse in a new place. He had two halters and two leads on, which I noted without giving it much thought. When his handlers put him in his new stall, they started to tie him up. I instructed them to take his halters and leads off so he could settle in his stall for a while. I was slightly taken aback by his size (he was supposed to be 15.1 hh, and the pony examining the stall in front of me would be lucky to top 14 hh). But otherwise he looked healthy and as described.
I gave Liam a day or two to settle in. He was more nervous then I anticipated based on his seller's description. He was reluctant to approach the front of the stall, and wanted nothing to do with any human interaction. On his third day, I decided it was time to officially meet my new pony. I walked in to the stall, arm outstretched, talking softly. He huddled in a corner, eyes wide, muscles tense, skin twitchy. I was paying less attention to his clear signs of distress, and more attention to getting close enough to touch him. The minute my hand brushed his side, he kicked out with both hind legs, sending me flying across the stall with a hip injury that would take months to heal.
I scurried out of the stall and contacted the seller. This was not the pony I purchased. He was feral, terrified, and clearly not "ready for finishing." How could I resell a pony that kicked just at the thought of being touched. The seller offered to take him back, without refunding my money, resell him, and then "give me the profit" she received. She also claimed that he was "nothing like that" when she knew him, and that the move must have "blown his mind."
I was torn. I didn't have the time or inclination to work with a troubled pony at that time. The yard owners and other liveries advised me to destroy him; he was clearly damaged and would never be “useful.” In my heart, I knew that returning him to the seller would only result in him in some other sucker's hands, one who may be considerably less experienced than I am with horses, and real danger could result for both Liam and any potential new buyer.
I considered my options for a week, before ultimately deciding that someone owed Liam. Whatever had happened to him in his past, it was at human hands, and he deserved a life where he was safe, loved, and understood. So I kept him.
It's been nearly eight years since I nicknamed this adorable little palomino Looney Liam (after Looney Lovegood of Harry Potter, which I read to him, for hours during those first weeks of trying to gain his trust). We’ve learned a bit about his past and know he was used for road racing in his younger days. He is covered in scars from being beaten with barbed whips for years, it was sickening the first time we clipped him and we could see the full extent of the damage. His tail was also broken in a bad driving accident at some point, and not reset to heal properly. Early on, we had a wonderful natural liberty trainer work with him for nearly a year to see if he would ever want to be a riding pony, but Liam firmly said no, and we listened. Since we’d also learned by that time that he was at least 16 years old (not six as he was sold to me), we didn’t push, he’s just been retired living the best, most expensive lawn ornament life ever since! Someone, somewhere, did a number on this pony, and despite his genuine desire to interact, he clearly continues to fight an inner battle that he often doesn’t win.
When we decided to move all my horses from England to Bulgaria five years ago, it was decided that Liam would not cope well with the long distance travel. He was happy where he was, he’d bonded with my friend, and she generously offered to keep him on her yard as long as I continued to cover his upkeep. So that’s what we’ve done for many years. But now, my friend is moving into other stages of life, and it’s time to bring Liam home. Over the years under her care, he has softened a lot and now loves a scratch and treats and some brushing… he’s fine to lead and tie and he doesn’t mind walking into a trailer. We believe he will handle the transport fine, especially since the trip is so much shorter to Italy. And since we are permanently settled, we know he only has to do this one time and then he’s home for good!
The cost to bring Liam home is a bit over our means right now, since we haven’t had a lot of time to plan. The quote is €3500. He needs to be moved by mid-November. We’d really appreciate any help we can get to bring this very special pony finally home to us!
You can see some of Liam’s early days on his FB page: https://www.facebook.com/share/r3woqiHb4Hf1ywDR/?mibextid=LQQJ4d
As always, any funds raised beyond what’s needed for moving these horses will go towards their regular care and upkeep. We’ve got outstanding debts that we would love to pay off in full this holiday season, along with this fundraiser to bring 9 horses home to us before Christmas. If you would like to have your donation go towards a specific cause, please do specify in the notes and we will be happy to share exactly how your gift was used!
Current bills we’d like to pay:
Hay: €7000
Small Animal Vet: €2000
Large Animal Vet: €1000
Fencing materials: €5000
Electric works: €5000