Northcote Horses - Winter 2010 Newsletter

Winter 2010

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Dear Reader
Hello to our supporters - new & old!
Well what an end to 2009 we had with all the snow! And then it carried on into 2010! Did not expect that one!! Well lovely as it was it did out stay its welcome it made our jobs a lot harder as all our water pipes froze and Christmas eve alone we estimated that between two of us we bucketed from the house 180 gallons of water... The snow i can handle and donʼt actually mind working in it, but the ice and the wet that comes with it is not so nice. We have now got extra repairs to do with buildings that have now sprung leaks due to the heavy snow laying on the roofs. All of which comes at an extra cost which we are struggling to find.
The horses mind you especially Harvey and Magnus were loving playing around the yard, rearing and jumping about ... with Lovell doing her best to join in their fun too.

Sandschool
Those that have visited in the last year or so will know of the sand surface that we use in the barn, well I think most of you will be pleased to hear that we have now managed to buy a new topping for it. It's a fiber that has been added and rotavated into the sand to give it more spring & to bind the sand together more which makes it less deep. We are very pleased with it so far, you can now walk across it and even wheelchairs can stay on top of the surface rather than through it. And it has enabled us to exercise the horse more in there too.
We also hope too that the outside area that we have the rubber on can have the drainage done at some point and if we could afford to raise enough money then we could add a topping to that also which would then give us an outside demonstration area that the horses would work very well on. Fingers crossed folks.

Hercules at the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre

Newark Tractor Show

I have recently passed my HGV test something I have wanted to do for a long time now and was very lucky to have had funding through my Vaulting Group, Bosun wonʼt fit into my smaller lorry so a HGV license was needed to enable us to attend demos and shows. Having my license means that we
can attend shows more and we were asked by Newark & Nottʼs Vintage Tractor Show Secretary if we would like to attend their Native & Rare Breed Exhibition, which we jumped at the chance to do. We took Mojo and Samson, and two of my Vaulters as we was allowed to do a static display of vaulting next to our stall, which turned out to be Samsonʼs first vaulting demo in the arena as we filled in for someone who did not
show up. Samson and my girls Megan and Georgie were fantastic I was so proud of them. Samson had only just been introduced to Vaulting and only carried the girls about 6 times before hand but as the show wanted a shire horse to attend it was him that went, and very proud of him we were. In fact both horses did a brilliant job and were a credit to the centre, and Mojo even made the secretary have tears in her eyes because he looked so good in his Medieval Outfit and face armor.
Charity Status

As our older supporters will know we tried becoming a Registered Charity several years ago, but at that time for various reasons was not meant to be.
Well, we are now in the process of doing this again. We have had our first meeting with the Boston Volunteers Bureau who have been explaining everything to us as there have been changes happening within the Charity commission, and we are now going through all the necessary process so all being well, we should have our Charity Status by the end of the year. We shall, of course, keep you updated with this exciting news.
Volunteers

We are still in need of some more help here at the centre, as well as the day to day care of the horses we also need help in the tea room and the shop. Margaret who a lot of you will know and remember has now had to retire from the help that she has given us over the years although she has said she will be about to offer a helping hand on event days so we shall be seeing her still which is good, but it has left us with needing someone on the days that we are open to run the shop, if anyone is able to help with this then please get in touch. We also need anyone to help with maintenance and general handy work too, if you think this would suit you again please get in touch we do want to improve facilities here but money of course is always a problem but we do have lots of things around the place that can be used for various things but we need the manpower or
woman.. to do them. Can you help?

Meet the New Arrivals to the Centre
Meet Hercules
We have two new arrivals at the centre the first one to arrive was Peanuts (more on him below) and then Hercules. Herc as he is known is a black shire and needed a home for a year whilst his owners recovered from illness, now this is something that we donʼt normally do, but Herc as we found out had done some civil war re-enactments so I thought he could be quite useful for our shows and for a novice rider to learn on. He is certainly doing just that, he is a lovely calm chap and i am sure once you meet him you will be mesmerized by him too.
Meet Peanuts
Peanuts is our new arrival, he is 2 years old and has been a cruelty case, he is a miniature Shetland pony and has deformed legs, but boy does he make his presence felt on the yard. He came to us from one of our good supporters and neighbours who first rescued him and brought him back to health, sadly he lost his companion which is why he
is now living with us.
Peanuts likes to play with Bosun our Percheron and is also now playing quite nicely with Duncan too, and he thinks itʼs great that he can fit into almost any nook and cranny! I am positive that Peanuts will have a pretty large fan club, and he is also available for adoption too.

EasyFundRaising
Easyfundraising is a free fundraising site that helps raise money for registered causes by shopping on line, it does not cost the purchaser anything all you have to do is shop via their site and for every purchase made those shops will donate a fixed percentage to the chosen cause of the purchaser. Maria Cuthbert one of our volunteers who is also Grahams daughter has registered the centre as her cause so now each time she shops on line via easyfundraising shopping with such shops like Amazon or HMV for example (there are over 2000 retailers to choose from) we receive money too. Its fantastic, to date Maria has raised approx.. £100 in donations for the centre. Well done Maria and thank you. Could you help in this way?
It would be great if other supporters could do this as well, as we know many people shop on line these days so this really is a great way of supporting us without any additional cost to yourself. For more information on how to do this please visit www.easyfundraising.org.uk

Sad news
It’s with great sadness that we tell you that Margaret’s dog Millie has died. Millie the Saint Bernard was not very old when it was found that she had bone cancer, and although Millie underwent an operation she died several weeks later after suffering a heart attack. She was loved and admired by everyone who knew her, in fact Margaret had a job going anywhere with Millie because it would take double or triple the amount of time to get anywhere because of the folk stopping them to say hello to Millie.
Keith and Ruth too have sadly lost Digby the Dalmation whilst back over here. Digby was a rescue dog who was full of life and who had certainly landed on his feet with Keith and Ruth.
R.I.P Digby and Millie.

A MESSAGE FROM KEITH & RUTH
We know many of our supporters thought we would never be able to take the big stride to retire but circumstances all pointed to the fact that we should do it at the beginning of 2008.
You may remember, I had an operation on my face. We lost the three big horses who had been part of our life every day for almost twenty years and then to cement the decision, I broke my Achilles tendon. It was not just all this, Ruth and I had felt that the time had well and truly come to encourage new ideas and the Centre needed a new face “at the helm”. We both felt that Terena had well finished her “training” as it were and could manage the task of running the centre. Indeed she has and with great credit. Lots of new ideas have been introduced and Terena has had huge support from husband Geoff who helps with the heavy work and son Kirk who runs the computer, website and eBay shop.
One of the most important decisions she had made is introducing haylage into the horse’s everyday diet. This is free of dust and spores which affect respiration particularly in older horses. Terena has also passed her HGV driving test which has had immediate benefit by allowing the centre to engage in an exhibition at the Newark Show-ground in November. Terena used the centres large “classic” horsebox. (another name for old and big) She managed to get it thorough its test and back on the road, took two horse and helpers and much to the credit of the centre put on several extra live displays to fill gaps where other exhibitors had not arrived. Regarding retirement; it’s great. Ruth and I live on the outskirts of a very small community near to Saumur in the Loire valley.
As you may remember, (and here I must push the religious bit as I truly feel that without heaven sent help we would never be here;) in 2003, Ruth and I were given the chance to buy a small house with a plain but largish garden, all needing much work but inexpensive. Ruth had her NHS retirement gratuity and I had a small life insurance about to mature. Well we did it and never regretted it. The dogs love it and our French neighbours are really marvelous. This year we have had our first ever (in 40 plus years of marriage) vegetable garden. The weather is kind and countryside delightful.
Every month we attend an English speaking church not far away and one of the first friends we made were the Baptist Minister from Lincoln and his wife, (Small world) who have a holiday home in the area south of us. Needless to say we keep in touch with Centre regularly and take great delight in Terena’s new plans and exciting news. Income was lower in 2009 but we all feel it is better to get as many visitors though the gates first so they can experience the special things that happen at Northcote.
Finally we both would like to thank all “Friends”, adopters and those who donate as and when they can. Your financial support throughout the year is the mainstay of the Centre’s financial income.
Best wishes to all,

Keith & Ruth