IHP... On The Move!
Italian Horse Protection' New Home


Miracles do happen… at least in unexpected surprises.
It’s amazing how one day you might be sat in your office pondering how to take your organisation forward to the the next tricky step it needs to take and then the phone rings.
Nothing unusual about that, but you worry it’s that call which triggers your anxiety when you hear the landlord demand, “when are you leaving”.
You’ve long since realised your rental contract is over and you have no place to go, because you have grown so big that you question, “who will or can accommodate us?”
Your sights are now set on a level you have never been at before, but you have limited funds, and then…
Your organisation receives a very fortunate phone call to say that the Italian Horse Protection Association has itself a new home.


Article written by Jonathan Fleming.


Back in November 2017, Charity Needs released an article about the serious dilemma that IHP were soon to face with having to leave the rented premises their horses and rescue center was situated on.
We are glad to report now that disaster has been averted and the horses will have a new home containing some 600 acres of land.

IHP are now able to consider future plans to include a huge new Rescue Centre amongst many other projects.

This will enable Italian Horse Protection to increase the Association’s initiatives for horse welfare.
The biggest challenge is to prepare the buildings and the fencing of the huge pastures, and to move the Rescue Centre’s 66 equine guests there – no small undertaking, and one for which IHP is launching a fundraising campaign under the name of Buonacausa.org.

A few weeks prior to this report, Sonny Richichi, President and founder of IHP, received the call of his life: an offer to take the association to a new home, a magnificent place recently acquired by Janine and Leonardo Musso, IHP supporters from its very beginnings.

Antico Borgo di Tignano is a property complex dating back to 1600, situated between Volterra and San Gimignano, and about 40 KM from the current IHP location. It comprises a holiday hospitality centre with a Tuscan restaurant and wellbeing facilities; next door to this is a working farm which in the past was also a stud farm, with first-class facilities and over 600 acres of land, mostly favourable for pastureland and for hay, with some sparsely wooded areas that are accessible to the horses. These new premises will host the Rescue Centre, its staff and offices, and include a large conference room, which can also be used for seminars and courses. This, for the Association, is a dream come true, a gleaming reward for so much struggle and hardship, opening the way to fully realising old projects, and embracing new ones.
“We will never be able to fully express the extent of our gratitude to Janine and Leonardo Musso for their generous offer”, Sonny expressed.

IHP’ work covers the whole of Italian territory for the welfare of horses and other equids, combating abuse and mistreatment, along with working for a change in the laws of the country and its cultural outlook. Such changes would bring about a formal recognition of rights for equids.
IHP also rescues and rehabilitates mistreated equines, including those legally seized.

Sonny affirmed that, “The grounds and the facilities are ideal for the Centre’s exigencies, taking into consideration that we currently host 66 equids presenting various different needs: for example we have a considerable number of senior horses, some well over 30, two blind horses, and quite a few with chronic pathologies requiring very specific care and medication. Not least, we will at last no longer have the millstone of rent around our necks, a financial burden which weighed heavy and drained vital resources away from our many welfare and education projects.”

Every medal has its reverse side: the move will be a very complex operation, with substantial financial costs for the fencing of the paddocks, and the transportation of the animals. So we have set up a fundraising platform entitled Buonacausa.org “Trasloco di IHP e dei cavalli del Centro di recupero”: a donation of €10 will buy two solid chestnut-wood poles for the fencing; €25 will buy five chestnut-wood rails; €50 will provide two rubber mats for the infirmary; €100 will transport two horses to the new Centre. IHP is also now taking commitments from voluntary workers to build fences and shelters, help with the horse transport, acquisition of various construction materials, and the clearing and setting up of the new fields and facilities – anyone interested should contact IHP via e-mail at ihp@horseprotection.it or by phoning either of these numbers: 0571 677082 – 327 9041393.

Volunteers will be able to stay on site and enjoy the most beautiful surrounding that our own trustee Hazel Arnold has already experienced, as noted in the first article we did on IHP.
You can find that article by Googling Neglect of Italian Horses or use this link: http://charityneeds.com/feature/horseprotection.it/neglect-of-italian-horses/
These horses will now have the chance to run wild and roam free in acres and acres of land.
Picture by: horseprotection.it



This is a CNF Feature Article

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Head/Cover picture by: Head image by: horseprotection.it
Head/Cover image description: The new home of IHP looking over acres of rolling hills in the Tuscan valley
Article written by Jonathan Fleming
Released 6th December 2018 at 07:00.
Article Length: Words count is 844 from 5007 characters
Modified — Never

Credits from CNF:

  • @Sonny Richichi:
    Sonny, thank you for keeping us up to date on your progresses, please contine to do so. We always want to know how you are doing so that we can help if needs be
  • @Italian Horse Protection: Keep up the good work guys, congratulations.

Footnotes:

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