Last Updated on Tuesday, 06 July 2010 18:37

Northcote Horse Sanctuary & Educational Visitor Centre.

The Northcote Centre was the idea of Keith Sanders and his wife Ruth in 1988, following a long standing family hobby and the chance to have our old friend Ebony back after his working life at Young's Brewery in London, (Ebony was owned by our family from the age of 3 years until the age of 7) This is what stimulated the idea of creating the Centre which then opened in July 1989.

Faith plays a major part in our life here in Rural Lincolnshire. Without faith and help and guidance from our Creator we could not have survived the bad times in the mid 1990's and the "Foot & Mouth" epidemic of 2001. We only have the money we can earn by our own merit and the help we receive from our supporters and "friends".

The care problems of these beautiful large shire horses and associated medical and other problems can be a constant worry. Development of the centre has changed direction from its simple humble beginnings, due mainly to the demand of our family to create a "haven of rest and tranquillity" for visitors and horses alike. Visitors and helpers find themselves strongly influenced by the close contact with these large impressive, intelligent and calming animals.

One of the highlights of our life was in 1993 when Keith was nominated by his peers for inclusion in the Miller Reference Guide, "Best of British Men". This was for his work in bringing horses and people together and improving the understanding and enjoyment of heavy working horses.

Today the Centre is a non-profit making organisation run entirely by voluntary helpers with the intention of continuing the work already established at the Northcote Centre. Providing a caring home with all the facilities for our much-loved horses with their own particular needs. We earnestly believe that these horses who have given their all in their working lives should be allowed to enjoy the remainder of their lives in a happy and caring environment where they can contribute to the happiness of others.

Over the last 17 years we have positively established the fact that these horses love to work. They benefit by being needed and working within their individual capabilities, they have an increased sense of well being. The Northcote Centre also caters for horses that are disabled but are still able to enjoy a good quality of life with love and care.

The Northcote Centre is run by a manager and a deputy manager, both are unpaid and they take care of the day-to-day duties with the assistance of a volunteer crew. Many of these volunteers travel many miles each year and give up their annual holidays to work at Northcote. Funding towards our annual operating costs is made up mainly from receipts from visitors, donations from friends, fund raising activates and income from special events.

Latest News (March 2007) It's always a difficult time finding the pennies at this time of year! The Easter opening of a new season is a critical time for an animal sanctuary. Take Sammy, our oldest horse for example; he is on Prednisalone tablets to help him breathe better. Viewers may know about Pednisalone, it is used by people for all kinds of ailments, but not in the large quantities Sammy the Shire horse gets through. If people need Prednisalone they normally would have 1 to 4 tablets daily. Sammy has 50 every day! He is a big chap and is just one of our older residents. In fact we spoke to the local hospital pharmacy unit last year about the quantities of Prednisalone we get through and discovered that the centre uses more per week than the average hospital! So we hope that Easter and the rest of summer is a shot in the arm for us financially, an injection of much needed cash.

Chandlersford.org.uk is happy to bring you this article from the Northcote Centre.