Blue Cross blog

Blue Cross is hoping to tackle the growing numbers of unwanted and  abandoned horses that desperately need our help with a new foster care scheme. We catch up with our first carer, Chrissy Bacon, to see how she’s finding it…

Chrissy Bacon found it heartbreaking to see her elderly horse on her own when her companion sadly died.

She wanted to give her some company and decided that she could do something worthwhile at the same time.

That’s when she got in touch with Blue Cross to ask whether she could be of any help to us.

The timing was perfect as we’d just launched our horse foster care scheme and were looking for volunteers to get involved.

While we’ve been successfully using the scheme with smaller pets for some years now, it’s the first time we’ve extended it to horses too.

Fostering can help more horses

As more and more horses become unwanted and abandoned demand for spaces at our centres is growing but we’ve only got limited space.

At the same time we had some horses at the centre who were happy and healthy but it was just taking a while to find them the right kind of home. 

Two such horses were Connor and Harry, who went to stay with Chrissy in Worcestershire.

She says: “I’ve got quite a bit of ground so I had room to take in more horses and thought that fostering for Blue Cross would be a nice way to help the charity. Connor and Harry are lovely horses and settled in really well.

 “Although the scheme was in its infancy, from my experience it has been introduced and managed extremely professionally.

“From the moment I met the fostering manager for my region, Carrie Lamb, and the team at Burford rehoming centre I was immediately made to feel welcome and treated as a member of the team.”

Chrissy is responsible for the day to day care of the horses that she fosters but we’re at the end of a phone to give advice if she needs it.

Fresh start for Connor 

After caring for Connor for two months he found a long-term home and has now left Chrissy to start his new life.

She says: “It’s worked so well that I am now planning to change my B&B business into self-catering to give me more time for fostering!

“My message to anybody considering becoming a foster carer is ‘do it’ and enjoy the privilege of working with a great team at Blue Cross and some wonderful horses who deserve a second chance.”

We need more people in central England to become horse foster carers for Blue Cross.

If you have the experience, facilities, time and commitment to help us, we’d love to hear from you. Please email fosteringcentralandwest@bluecross.org.uk