13/05/2026
Hi everyone,
It's devastating for us that it has come to this point but after three years of trying to sell our property and two years trying to keep our rescue and personal horses safe we have to face the reality that we can no longer afford to keep them.
Both my partner Charlie and I now live in the UK and work full time jobs plus overtime just to pay rent and afford the horse care of our 3 personal horses and 5 rescue horses and mules, but with costs continuing to rise and having just lost out on two buyers for our property due to slow communication from our agent, it is unrealistic to continue.
So, we are fundraising as a last ditch effort (links in comments), and I am also offering digital pet art commissions (I do not use AI in my artwork, but do use a drawing tablet), in order to try to keep the rescues.
(Fees are EUR50 for a single portrait, EUR75 for a full body, plus EUR20 for each additional animal. These are emailed to you in high resolution to print at home or can be printed, framed and posted if you are in the UK for an additional cost).
We are, however, also open to the option of temporary loan homes (as companions only) or rehoming if the right conditions are met - the most important thing to us is their well being.
Keep reading for the full story...
We moved to Portugal at the end of 2020 with the hopes of building our future here and living on our land with our two horses brought from the UK - I had big plans for a riding centre to help people and their horses gain confidence and so we bought two more riding horses in that time and started giving lessons to locals and also taking people out for trail rides.
We took on two horses from Algarve Horse Alarm, an individual rescue and then later also two mules.
During this time my partner reopened the local cafe that had closed during covid, which did well enough in the beginning to cover the cafe rent, restock what was sold, pay one member of staff and also cover our food shop and bills.
Unfortunately another bar began putting on events on the same night as ours and we couldn't complete with such a big establishment. During this time the hay costs also rapidly increased due to the drought and we were struggling to make ends meet.
Sadly Charlie had to make the decision to give up the cafe and move back to the UK for work whilst we waited for our house to sell.
Almost 3 years later and it still hasn't sold.
During this time I have also moved back to the UK with our 3 dogs. We have kept all 8 horses (was 9 but one was sold in 2024) in livery in Portugal and we have desperately been trying to hold on to them until we can bring them home to us in the UK.
Even if you can't help in any other way, please share our links far and wide.
And if you got this far, thank you for reading, and please remember that this is a heartbreaking decision for us that we have not taken lightly x
Our fundraising links are here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/apple-creek-rescue-horses
and here: https://www.harrisart.co.uk/rescue-horses
For more info on our property please click here: https://www.uathome.pt/en-gb/properties?mun=114&parish=1642 Any questions must go through our agent.
