Redwings Horse Sanctuary is a registered charity that provides a home for rescued horse

Horse

The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...

s, based in Norfolk

Norfolk

Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

Aims

According to RHS, their "primary purpose is to provide and promote the welfare, protection and care of horses, ponies, donkey

Donkey

The donkey or ass, Equus africanus asinus, is a domesticated member of the Equidae or horse family. The wild ancestor of the donkey is the African Wild Ass, E...

s, and mule

Mule

A mule is the offspring of a male donkey and a female horse. Horses and donkeys are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes. Of the two F1 hybrids between these two species, a mule is easier to obtain than a hinny...

s that have suffered from maltreatment, neglect or poor circumstance. Our work has three main themes – rescue and rehabilitation, specialist sanctuary care and prevention through education".

History

Redwings was founded in 1984 by Wendy Valentine who left to form Hillside Animal Sanctuary

Hillside Animal Sanctuary

Hillside Animal Sanctuary, based in Frettenham, Norwich, is the United Kingdom's largest home for animals removed from their owners by the direct action of animal rights activists. The vegan-run sanctuary is staffed by volunteers and funded entirely on public donations...

 in 1995. Redwings is now the largest horse charity in the UK. Redwings provides a safe home for rescued horses, ponies, donkeys and mules who have been neglected and ill-treated, such as those rescued from Spindles Farm

Spindles Farm

Spindles Farm was a farm in Hyde Heath, near Amersham, Buckinghamshire, England, run by horse dealer James Gray . It was the location of a significant animal cruelty case in 2008 where dozens of horses were neglected, some being left to starve to death...

, the largest case of equine animal cruelty ever seen in the UK.

Today

In October 2005 Redwings merged with the Ada Cole Memorial Stables in Essex

Essex

Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...

 and have visitor centres in Norfolk, Essex and Warwickshire

Warwickshire

Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...

. In the year ended 31 March 2007 it had income of £9.1 million and expenditure of £7.38 million.