Champ

Champ - The Wild Herd (retirement livery)

Champ is a beautiful dun Connemara gelding. He is 18 this year - his birthday is 10th June 2006. Champ is one of our lovely retirement liveries who moved to Springwood Sanctuary in October 2023 from Surrey with his bonded buddy Nemo. It is our honour to give this gentle, wise and huge hearted horse a forever home here with freedom to roam and to thrive with his now bonded herd. Clare is his human guardian. We are very grateful to her and Jonathan for all their support of the horses at Springwood.

Champ’s story (in Clare’s words):

"Champ came to live at Springwood with his friend, Nemo, in October 2023 The two of them are retirement liveries. Champ and Nemo joined the Wild herd together after a few days of being introduced across the fence. Initially they stuck together but gradually they felt safe enough to explore new friendships and relationships. Now they are an integral part of the ‘Wildies’. Champ has always felt the need to be the ‘carer’ of Nemo, who can be a little needy at times. It has been lovely to see him able to release some of the responsibility to care for his friend as Nemo has made new friends and released some of his anxiety and found the support of other herd members.

Champ was born on the Connemara hills and came over from Ireland having already been a riding and competition pony but terrified of people. He had a few homes in England before he came to me in 2013 as a seemingly happy and calm horse. I like to think that Champ recognised me as somebody who would listen to him, and it wasn’t long before he began to reveal to me some of the fears (human caused) that he had hidden so deep inside himself. I made a promise to him that I would always listen and that he would always have as much choice in his life as I could possibly provide. It has been a long journey for me but Champ has shown me a better way to be around horses and how to love them for who they are rather than what they can do. People think I am barmy for not riding them anymore and taking them for walks but I hope that Champ would agree that I have done my very best to keep my promise to him.

Champ is a kind, gentle, sensitive soul. He lived together with Nemo in a 2.5 acre field with a shelter and plenty of forage for 10 years. He always allowed Nemo to be in charge and he took on the role of caring for Nemo when his anxieties and insecurities got the better of him. In the larger Wildie herd, Champ is actually quite an assertive member and doesn’t stick to the sidelines. He interacts with all of the other herd members but he is particularly close to Bonnie and, of course, Nemo.

Champ, Nemo and Bonnie can often be found hanging out together and Skye often joins them too. Champ also likes to play ‘boyish’ games with some of the geldings in his herd.

With humans, Champ remains gentle and amiable and he and I have shared some wonderful special connected moments together where I can feel how grateful he is that we have been able to help Nemo release some of his anxiety so that he feels that he can be released from some of his carer duties. He fully embraces life at Springwood with no demands being put upon him.

For me, some might say that I provided them with an ideal life on their 2.5acres.and yes, it was better than most horses have. I found that it was quite a challenge to be able to care for horses in a species appropriate manner. However much exercise I could give them (we walked out foraging for a couple of hours each day) it was never enough. They were still bored for 22 hours a day, it was still just a square patch of land with very little to interest and occupy them. They also struggled to keep their weight down as they weren’t really exercising enough whereas I was exercising too much! I was doing my very best and working extremely hard but it was never enough and I always wanted more for them.

I am extremely committed to my horses’ welfare and I found it really frustrating that I seemed to be the only person in Surrey who actually considered what the horse would want rather than what I wanted.

I would like to quote from Stormy May’s new book- A Better World for Horses and humans.

‘Every horse will have their final day. Will we look back at how we treated them and feel clear in our hearts that we truly did what was best for them? Did we get a chance to really know and love them for who they were?’

This sums up exactly how I feel about my boys living at Springwood. It broke my heart to let them move 230 miles away from me and to hand over the day to day care of them to Jacqui but I did so knowing that the life that they can have at Springwood is far far more species appropriate and happy and healthy for them than anything that I could ever provide on 2.5 acres in suburbia.

I have known Jacqui for around 10 years. She initially came to see us to help me and Nemo to release some of his anxiety. She is extremely tuned into the feelings and emotions of animals and Nemo and I learned new skills to help him, using mindfulness techniques. I was then able to carry on helping Champ and Nemo with my own mindfulness, red light therapy and other holistic therapies.

My hips got bad and I faced surgery. It was then that I turned to Jacqui and asked whether she had room to take my boys as retirement liveries. Thankfully she said yes and the rest is history as they say.

I miss my boys every day and, now that my hips are fixed, I would love to have them living near me again. However, I gave them my word, when I became their legal guardian, that I would care for them for the rest of their lives. I am fully committed to that but it hasn’t turned out quite the way that I expected. It turns out that they needed more than a suburban life. They needed to have a fulfilling, happy, healthy existence with many friends of their own species, much to explore, much to eat and plenty of shelter. My job has been , and continues to be, to facilitate that by ensuring that their costs are always met.

Jonathan and I visit them regularly and we are grateful to able to be a big part of the Springwood family. I can also bring my own skills- red light therapy, reiki, essential oils and just general intuitive knowledge of horses and can give treatments to Champ and Nemo and to other horses at the sanctuary as required. In fact, I have had some really beautiful connected moments with my boys since they have lived at Springwood and they have communicated their gratitude to me for enabling them to have the lives that they deserve.

Springwood is an amazing place. The beautiful peaceful sanctuary that Jacqui and David have created is so special."