PICTURES: East Sussex horse sanctuary could finally have its happy ending

Little Bramley Horse Sanctuary was set up in 2005 by Pat Evans and Zoe McQuade. It’s always been a self-funded project and takes in horses that have nowhere else to go.

They used to be based in Polegate but in July 2021 they were evicted from rented land. Since then they’ve been looking for a long-term home and bouncing around temporary accommodation.

Now they’ve moved to Wealden Farm in Crowborough with the potential of a 10-year lease if the planning committee allows them to stay. The 17-acres site has everything the sanctuary needs to look after its 22 horses including stables, storage, and tracks to walk.

Zoe said: “The owner of this land here is happy to give us a 10-year lease, we could be safe for years. The last three-four years have been a mess, we’ve been moving here there and everywhere. If we can’t make it work here then we’ll have to throw the towel in, this whole experience has depleted us of funds.”

Pat and Zoe spend all their time with the horses – educating people on how to properly look after their horses and rescue any horses that have nowhere else to go. Zoe said: “We pick something up that’s more or less dead, and bring it back from that. The horses show us so much love and trust. It’s that love that gets us out of bed every morning.”

The pair are also joined by Iain Shore. He got in touch with them back in 2019 with donations and has worked with them ever since. He said: “I threw myself into the charity sector when I retired. I’ve been around horses my whole life - they’re in my blood! This place is about educating and encouraging people to look after their animals properly. Zoe and Pat live and breathe horses.”

Zoe and Pat said in the future they would love to for the sanctuary to be a walk-in centre for people to come and interact with the horses, and help look after them. Zoe said: “Horses can offer so much in therapy. They’re so sensitive and pick up on everything. Just yesterday we had two ladies come by with their children who are home-educated. They loved it and ended up staying the whole day.”

Now the women are waiting to hear from the planning committee if they’re allowed to stay. Zoe said: “The chance that this could be a 10-year lease if we get approved by planning is a priceless feeling. It’s been a huge stress but this could be our forever home. We’ve finally found somewhere we could be secure.

“If planning is approved we can get registered as a proper charity and then welcome volunteers back. One day we’d love someone to take over Little Bramley after us.”

If you want to keep up with Little Bramley, check out their website or Facebook page.

Reporter India Wentworth went by to catch up with Zoey, Pat and Iain…

(All photos by Justin Lycett)