Urgent! Help Hay Farm Heavies

Hay Farm Heavy Horse Centre- Crookham 

UPDATE: The Government WILL NOT issue us a grant to support the centre, as they have classified us as a farm, even though we don not have any farm land or receive government subsidy.

Dear Supporters,

Hay Farm Heavy Horse Centre, was set up to preserve and promote, the now rare breeds of heavy horses. The Centre has been recognised for the work we do by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust (RBST) and is now the UK's only approved RBST Farm Park dedicated to heavy horses, participating in a nationwide semen collection to ensure the future survival of (in our case) the Clydesdale Heavy Horse 

The centre was set up 7 years ago, to promote and preserve the UKs rare breed heavy horses. At no point has the centre been a profit making enterprise,(it is incorporated as such) and has never charged an entry fee- we rely solely on the donations received from our visitors and their purchases in our small gift shop to survive. We also set up our charitable branch Northumberland Heavy Horse Heritage 1179656 registered in England and Wales, to further our preservation of heavy horse breeds. 

The centre runs a full breeding programme, and was recognised for this by the RBST, along with offering service for mares to other heavy horse breeders.  The centre also takes in rescue heavy horses which may have fallen on hard times or that have been surrendered by their owners- we never charge for this but we do guarantee that those horses have a home for life with us and will never be sold.


The current COVID-19 situation is devastating for the country as a whole, and all of us at the centre appreciate that these are really uncertain times. We felt that now the horses are turned away onto grass, we would be able to tick away quietly until lockdown is lifted- however this is not the case.

The £10K grants that were announced by the government were going to be  a lifeline to us, however they do not apply. We have been told that they class us as a "farm", so we are not eligible. We have no farm land or crops, we don't receive government subsidies, however we have sadly been grouped into this category.

It is now the case that we are totally reliant on your kind donations to ensure our survival for the future to  carry out both our charitable work and operate the centre for all, playing our part in the survival of rare breeds of heavy horses.   

Thank you from everyone at Hay Farm- your support means the world to us!