Five years ago next week, we saved Pepito from the abattoir for the princely sum of €2,000.
He’d spent his working life pulling gypsy caravans full of tourists up and down the hills of the Dordogne. We thought he’d enjoy an easier life carrying suitcases for guests in the yurt camp we expected to open the following April.
We didn’t know he’d been put to work far too young, which permanently damaged his back. Or that he had arthritis in his legs. Or that, without a microchip or papers, he should have been given away or sold for his meat value of €800. And we couldn’t have imagined it would be years before the campsite was finally open.
We only knew that we wanted a working horse instead of a tractor and Pepito came along at the right time.
A very hungry horse
But apart from pulling a stubborn pine tree from the old pig woods and a little harrowing, Pepito has never worked in écovallée. Instead, he has eaten – acres of grass in the Summer, and tons hay in the Winter.
The only trouble is, hay is expensive. Last year, after a very dry Spring, Pepito’s hay cost €5 a bale from our local agricultural supplier. This year, they’re selling bales of this essential, life-giving feed for €6 each – even though it is more plentiful. It may not sound much, but it’s a crushingly huge increase for us, considering Pepito will eat one bale every day until the grass starts growing again in April.
Animal attraction
We don’t regret saving Pepito from the slaughterhouse. He doesn’t plough the field or carry luggage as we intended, but he does keep the grass down without the use of fossil fuels – and he does create mountains of manure for the veggie patch.
He is also the star attraction for many of our younger guests – and one reason why some families choose écovallée over other yurt camps. This big-bellied, gentle horse, will come running from the far corner of the valley at the sight of an apple, a carrot or a stale baguette held high, and stand patiently while his hair is turned into plaits.
He’s a beautiful, friendly beast we wouldn’t want to live without.
Pepito’s turn for some love
Even though écovallée has been a success since we’ve been open, all the money after tax has been reinvested in the campsite – on infrastructure like the spectacular solar shower, off-grid grey water treatment, perhaps the world’s most beautiful compost toilet, wooden floors for the yurts, new covers, furnishings and more.
Now the bulk of our work is done, it’s Pepito’s turn to receive the attention he deserves. Not only does he need good hay and oats to get through what might be another bitterly hard Winter, but we’d love to build him a field shelter to give him the option of getting out of the wind and rain for the first time in his life. The wood for the frame is waiting. We just don’t have the resources for walls or a roof.
How you can help
The reason we are making “The yurt camp, the English mafia and the French resistance” available now, instead of waiting for a publisher, is to raise funds for Pepito. The €1 you spend, after fees, will keep him in hay for over two hours. For every 10 people who buy the book, we can feed Pepito for a whole day.
As the book describes, it was never our intention to be poor. Some people will say we shouldn’t even be keeping a horse. But we want Pepito to end his years in écovallée and we will do everything we can to make that happen.
We can do this together
One of the many things our experience has taught us is that living the sustainable, self-sufficient life is almost impossible for one small family unit. The sensible, practical way forward is through community. The community should ideally be made up of people living in the same area, sharing skills, tools and whatever support is necessary throughout the year. But thanks to the Internet, that community can include people from around the world.
If you can spare €1 to help feed Pepito, please do so. If you would like to buy a whole bale, better still – you will receive one copy of “The yurt camp, the English mafia and the French resistance” for every euro you spend. Your money can be redeemed against a holiday of any length at the écovallée yurt camp, at any point in the future. And you will receive a book that, as one reader puts it, is “€1 very well spent”.
We’re not a charity. We’re just a family doing our best to get through the Winter with our horse – which will be all the easier with your help.
Hay or nay? Say yay today!
To buy your book(s), visit the écovallée facebook shop and click on the sock monkey. Then enter the number of books you want to buy and pay with paypal. You will receive your copy (or copies) by email within moments. With all of our thanks.
the (d)evolutionary 
November 9, 2012 at 2:03 pm
Reblogged this on SunnyRomy.
November 9, 2012 at 7:28 pm
Makes horse sense
November 11, 2012 at 10:50 am
Amazing one can get from London by train to within 400 metres of Ecovallee and return for around £100 that’s so good it can’t be right !
The makings of a mini adventure London, Paris, Bordeaux, Ecovallee.
And the journey time is fast, can it be done cheaper ?
Worth it just to pat the horse, the train journey from Bordeaux to Ecovallee is very scenic so I hear, maybe the best in France ?
Allow enough time to buy carrots in Paris for Pepito as he will be waiting for you all
November 12, 2012 at 2:24 am
[…] charity ad. Many years ago, when I was working in Leicester, another copywriter was telling me about his […]
November 12, 2012 at 2:26 pm
If you contact a local farmer he should be able to sell you a large round of hay for 20 euros which would keep your horse going for a couple of weeks. Nobody with a horse should buy small bales from an agricultural supplier! Look at French Entree and see who is advertising hay near you. If you were closer to us we have plenty of large bales to sell at 20 euros. Also, have you tried pulpe betterave which is about 16 euros for 50 kilos, you soak it in water until it has completely broken down and then mix in his hard feed. A 50 kg bag would last you months and reduce your feed bill again.
November 12, 2012 at 2:39 pm
Hi Val. You’re absolutely right. Last year, though, there weren’t any large bales to be had. It was especially bad. There should be plenty this year and I’ll start looking. We’ve had issues before with people selling us bad, dusty, sun-bleached rolls before, but one year worked out quite well. At the moment he’s on some hand-cut stuff we scythed in the Summer. Unfortunately, a lot of it spoiled through moisture – it was covered and up on pallets, so we can’t quite work out how. But what there is, is still good. Thanks for the reminder on the beet. We tried that last year and it worked a treat mixed with rolled barley for breakfast. He could really use a blanket but we can’t stretch to that at the moment. Don’t worry, I’ll only be going down the small bales from the co-op route if forced. We have a friend who makes hay in small bales and I need to find out if they’ve got any left this year. Oh for a barn and we could get all this sorted earlier in the year. Maybe I’ll get round to making one one day…
November 12, 2012 at 9:01 pm
If you can find a supply of Haylage it comes wrapped and can be stored outside all winter, if your hays dusty you have to soak it overnight !
November 12, 2012 at 9:10 pm
I thought haylage was for many animals for just a few days. I obviously have serious issues with the amount of plastic used, but we do consider most things.
November 12, 2012 at 9:27 pm
You can feed all the time, its dust free and you feed a little less than hay plus cut back on your grain or beet based feeds, we are feeding it now and though to the spring summertime, stop when grass is good to go.
Yes plastic wrap but that’s made with recycled plastic mostly !
Carrots are good at moment here cheap horse carrots £1 a sack 25kg slice up to finger size batons feed about 8 a day along with grain feed ( what’s called short feed in the horsey world ) you shouldn’t feed as little rounds as can choke, apples should be quartered as whole ones can choke and kill.
Just in case you didn’t know.
November 12, 2012 at 9:56 pm
Just a thought on feeding, it all depends on how well you horse does on its feed, and as its not working may not need a lot of grain feed, it should be fed little a often, twice a day would be good maybe half a scoop of roll barley half a scoop of soaked beet and very importantly a full scoop of chop which you can buy in the form of chopped straw in bags, as not good to feed just rolled barley ! You can leave out the beet and use full scoop of barley but must have chopped straw, damp this with a lttle water, feed this morning a late afternoon, with hay or Haylage throughout the day, but if there’s lots of grass and the horse is fat and keeping weight on you can cut back on the grain and chop mix, and are you worming him ? Must be wormed minimum at least twice a year,
This is not a lecture just trying to be helpful, you are probably doing this anyway.
November 13, 2012 at 10:28 am
A little more re Haylage, if you have square bales, just open one end carefully takeout what you need and fold the flaps of wrap back up to seal as tightly as you can, but if roll bale unwrap totally stood on end keep checking the bale if it starts to heat up unwind it completely and spread it out, this will stop it spoiling, ideally its good to have a small open leanto to keep the open bale under and let air around it.