The sanctuary was started by a lady called Mrs.Margaret Piper ,when she moved to Jobert farm in Bolenowe near Troon about 30 years ago,and it wasn’t long before people realised that there was a kind animal loving person in there midst and she was soon in great demand to look after a range of animals.Mrs Piper would spend her pension on the care of the animal to the detriment of her own comfort and health. She couldn’t turn away any animals and at one stage had over 130 horses and ponies on the 33acre farm. It was around this time 1987 that she obtained Charity status .and the funds did increase a bit but not enough to keep things going.Luckely one of the Trustees contacted Redwings a massive horse charity from Norfolk,and they were and still are the saviours of BOLENOWE. About 7 years ago we were able to buy place near Ruan Minor with a very kind donation from a benefactor.At the end of 2004 some 50 animals were moved from Troon to Ruan Minor and in April of the following year Redwings came down and helped to move the rest taking the wilder ones back to Norfolk.From then on Redwings come down to us 2 or 3 times a year and give a dental check,worms all of the horses  and has there hooves checked and trimmed. We do sometimes let horses out on loan as companions, but they remain the property of the sanctuary if for any reason we are not happy with the way they are kept we can take them back. Fortunately this is a very rare occurrence, as the places are checked before any horse or pony goes out.At present we have some 60 horses/ponys at the sanctuary with an annual feed bill of around £10,000.