A huge thank you to Maxi Zoo Longford for hosting our 2026 Microchipping Day! 🐶🐱
Microchipping your dog is a legal requirement, but we understand that the cost can be a challenge for some families. That’s why we were delighted to offer microchipping at cost price, helping more owners meet their legal obligations and keep their pets safe.
It was fantastic to see so many responsible pet owners taking advantage of the service. We were especially delighted to see a few feline friends come along too!
Events like this are an important part of our mission to promote responsible pet ownership and improve animal welfare in our community. Thank you to everyone who attended and helped make the day such a success!
We were delighted to once again take part in St Mel’s Cathedral’s Live Crib. It has quickly become one of our favourite Christmas traditions here at HHO.
The donkey has long been an important symbol of the Nativity story, representing humility, service, and peace. Donkeys have also played a vital role throughout history, faithfully working alongside people in farming, transport, and daily life for thousands of years.
We’re proud to showcase these gentle, intelligent animals and help keep this special Christmas tradition alive. Thank you to St Mel’s Cathedral for inviting us to be part of such a wonderful community event. Wishing everyone a peaceful and joyful Christmas!
Guess who dropped into our mullingar shop today? Only the ever famous Mary McEvoy aka Biddy from Glenroe. She is a massive lover of animals and we are delighted to have her support.
When you see a horse trailer driving down the road how many of you think about how you don’t want to get stuck behind them? How many times have you pulled out in front of one because you’re in a hurry?
Newsflash: we haul our babies in those trailers. We. Haul. Our. Babies. These animals are the loves of our lives. 1000+ pound creatures that trust us enough to climb into a metal box on wheels and wait patiently while we drive them to our destination. That’s something completely against the nature of a flight animal but they do it anyways because we ask. Because they trust that we will keep them safe. And you know what? We do everything in our power to do that. We leave large following distances, we slow down extra for corners, we coast up to traffic lights so we won’t throw them around if it changes at the last minute. But you know what we can’t help? We can’t avoid the asshats that are in too much of a hurry to pull out behind us. We can’t avoid the people who cut into our following distance on the freeway. We leave those spaces and travel the way we do for a reason. There is upwards of 10,000lbs behind our trucks. And it’s not 10,000lbs of carefully strapped down product, it’s 10,000lbs of trailer with living, breathing horses perched on four tiny hooves balancing themselves the best they can. We leave following distances so we can stop if we need to. We don’t leave following distances for you to swerve into when you’re in a hurry. We don’t leave following distances as openings for you to pull out in front of us.
I ask from the bottom of my heart that everyone would be more aware of horse trailers on the road. Respect the load we’re carrying. Respect our need for stopping and following distances. Don’t tailgate us. Pay even more attention in inclement weather!! We do our best to keep our horses safe but it takes everyone else being more aware too! We don’t ask all of these things just because of the weight of our rigs but because if we stop too quickly or you can’t stop quickly enough, our horses can be seriously injured. Please pay attention. Please think twice about pulling out in front of us or cutting into our lane. Is that extra 30 seconds really worth it? I know my horses’ lives are worth a lot more than saving any amount of time.
UPDATED: these photos have been shared with the permission of the owner of these magnificent animals. This sorrel horse survived but has a long road to recovery. If you would like to donate to her cause, it looks there has been a GoFundMe set up for her here: https://www.gofundme.com/help-support-whitney-after-devasta…
What a crazy few days, after 4 years of rehoming abroad we finally decided to take on the journey ourselves to get a real feel for it, whilst we have been sending our own vehicles for quite some time, it is the first time the heart of HHO took to the ports, the motorways and the autoban to get these horses home, it is a rare occasion more than one of us gets time away at the same time, prior to this we had been relying on the guidance of different drivers our own included but our volunteers decided that is was time to undertake the 6 day long journey ourselves, it allows us to see what improvements can be made for the ponies, what works, what doesnt and finally we can understand just how one small incident can delay the trip for hours something you dont think of until you are sitting in that traffic jam. It was opportunity to see the job through to the very end, and observe the cycle become complete. We’ve seen the horses at their very worst and now we can definitely say we have seen them at their very best. There is no greater feeling than giving a rescue pony a chance at a real future. On a long and difficult roadway, at points where we thought we were coming to the end of the earth, we thought to ourselves we would drive anywhere, do anything to get these little pets to their families. Each little life on the transport precious, deserving and relying on us to get to their families. Driving through Europe has been an education and a wonderful experience. The hospitality of the German people has been incredible. The scenic views rivalling our own beautiful country. The fantastic homes our wonderful ponies are getting is second to none with warm, kind hearted and sympathetic people. It is true what they say one man’s rubbish is another man’s treasure and seeing our ponies being made so welcome to really be welcomed as part of the family is incredible, it was heart warming. So as we make our way back home to Ireland, we cant help but think how grateful we are to have our Rehoming Programme, we have now yet again confirmed that we are doing the right thing for them. So to Ally, Tulip, Dillon, Mona, Magic Mike and Elf we wish you all the best. We’ll be watching you all as always . Goodbye little friends.
We would like to thank everyone who came along to our charity pub quiz last night, because of your help we raised over €600. All of which will go towards the 200+ horses we currently have in our care. We would like to thank all of our very generous sponsors for donating some fantastic spot prizes and vouchers that got raffled off on the night. It was a brilliant night and only for our local support we wouldn’t have done it, Thank you, from all of us here at the HHO, see you next time.
We would like to say a Massive Thank you to all that volunteered & donated yesterday for our bag packing fundraiser.
We’re pleased to announce we managed to raise the grand total of €850
We also want to give a special mention to Dunnes Stores Longford, Longford Volunteer Centre and people that were kind enough to donate some of their time. Also the lads in Direct Provision Longford. We couldn’t praise them enough for their help and hard efforts.
If anyone would like to organize a fundraiser in your area or take part in upcoming events please contact our facebook page and leave a message.
Come on ladies, who’s going to show their support for Ireland’s unwanted horses at the VHI Mini-Marathon? We’re looking for participants, will you do it for the horses? Private message us for details on how to support HHO
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