Christmas is but round the corner and Equichance meanwhile is progressing apace.
Infrastructure
- Extra one hectare of land has been acquired adjacent to Equichance which gives important further grazing pasture for the herd (needs tilling and reseeding).
- Creation of a very large vegetable patch so that lunch comes straight from the garden.
- Much needed hay shelter now complete (significant reduction in waste and also hay delivery costs).
Home Team
- Nimrod had to be castrated so as not to further the size of the herd.
- Peggy a baby shetland pony was due to arrive this week but she sadly died of unknown causes. Horses are quite fragile when they are young. A deposit has been put down for the next baby foal.
- All of the other horses are healthy and doing well.
Team
- Human team has grown to include Raphael Bourguignon who is an expert in eating disorders, one of our core areas of focus.
- Angelique Bretagne has also joined to help with meal preparation as more people are beginning to come.
- Lucas Stephen leads on supporting participants in preparing the horses for each session.
- Emilie Lameloise has also joined the team as our resident horse trainer given that client security is always top of the agenda. Her profile can be found here.
Clients
- We have an annual contract in place with Clubhouse Marseille who come on Friday afternoons. Numbers have increased to 6 with active participation from members.
- Clear measurables are now in place to evaluate the positive impact of each session.
- We are exploring the idea of working with a medical student to further refine outcomes.
- Two new contracts are under discussion with an eating disorder clinic near Aix en Provence (Ramsay Sante) and also a post-cancer care unit nearby.
Finance
- Each contract is subsidised by our donors to achieve maximum reach.
- Our end goal is to have 3 solid annual contracts in place before exploring any other avenues.
- We have two new corporate donors and one new private donor so we are edging towards our targets.
- We are refining our marketing materials and the English version of our flyer can be found here. French translations underway.
