When a prestigious brand like Horse & Hound gets behind a charity event you know that it must be one worthy of your attention.
The Society for the Protection of Animals Abroad (SPANA) is Horse & Hound’s charity of the year and with their #roundtheworld hashtag they are putting forward a challenge to help raise much needed funds.
Who is SPANA?
There are actually quite a few reputable horse charities, but SPANA is different to most because of the international scope that it has.
SPANA runs long-term veterinary and education programmes in Morocco, Tunisia, Jordan, Mali, Mauritania, Zimbabwe and Ethiopia, all of which provide free treatment for sick and injured working animals.
SPANA was chosen to be Horse & Hound’s first official charity of the year in April 2014. This is in part due to the fact that Horse & Hound staff have first-hand experience of the good work the charity has been doing in Morocco and Ethiopia.
The challenge that the charity’s teams face in their quest to improve the lot of working horses is a tough one. In many cases sheer ignorance about basic equine welfare requirements are the main reasons for problems so education plays a central role in the charity’s work.
#roundtheworld
The new #roundtheworld fundraising campaign is based on a really simple idea: to get a friend to video you doing as many “round the worlds” as you can in 30 seconds.
The technique that is familiar to most from childhood or pony club days is a little bit of wholesome fun that is perfect for sharing on social media.
Once you’ve impressed your friends with how many times you can spin round, either with a saddle or without, you can help the campaign go viral by nominating three of them to try their hand at it too.
It’s important to remember to donate too though – the whole point of the campaign is to raise as much money as possible to help horses.
Text ‘WORLD’ to 70300 when you’ve completed the challenge to donate £3 to SPANA; every penny will go to help working equines around the world.
In much the same way as the ‘ice bucket challenge’ became a recent worldwide social media phenomenon, everyone involved in setting up #roundtheworld hopes it will become the next viral internet sensation.
You can help make sure that the lives of working horses and donkeys living in some of the poorest countries in the world are improved by simply taking part and publishing your video for everyone to see.
A final note of safety
Anyone who is involved with horses knows that safety precautions must always be taken seriously. As well as having a friend film you for your #roundtheworld attempt you should also get someone to hold your horse too.
This will reduce the likelihood of having to make an involuntary dismount and can also make sure that no one comes to any harm. After all, this charity fundraiser is all about raising money to protect horses so it doesn’t want any equines or people to get hurt in the process.
