ABOUT HRF
The Horse Retirement Fund was inaugurated in late 2017. It is unique in its set up as it has been formed with the aim of giving reward back to the CEEC horses and ponies with a retirement plan where possible. CEEC has always supported the export of retired racehorses from the riding school since it opened in 2008, however, now with the HRF, financial support will be offered to benefit more of our horses and ponies where it is possible to do so. There is a clear set of guidelines to show how the fund will be able to help. Click here to find out more.
Where it all Began
As CEEC’s 10th Anniversary was approaching and reflecting on the horses that have brought so much joy to us all; some sadly not with us anymore, some already retired overseas and those that have been with us from the beginning; becoming older but still going strong. The saying, “charity begins at home” came to mind and the vision of helping more of these amazing animals retire overseas was born. It was then that CEEC went into overdrive to really kick-start the Horse Retirement Fund and raise money to retire Al and Comanche to the UK for a very well deserved retirement.
The CEEC community were amazing in getting behind these two horses with wonderful people giving their time, effort and resources over many months to raise funds like never before, culminating in the extraordinary and memorable evening that was the barn dance; celebrating 10 wonderful years of CEEC and being marked by raising enough funds to fully cover Al’s export and initial retirement fees and contribute towards Comanche’s export costs to enable his named-livery to retire him.
Our CEEC community and the wider community came together in an unprecedented way for the event and were generous in their support of the silent and live auctions and donation pledges. It was a fabulous success and the most perfect way to celebrate 10 years with our horses. Together, we raised an astounding $250,000. Thank you!
The Work Continues
The purpose of the HRF means that the HRF & CEEC are closely intertwined with decisions needing to be taken primarily by CEEC and in association with the HRF. However, the HRF is a separate entity and as such we are very pleased to announce that the HRF was officially incorporated as a Company Limited by Guarantee on 4 June 2019 with five founder members/directors in place as follows:
Sarah Corner: Founder Member/Director
Pauline Walker: Founder Member/Director
Vincent Tse: Founder Member/Director
Zosha Powtroski: Founder Member/Director
Maja Vandre: Founder Member
A very special thank you goes out to Lisa Lam who has been instrumental in setting up the HRF as a Company in its own right on our behalf. Lisa is a loyal member of CEEC and a strong supporter of the HRF, having herself previously adopted and exported Richie to the UK.
The HRF is transparent in its spending of all money raised whilst educating riders and the public on the care of older riding horses for retirement outside of Hong Kong. The aim is to help export more horses for retirement in the future, when the time is right, by offering financial assistance to adopters. The Horse Retirement Fund is completely volunteer run, from managing its accounting to sourcing merchandising as well as ongoing fundraising efforts by both CEEC members and staff. CEEC staff give their free time to run such events as the popular adult gymkhanas as well as CEEC providing the horses and facilities for free so that all the money you give goes to the Horse Retirement Fund, thereby enabling ongoing fundraising efforts for the HRF to support Al during his retirement and help future adopters by contributing to export costs in order that many more of CEEC’s horses may enjoy retirement overseas.
