Lucy Irvine Foundation Europe

  Todorovden, a day in Bulgaria dedicated to the celebration of horses, fell on 20th March this year. Elsewhere in the country events take place with well cared for horses on show.  Near where I live and where LIFE (Lucy Irvine Foundation Europe) operates, there are crude races at former airstrips with unfit Roma-owned horses competing. It was at one such event that I met a mare later confiscated from her violent and unstable owner in a joint operation with police. For safety reasons,  I can't discuss this further publicly but if anyone wants to know what happened please message me on my Facebook page. During the week we collected both feline and canine cases for sterilisation. But it seems that for every one we prevent from creating more puppies, another local dog produces a litter. Seventeen babies were reported born on Tuesday and twelve 4 week old pups found abandoned. We traced three of the latter and now support them in the community.  Wednesday brought a...

In stark contrast to the bliss felt the Sunday before, I woke shivering in pre-dawn dark on Mother's Day. My beautiful caravan home's electrics had burnt out. At least there wasn't a blaze this time. A few years ago I lost a caravan to poor wiring; just got out in time,  barefoot in snow with a cat under one arm, laptop under the other. Mother's Day's fizzle out was nothing in comparison. It was just cold and damp and would have been depressing if I'd let it be. Former desert island dwellers, however, don't do the blues. That's what I say, anyway. Plus, there were all the animals waiting for me to start their normal morning routine.  No time to indulge in gloom. I got dressed by wind-up torchlight singing "Get up and boogie." With only one satsuma-sized breast who needs a bra anyway? Jumpers and trousers went straight over pajamas.  Knowing it would be hopeless to call out a local sparky, who's often fuelled with rakia, (Bulgarian firewater...

Bliss on Sunday morning came in the form of a delicious lie-in till 5 a.m. with blind cats Yanni and Kolio purring in my arms. My usual rising time is 4.30 a.m. but that's not difficult most mornings because my old body clock still seems geared to tropical island hours. In the South Seas people born there rise early to catch the cool hours for fishing or feasting. When I was there I used those hours for writing. Here, on the LIFE home site in rural Bulgaria, there's the caravan I share with nine rescued cats to clean, then 11 horses and 44 outdoor  cats to feed before breakfast.  Kolio Yanni Sunday continued happily with lots of walks for our rescued dogs. Tsanke, with Terence and Benji Later there was a high spot when former Roma owned worked horse Barcelona was backed by Daniel for the first time and seemed to enjoy the experience as much as Daniel did. March 8th, Women's Day, is marked in Bulgarian villages like the one I live in by men presenting the women in their liv...

Lucy here this week to bring you a few recent highlights about life at LIFE.  The month of March in Bulgaria is represented by a granny figure called Baba Marta. She may be old but she blows hot and cold like a capricious lover, frosty at dawn, hot in the afternoon! Events at LIFE tend to echo the extremes in temperature, giving cause alternately for joy and sorrow. This week has certainly seen its quota of ups and downs. Sunday saw delightful progress in the gentle training of some of our recovered rescued horses, but Monday brought a shock when Ilia and I were heading back from a special visit to the bank in town.    No one stopped to help this poor old man and his horse except another very old man who could not lift the horse. Ilia knew exactly what needed to be done and had old dog collars in the car to patch damaged parts of the harness. The horse was shaken and must be bruised but looked relieved to be back on her feet. She'd slid on shale. We've offered to get her ...