Sanctuary receives NH Charitable Foundation Grant

Villi Poni Farm Newfoundland Pony Sanctuary has received an anonymous grant from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation. The grant of $1200.00 dollars was given for the general operation of the Sanctuary and comes just in time for hay cutting season. This is the second time we have received this grant since 2017 and we are humbly grateful  for this recognition of our efforts. 
Villi Poni Farm works to keep the critically endangered Newfoundland Pony from extinction. We do this by opening our doors to the public to introduce these incredible ponies and to educate people about conservation breeding. We also seek to find conservation minded folks who are interested in fostering or adopting a pony, learning, and participating in responsibly increasing the breed’s numbers. 
We believe that the Newfoundland Pony's traditional draft use should be preserved and promoted. They were used for plowing, hauling wood or fish nets, pulling wagons and carts and for four legged transportation. Ponies also worked fearlessly alongside men in the iron mines. Faithful and hard-working, ponies perished in mining accidents as well. 
Today our ponies also work alongside people in Equine Assisted Learning programs that we have available for children, challenged adults, and businesses who wish to enhance teamwork and communication skills for their employees. We also offer a women’s empowerment program and a program for Veterans and their families. We currently have Equine Assisted Learning programs running for local summer camps. 
We have partnered with the Jaffrey Conservation Commission to promote conservation of endangered species amongst plants, animals, and the conserving of open space. The story of the Newfoundland Pony embodies the importance of all. On Memorial Day weekend of this year we held the first annual open barn Heritage Conservation Day in conjunction with the Conservation Commission. This included a variety of informative displays, other rare breed animals and of course the Newfoundland Ponies. 
In 2013 when we started as a not for profit organization there were approximately 20 Newfoundland Ponies in the United States. Now through the efforts of our Executive Director, Board of Directors and many unpaid volunteers of various ages, those numbers have doubled and hopefully will continue to grow. We are now working with other groups outside of the horse world to bring these wonderful ponies and their lessons for today to the public. Thanks to grants like this we are able to continue with our efforts.

Thank you so very much!