Our story began around 20 years ago when Concordia moved to Málaga. She started to come across many abandoned horses there and looked for somewhere to house them. The place she found became Every Horse in the World. The shelter is one of the biggest in Europe, which is really a home for all animals (dogs, cats, ferrets, tortoises, hens, etc.) who cross our path and who have suffered abuse at the hands of humans.
After a short time, Concordia called her family. She was lonely, overwhelmed by how many animals needed help, and lacked financial resources. Therefore, without thinking too much, our parents and I sold our house in Madrid, left our friends and work behind, and moved to Málaga.
My sister and I sat down to talk. We had two options. We could either help the animals that my sister had already rescued (with support from our family) and leave it at that, or we could set up a charity that would allow us to help many more animals and, above all, fight to change their lives.
We chose the second option and decided to dedicate our lives to animal welfare, giving up many other things and not looking back.
That was the beginning of CYD Santa María which has now become Every Horse in the World.
Without a doubt, our greatest success is every life we have saved and all the suffering we have prevented. We are also particularly proud of our involvement in the drafting of Royal Decree 804/2011, which recognises horses as companion animals and extends their legal protection, something no one had thought to do before.
Since then, our work has been widely recognised, and we have received awards from SEPRONA, the Civil Guard’s Nature Protection Service, and the Official College of Veterinarians of Málaga (V de Oro), among others.
Unfortunately, there is still much work to be done. For example, there are still people who kill puppies or dump them in the rubbish bin as if they are worthless. We have also spent years fighting to guarantee the welfare of carriage horses. We have achieved some progress, but certainly not enough.
To really get to know us, the most important thing to understand is that we will continue to fight tirelessly until animals are treated properly. We hope to live to see that day. It is hard to keep struggling, surviving, with little help. Thankfully, we have always been able to rely on good people to also be part of this story, our story. After reading these words, we hope you will become one of them.