Help the Wild Horses of Piornal (Extremadura, Spain)

We urgently need your support to ensure food for the wild horses of the Pottokas Project in Piornal, Spain. Their usual grazing area has been reduced in recent months due to forest replanting work. With this campaign, we aim to raise €25,000 to purchase materials and fence an additional 25 hectares of land, ensuring that the wild horses in Piornal have access to pasture during the coldest and rainiest months of the year.

Expanding the grazing area is a top and urgent priority to guarantee that the horses have enough food and to support their physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing. Your support will also benefit domestic horses through this pioneering European project.

Pottokas Project in Piornal

Pottokas in Piornal is a research and rewilding project involving wild horses. Based on scientific evidence, it allows a deeper understanding of the needs of the species as a whole, improving the wellbeing of those living in captivity (in sport, leisure, or farming contexts) and demonstrating the positive effects of rewilding territories with large herbivores.

Horses have three essential needs: food, companionship, and freedom. Domestic horses typically live in conditions far removed from those for which evolution has prepared them: stabled indoors, with limited direct contact with other horses, and subjected to exercises contrary to their natural behaviour. They do their best to adapt, but often experience physical and emotional health issues that affect their relationship with people.

Behavioural disorders are important indicators of poor animal welfare. Only by studying the natural behaviour of wild horses can we identify what is abnormal in domestic horses and improve their wellbeing.

Social Structure of Horses

Currently, after more than 15 years of the project, around 40 horses live in Peña Negra, organised into several bands and well adapted to the environment. These bands or family groups consist of one stallion, one or more mares, and their youngest offspring. These are groups formed freely by the horses themselves, with strong social bonds among members.

They watch over and protect each other from potential predators, move and rest in synchrony, and spend much of their time walking and grazing across the territory, covering around 15 kilometres per day. Evidence also shows that these bands do not display hierarchies or dominance: cooperation and mutual care prevail. They live in harmony and peace with the beings around them.

Rewilding and Ecosystem Services

Over recent years, it has also been observed that through their natural activity, the pottokas are improving local fauna and flora biodiversity and providing important ecosystem services—especially regulatory, supporting, and cultural services. It is also worth highlighting the growing bond between local residents and the horses, which is contributing to a shared identity around them and strengthening Piornal’s cultural landscape.

Tax Information (Spain)

Donations made through the migranodearena foundation are tax-deductible under current regulations. You will automatically receive your tax certificate*.

Individuals:
You may deduct: 80% of the first €250 donated, and from that amount onwards, 40% of the remaining sum (45% when in the tax year and the two previous years you have donated an equal or greater amount to the same organisation).

Companies:
40% of the donation (50% when in the tax year and the two previous years you have donated an equal or greater amount to the same organisation).

If you prefer another payment method (such as a bank transfer), you may write to: esperanza.alvarez@migranodearena.org

* To apply deductions, you will need to provide:
Full name or business name, DNI or CIF, postal address, and contact email.