2024 was a challenging year for World Horse Welfare (WHW) seeing a huge increase in welfare cases and reports involving large groups of horses and ponies, and has seen them respond by launching a new scheme to help support horse owners finding themselves in difficulty.
As of November 2024 World Horse Welfare dealt with 157 situations where the owner involved had more than 10 horses deemed to be at risk, a 44% increase from 2023 when the number was 109. The number of welfare situations involving owners with more than 50 horses reported to be at risk has nearly doubled from 2023 to 2024. This is significant because when large groups of horses come into the care of World Horse Welfare, they fill up the charity’s rescue and rehoming centres, and it also puts pressure on the Field Officer team. Consequently, World Horse Welfare has had to invest in more equipment such as trailers and large horse-safe panels to help with these roundups.
World Horse Welfare has responded to these challenges with the launch of its Help for Horse Owners support service. The aim of this ‘first of its kind’ scheme is to reach people before their ability to cope compromises the care they can provide to their horses and themselves.
Rising costs over the last couple of years have seen many struggle with the cost of keeping their horses, often ending up cutting costs on their care, moving to cheaper yards where the standards of care and welfare may be below standards, and even cases of horses being simply abandoned on livery for the yard owner to deal with.
Most notably, their support page offers options whether the horses belong to you, a third party or even a client.
Find out more here
