Charity sees rise in welfare cases involving large groups of horses
The charity saw a 44 per cent increase in welfare cases involving large groups of horses.
World Horse Welfare has recorded a significant rise in welfare cases involving large groups of horses in 2024.
As of November 2024, the equine charity had dealt with 157 cases where more than 10 horses’ welfare was at risk. This is a 44 per cent increase from 2023, where 109 cases were recorded.
Furthermore, cases where more than 50 horses were at risk nearly doubled from 2023 to 2024.
The increase in cases is of great concern for World Horse Welfare, filling up its rescue and rehoming centres with horses rescued from neglect. It also puts pressure on the charity’s 16 field officers, which work across England, Scotland and Wales
To keep up with the demand, World Horse Welfare has also had to invest in more equipment including trailers and large horse-safe panels. These resources are vital for safely mobilising and transporting the horses.
Field officers believe that the rise in cases is in part due to climactic changes such as warmer, wetter winters. As well as causing foot and skin problems, muddy conditions can make it harder to move around horses and ensure their health and welfare.
Mental health and financial issues can also impact a horse owner's ability to care for their equines.
In response to these challenges, the charity has also launched its Help for Horse Owners support service. The charity hopes that the scheme will support horse owners before their ability to care for their horses is compromised.
Horse owners that are worried about their ability to care for their horses can contact the charity for help and advice for their unique circumstances. It also offers support with rehoming horses, should a horse owner decide they cannot care for their horses appropriately.
Claire Gordon, chief field officer, said: “We also have an aging population in the UK, alongside a greater awareness of how our mental health can affect our ability to provide care for our animals. It is often on these large-scale rescues that we find not only the horses living in poor environments but also too, their struggling owners.
“We have lost count of the number of people we have helped when they have nowhere else to turn and are often at their lowest ebb. They usually are so grateful and report back that they wished they had known sooner that we existed and that they would have asked for help earlier if only they had known.”
Image © World Horse Welfare
With Strangles Awareness Week just around the corner (5-11 May), vets are being encouraged to share a survey about the disease with their horse-owning clients.
