Rescuing in the UK

We can help most horses by working alongside their owners, providing advice and support to enable them to care for their horses in the best way possible. Sadly, this isn’t always achievable and sometimes we need to take the horse into our care, either where the owner agrees to sign them over to us or, in the most serious cases, by working with other agencies to undertake a prosecution. 

Some people think we don’t see many animal welfare problems in the UK but this isn’t the case. On average, about 300 horses a year come into our Rescue and Rehoming Centres and most of these will have been rescued. The condition these horses arrive in is incredibly diverse.  Some will be horrifically skinny and very weak; others will have severely overgrown hooves. Many come in riddled with lice and worms; some have had no human contact and are simply terrified of people. 

The actual act of rescuing horses can be relatively simple or very complex depending on the situation.  If an owner is willing to sign over ownership to us, and the horse is well-handled and fit to travel, getting them out of the current situation and into our care is fairly straightforward. Where things get more difficult is if the horse is wild, or too ill to travel far, or if the owner is uncooperative. This is where the knowledge and experience of our Field Officers is so important, as they know the best way to approach each of these situations.