Our Help for Horse Owners support service offers preventative solution to growing problem

I believe we are seeing more horse owners unable to cope through not being able to adapt quickly enough to the climatic challenges such as warmer, wetter winters. These are having a huge impact on their land which puts strain on their own management practices and on top of this everything has become so much more expensive.

“High stocking density can lead to quagmires with no dry resting areas to escape the mud which leads to foot and skin problems.

“It becomes harder to safely navigate moving around your horses to provide routine care or even spot the issues in the first place. So, we see unchecked breeding and youngstock going unhandled. On top of this, paid help is hard to keep as the working conditions are too unpleasant and so situations spiral further until we are called.”

World Horse Welfare Chief Field Officer Claire Gordon.

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.

“We hope that by highlighting this rising trend, we can reach more of the people who are struggling now, so they know a channel exists to seek help from, without judgement.

“I hope the people around those individuals – be that veterinary professional, farriers or the individual’s family, friends and neighbours – know that we have a confidential channel they can reach us too, where supportive, skilled assistance can be found to help the owner tackle whatever equine problems they have.”

Claire Gordon