Nightmare facing charity as owners start to feel pinch

One of the factors causing this is that people are struggling in the current economic climate and the price of feed is rising, says the charity.

World Horse Welfare is struggling to meet the demand for places at its four rehabilitation centres and is asking people to consider re-homing a horse or pony. The charity is caring for 298 horses and ponies at the four sites but this number is likely to go up to 334 over the next few weeks. This compares to a total of 268 horses being looked after in January last year.

At Hope Pastures, run by the Phyllis Harvey Horse and Donkey Trust in Leeds, staff are receiving daily calls and emails from owners asking for help. “We have just taken in a group of Welsh Mountain ponies that were due to go to the slaughterhouse in Cheshire the next day,” said Sophie Kendrick, yard manager at the centre.

The owner, from the Leeds area, had attempted to sell them and when she was unable to do so, the only option was for them to be slaughtered. At the last minute, somebody bought five of the ponies for £60 each, with Hope Pastures stepping in to take the remaining four.

“They all have passports and pedigrees and are perfectly well,” said Sophie. Two of the ponies are only two years old, one is five and the other is 17. “We will have to re-home them but in the meantime we have had to put them into a paddock we were resting and where we have a problem with drainage,” said Sophie, who has worked at the sanctuary for 11 years and believes the situation is the worst she has known it.

“We get people ringing us wanting us to take on horses that have gone lame or need vet treatment, or ongoing treatment for something like navicular or arthritis,” she said.

“Many are old horses that people are struggling to feed because older horses need more feed and the price of hay and bedding has gone up. It’s a nightmare to be honest.”

World Horse Welfare say they need to re-home some of their current residents as soon as possible as they are getting dangerously close to capacity.

“Due to the increase in the number of welfare cases we are dealing with and many at short notice, we are hoping members of the public will consider helping,” said Tony Tyler, deputy chief executive at WHW. “Many of the horses we take in would be excellent as companions.”

All the horses and ponies available for re-homing can be seen on the website at www.worldhorsewelfare.org. Contact Hope Pastures on 0113 2614344 or go to www.hopepastures.org.

LEADING Australian horseman Dr Andrew McLean, will hold a series of workshops at the British Horse Society’s Spring Convention at Arena UK, Grantham, on May 24.

He will be explaining some of his learning and behaviour theory and the BHS is looking for horses and riders to be guinea pigs for the day. If you are having “horse partnership” problems, the BHS would like to hear from you.

Send details of you and your horse, past achievements, stage of development and current problem to: Alison Le Fevre at [email protected]. Tickets cost £38 for BHS registered instructors and £42 for others. To book, call 02476 840510 or email as above.