Four charities round-up 44 horses to safety

A herd of 44 horsesand ponies have been rounded up and removed to rehoming centres, thanks to the joint efforts of four charities.

‘Overwhelmed’

Thehorseshad been on a site in East Sussex for a number of years and there were concerns for their welfare going into winter.

WorldHorseWelfare field officer Emma Swadlow and RSPCA inspector Tony Woodley had been working with thehorses’ owner for some time. He agreed to signed them all over to WorldHorseWelfare.

“These large cases are unfortunately becoming more common,” said Emma. “For any number of reasons some owners can become overwhelmed by the responsibility of keeping a large number ofhorses, and their welfare can deteriorate rapidly so it is essential that charities are able to help in these situations.”

Fantastic operation

As many of thehorseswere unhandled the WorldHorseWelfare and RSPCA called on the expertise of RedwingsHorseSanctuary specialist round-up team, led by Nicolas de Brauwere, head of welfare and behaviour at the charity. The Donkey Sanctuary provided transport.

It took the four teams two days to catch the horses, which were roaming over 100 acres.

“This was a fantastic joint operation and is a great example of the ‘prevention’ side of our work,” said inspector Becky Carter who headed up the RSPCA team.

“A huge part of our work involves dealing with unwantedhorses, and so to organise an operation such as this which sees thehorsessafely removed and transported to rehoming centres before their welfare declines is a great positive for us and the other equine charities.”

Rehabilitation

Thehorseshave been split between WorldHorseWelfare’s Hall Farm rescue and rehoming centre in Norfolk and its Glenda Spooner centre in Somerset.

They will be individually assessed and begin their rehabilitation with a view to joining WorldHorseWelfare’s rehoming scheme in the future.