Equine charity World Horse Welfare is urging those looking for a new equine companion to consider rehoming a rescue horse or pony.
September 2015 is the charity’s annual Rehome a Horse month.
To mark the occasion, World Horse Welfare has launched a new rehoming website and is celebrating past rehomers and their horses.
The charity can have up to 100 horses, ponies, donkeys and mules at any one time across their four centres. Rehoming allows space to be freed-up for more equines to be taken into their care.
“Our rehoming scheme groups horses into several categories dependant on their age, experience and suitability for different activities and covers everything from non-ridden companions to those with potential to make competition horses,” Tony Tyler, World Horse Welfare deputy chief executive, told H&H.
“We recently reviewed our rehoming scheme and website to make it more straightforward and easier for people to apply.
“We introduced new categories of horse such as ‘Project Horse or Pony’, which allows us to find experienced homes for our horses sooner so they can continue their education with a rehomer.”
Last year, World Horse Welfare celebrated a 10-year record with 300 horses rehomed.
The charity hopes to exceed this number this year.
“We are delighted to see the public’s greater interest in rehoming, which is so important to the sustainability of our work in helping horses,” added Mr Tyler.
“We have worked hard to promote the variety and quality of our horses and ponies as well as the genuine advantages of rehoming over buying or breeding.”
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Lee McKenzie, sports television presenter and patron of World Horse Welfare, is kick-starting Rehome a Horse Month with a video guide to the rehoming process (see video, top).
“Horses are bought and sold privately through many different channels, which unfortunately leaves you open to the risk of unscrupulous sellers,” she said.
“It’s very rare to know the horse’s full history and if the partnership doesn’t work out then your options are very limited.”
Each horse rehomed from World Horse Welfare comes with a health check, passport, microchip and honest explanation of their character and quirks.
“If the horse is not right or your circumstances change, you can return it at any time safe in the knowledge that World Horse Welfare will find it the ideal new home,” added Ms McKenzie.
For more information visit: http://rehoming.worldhorsewelfare.org/
