‘Horse crisis’ declared after sharp rise in neglect cases

THE RSPCA has declared a “horse crisis” after the number of neglect cases rocketed to record levels.

The animal charity took 980 abandoned horses into its care last year, up from 673 in 2015, and has warned that too many horses are being bred that have no homes to go to. It said this year’s figure was likely to exceed the number abandoned in 2017.

Many are being dumped in fields by their owners because it is “cheaper than euthanising them”, said Dr Mark Kennedy, a senior scientific equine adviser at the RSPCA.

Dr Kennedy said: “There are communities in the UK that, in order to express your wealth and status, you breed horses despite having nowhere to send them. It is very much part of the culture of the traveller community where, if you breed a very good horse, you earn social status.

“Then there’s a hope that if you continue to breed, you will make a very valuable horse. But because these animals have such a low monetary value now, they are just being abandoned.”

Dr Kennedy said fewer people could afford to care for a horse, while demand for horses had fallen, too, “Where ponies and horses may have sold for £500 at the low end, now you might be lucky if you get £50. So we have all these animals being produced with no destination for them,” he said.

The figures follow the RSPCA’s new Kindness at Christmas campaign to highlight horse neglect.