THOUSANDS OF EQUESTRIAN STUDENTS IN HAMPSHIRE LEARN FROM CHARITY’S HORSE

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A World Horse Welfare rehomed horse is playing an instrumental part in helping thousands of equine students from a variety of backgrounds to pass their courses.

During our ‘Rehome a Horse Month’ in July, we are trying to encourage more people to consider rehoming rather than buying by highlighting the fantastic range of horses and ponies that are already in new homes being used in wonderful ways.

15 year old Charlie came into World Horse Welfare’s Glenda Spooner Farm in Somerset in 1999, and after his successful rehabilitation was rehomed by Sparsholt College in 2002 where he continues to be used in an extremely valuable way.

He plays an important role at the college’s Equine Centre where he is used in riding lessons and for practical assessments for an array of equine students from different academic backgrounds.  The students, who are aged from 14 years upwards, use Charlie as well as the other horses at the college, to learn about road safety and stable management while gaining in confidence and learning about taking on responsibility and teamwork.

Sue Stevenson who is a Course Tutor at Sparsholt College said “The horses that we choose to have here need to be very easy to deal with because some of the students aren’t that confident, so we do have quite a range.  But the horses that we choose are good to be handled and then we can start to leave the students a little bit more on their own.

“Charlie’s brilliant.  Every animal’s slightly unpredictable but you need to have ones that are good to handle.”

World Horse Welfare Chief Executive Roly Owers explains the benefits of rehoming a horse: “We hear a growing number of complaints about the low quality of horses purchased at markets or over the web.  At the same time, our Rescue and Rehoming Centres across the UK are bursting with a wide range of horses.  So if you want a horse, the solution is easy: why buy when you can rehome?

“Rehoming has great advantages over buying as you know exactly what you are getting.  With a sale, or over the internet, many have learned the hard way that what they see is not always what they get.  Our horses come fully vetted with passport, microchip and the honest facts about their health and abilities.  Rehomed horses also come with free personal horse care advice and support for the lifetime of the horse. Additionally, the rehoming process creates more space in our Centres therefore more abused and neglected horses can be helped.”

For more information and to see the selection of horses World Horse Welfare has ready to be rehomed please visit www.worldhorsewelfare.org/rehoming

Charlie was rehomed by Sparsholt College from World Horse Welfare’s Glenda Spooner Farm Rescue and Rehoming Centre.  Glenda Spooner Farm’s opening hours are 2pm-4pm every Wednesday and Saturday.  For more information please call 01935 841 442.