RSPCA warns of risk of horses being dumped in Hampshire as 64 incidents reported

The animal welfare charity said it had 635 horse incidents last year. It has already received 64 reports between March and May this year.

Bosses said in the last recession the charity had to house hundreds of horses to the extent of bursting their stable capacity as owners abandoned their equine animals.

Last month the RSPCA took action when they heard reports of 14 Shetland ponies with overgrown hooves in Wiltshire.

It has taken in 82 horses during lockdown, costing £5,200 each a year to look after. This takes the total number of horses it has to 927 - a cost of £4.8m a year.

Christine McNeil, the charity’s National Equine Inspectors Co-Ordinator said: ‘This is a truly worrying time for equine charities - we still haven’t got a handle on the repercussions of the current horse crisis, and it now looks like the worst is yet to come.

‘In April 2011, before the effects of the financial recession had hit, the RSPCA had 290 horses in its care, already more than our official stables could house.

‘The following year, the impact of the crisis really began to hit and our officers were called out every day up and down the country to neglected and abandoned horses. By May 2012, the number of horses in our care had leapt to 600.

‘Fast-forward to today, and we’re caring for 927 horses - that’s three times the amount since the crisis hit, and we strongly fear that the impact will be even worse this time round.’

‘With such a huge number of horses in our care, and so many in private boarding, at great cost, we have already had to adapt how we try to help as many horses as we can.

‘For example, several “herds” of horses in need are being cared for in situ with our officers visiting regularly to feed and care for them, until we can find spaces in one of our centres for them, or funds to transport them to private boarding.’

The crisis has been made worse by over breeding and a drop in demand for certain breeds, the charity said.

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