Could you give a young horse a 'Stable Future'?

Cheryl Watson with Zoe-May and After Eight

The RSPCA has launched an emergency appeal to find foster homes for hundreds of young horses as the number in our care has doubled in the past year.

To tackle the growing horse crisis the RSPCA has launched the Stable Future appeal to find fosterers to temporarily look after some of their 270 horses that are too young to be ridden.

RSPCA chief inspector Cathy Hyde, equine officer for the North of England, said: “Over the past year we’ve seen a huge increase in the amount of horses being abandoned or allowed to get into an appalling state because the trade in horses has collapsed. We’ve heard of young horses being sold for £5 – less than the price of a bottle of wine. They’re being bought and sold in pubs and we’ve come across a case of someone keeping a horse on a tower block balcony and feeding it on kitchen scraps.

"We have a never ending tide of young horses coming into our centres. Fostering our youngsters is a way that horse lovers can help us with this problem.”

The recession, rising hay costs and irresponsible breeding are thought to be to blame for the rising number of horses being neglected and abandoned.

To help ease the crisis the RSPCA is urging horsey heroes to foster one a young horse until it is old enough to be prepared for work and they can find it a new home.

The youngsters available for fostering are aged between one and three and are all happy, healthy and handle-able. They are micro-chipped, will have passports and tetanus vaccinations.

Foster carers must have experience handling horses, grazing and be able to take in a youngster for a minimum of six months.

To apply visit:

www.rspca.org.uk/stablefuture