UK horse owners report animal welfare issues in boarding stables

United Kingdom

-- One in four United Kingdom horse owners reported animal-welfare problems in horse housing, according to an online survey conducted by World Horse Welfare.

Problems reported at UK livery yards included poisonous plants (21 percent of respondents in the past 12 months), physical dangers (20 percent), horse injuries (13 percent), inadequate food or water (11 percent), no access to fresh water (10 percent), poor foot management (10 percent), and physical abuse (6 percent).

More than half of Britain's 1.2 million privately owned horses are kept in livery yards off owners' land, according to statistics from the British Equine Veterinary Association (BEVA).

The survey was undertaken on behalf of the Livery Yard Working Group, which includes the BEVA and other horse welfare organizations and equine industry groups.