Society’s values are changing, animal welfare is becoming an ever-higher priority and some aspects of the horse/human relationship have recently come under the spotlight. Trying to identify and defining where use of horses becomes abuse were just some of the themes explored at World Horse Welfare’s 25th conference held at the Royal Geographical Society in London recently and broadcast virtually worldwide.

Roly Owers, chief executive of World Horse Welfare, introduced a thought-provoking and fascinating series of talks by international speakers. “Society is increasingly suspicious of traditional uses of animals and, thanks to science, we know more especially about what horses need and how what we do impacts on them,” he said.

“Today our focus is on leading the debate on what can be done to establish an even stronger horse/human relationship, and a fairer partnership. This applies to all the horses we help – be they horses in need, sport and leisure horses or horses used in work and production.”

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