World Horse Welfare was founded in 1927 by Ada Cole, who was spurred into action after witnessing a procession of British work horses being unloaded and whipped for four miles to slaughter in Belgium. From the beginning, she defined the organisation’s approach as “combining practicality with passion”. The mission of WHW is to work with horses, horse owners, communities, organisations and governments to improve welfare standards and stamp out suffering in the UK and worldwide.

From front-line care, to research, education, advocacy and campaigns, World Horse Welfare works across the full spectrum of the horse world to improve the horse-human partnership.

Today, WHW works in sixteen countries on four continents across the world to positively impact the welfare of working horses, ponies, donkeys and mules.

The relevance and responsibility of horse welfare extends to the entire equine community, including tourism, leisure, sport and breeding.

In 2018, our General Assembly in Hungary provided an interesting exploration of equine welfare in sport horse breeding. We were delighted that Chief Executive of the WHW, Roly Owers, was able to attend and thank him for his very interesting and thought provoking presentation. Find out more about the welfare workshop at the General Assembly.

In 2019, we were delighted to work with the WHW on a conference in London under the heading of "Who is Responsible?". Access the report about this important and informative event

To find out more visit the World Horse Welfare website.