Horse charity faces challenges after vehicle woes

A racehorse rehoming charity says it is facing a "challenging" situation after being left without a vehicle to transport its horses.

Racehorse Relief, near Helston, Cornwall, was founded in 2011 and helps find new homes for retired racehorses.

The charity said it "desperately" needed a new horse lorry after its previous one "ran its last mile" in 2025, and hoped to raise about £10,000.

Its founder Jo Massey said it was vital for them to be able to transport the animals as it was "really important for the horses [to] get out and have new experiences" which helped the rehoming process.

Massey said to prepare the horses for life outside of racing they had to take them "out to experience different things".

She said they took them to the beach and the moors, but the only way they could tell if they were "suitable to those kinds of environments is by taking them there".

Massey said horses could find different scenarios "overwhelming", and testing them in environments helped them to find the animals suitable homes.

She said without this, "the rehoming process is a lot more tricky because we can't vouch for their behaviours in certain scenarios".

The charity said it had borrowed lorries in recent months to help transport the horses, but it needed a vehicle of their own.

It is currently at full capacity, housing 32 former race horses.

Massey said they also had an initiative called race horse to event horse.

"Race horses, as long as they are in good health, lend themselves very well to the sport of eventing, and there is no eventing in Cornwall, so for us to be able to do that we have to travel quiet far."

She added that it was important for horses to get out as some "people who perhaps wouldn't consider having a racehorse may see them out and may reconsider".

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