Horse charity marks 20 years with expansion plans

30 December 2025

Martin EastaughWantage

News image — HEROS was created to rehome ex-racehorses, but also supports children with special educational needs.

BBC In a stable, built from breeze blocks, a chestnut coloured horse is being petted on the head by a girl wearing a grey riding helmet. — HEROS was created to rehome ex-racehorses, but also supports children with special educational needs.

A charity is marking its 20th anniversary by expanding its services.

Homing Ex-Racehorses Organisation Scheme (HEROS) was created in Wantage, Oxfordshire, in 2006 and now also supports children with special educational needs (SEN).

The charity plans to build new classrooms on the site in 2026, allowing it to double the number of students it can support - from 60 to 120.

Founder Grace Muir, who has won two BBC Radio Berkshire and BBC Radio Oxford Make a Difference Awards, said: "To have a classroom in a stableyard, that's what every child dreams of, isn't it?"

Grace Muir has long blonde hair. She is stood next to a dark coloured horse in a stable with metal bars. — HEROS founder Grace Muir said it was a magical place

HEROS Education offers a variety of courses from alternative provision for young people aged 11-16, through to diplomas and traineeships to Level 2 and Level 3 apprenticeships.

In 2023, the charity opened a forest school at its base on North Farm Stud near Fawley.

Ms Muir was appointed an MBE in the King's Birthday Honours this year, for services to charity, animal welfare and education.

"I'm hugely honoured but... a bigger honour is being able to do what we do here for the students and the horses with the amazing team that I've got" she said.

Ms Muir said the 20 years she had been running the charity had "gone in a flash".

"So many ups and downs and highs and lows but... even at the lowest ebb, these horses get me up in the morning".

Dulcie West is sat astride a brown horse with a white patch on its forehead. They are in a large and brightly-lit riding area. A white and red horse jump can be seen the background. Dulcie is wearing blue jodhpurs, a black padded vest top and a black riding helmet. — Lead rider at HEROS, Dulcie West, said being part of the charity gave the horses a "secure future"

HEROS retrains horses that, for a variety of reasons, no longer have a role in the racing industry. Some have retired, others are injured or were never fast enough to compete.

The charity assesses each horse's abilities and trains them in skills to make them more attractive to a potential new owner.

Some are taught dressage and others that cannot be ridden become "companion" horses.

Lead rider at HEROS, Dulcie West, said being part of HEROS gave the horses a "secure future".

"They only ever go out on loan so they've always got the back-up of coming back to HEROS at North Farm Stud, if ever something doesn't work out for them," she said.

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