‘Control of Horses Act is seeing results – but more needs to be done’

Over a year since the Control of Horses Act came into force in England, the latest figures show a reduction in the numbers of horses fly-grazed across England and Wales, with many case studies proving its effectiveness at tackling a problem which has been a cause of significant horse welfare problems, and blighted local communities, for years.

The most recent statistics show that there are estimated to be 3,000 – 3,500 horses currently fly-grazed across England and Wales, the same number as were estimated to be fly-grazed in England alone in 2014. This is strong evidence that the Act is having a real impact, providing another vital tool in tackling the welfare problems facing the UK’s horses. However, the coalition of welfare and rural organisations which campaigned for the Act (including Blue Cross, British Horse Society, CLA, Countryside Alliance, HorseWorld, NFU, Redwings Horse Sanctuary, RSPCA and World Horse Welfare) want to highlight the important role that awareness plays in ensuring the Act is used to its full potential.

Where the Act is being used it has been effective not only in enabling the swift removal of both large and small groups of fly-grazed horses – safeguarding their welfare and the surrounding local communities – but also, by taking robust action, locations which have previously experienced recurrent problems with fly-grazing have been able to eradicate the practice. In contrast, areas where the new law is not being used are now seeing more fly-grazed horses, perhaps due to the fact that owners can be assured they will face no consequences as a result.

The Control of Horses Act 2015, which came into force in May 2015, gives greater power to public and private landowners to remove horses being grazed on their land without permission and is an important step in tackling the UK horse crisis. Under the Act, horses can now be removed immediately rather than waiting two weeks and after just four days ownership is assumed by the landowner. The Act also opens up more options to dispose of the horses besides public sale, such as gifting them to a charity, selling them privately or humane euthanasia.

The CLA represents landowners, farmers and rural businesses.

CASE STUDY

Warwickshire Police and West Mercia Police are the first to establish a multi-agency approach to tackling the dangers of loose horses on roads across Herefordshire, Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin, Warwickshire and Worcestershire which not only create a direct risk to local communities but which are also a huge drain on police resources. The group, which includes local authorities, Trading Standards, the RSPCA, World Horse Welfare, British Horse Society and Defra identified fly-grazing as a root cause and contributor to loose horses on the roads and applied for funding from the Warwickshire and West Mercia Police Crime Commissioner’s Rural, Business and Cyber Crime Scheme.

The funding has been used to improve the speed of recovery for loose horses and develop a protocol for dealing with the horses using both the Highways Act and Control of Horses Act. The group brought in the use of bailiffs to ‘hold’ horses prior to an owner coming forward and to rehome them should no owner come forward. This successful approach to tackling the problem has significantly sped up response times, in most cases seeing horses safely caught and removed within one hour, freeing up police resources and reducing incidents by a third.

The Control of Horses Bill, proposed by Julian Sturdy MP for York Outer, was passed in March 2015, following almost three years of campaigning from a coalition of welfare and rural organisations for tougher laws to address fly-grazing due to the significant problems the practice causes for both horses and people.

The coalition produced a guidance document which provides information about the Act and its use for landowners and local authorities. This can be downloaded from the National Equine Welfare Council website.