A horse rescued from Britain’s worst recorded case of equine neglect – Spindles Farm in Buckinghamshire – has been successfully rehomed thanks to World Horse Welfare.
Wilma arrived at the charity’s Hall Farm rescue and rehoming centre in 2008, emaciated, covered in lice and suffering from strangles.
The mare was one of more than 100 horses, ponies and donkeys removed from Spindles Farm after 30 horses were found dead and many more were suffering from severe neglect.
Eight-year-old Wilma was backed last year and has found a home with Jan Cooper who visited Hall Farm in Norfolk after hearing about the charity’s rehoming campaign.
“I did a google search and up popped World Horse Welfare ‘Rehome a horse month’,” Ms Cooper said.
“I was looking for something around 14hh and Wilma was there – it seemed like fate.”
The charity declared last July “Rehome a horse” month to highlight the need to create more space in its centres by rehoming animals.
And due to the success of last year’s campaign it has dedicated March as the “Rehome a horse” month for 2012.
World Horse Welfare’s Tony Tyler said: “The case of Wilma just goes to show how we can give a horse who has suffered a second chance in life.
“You wouldn’t have believed how much of a transformation [the horses rescued from Spindles Farm] could make.”
Volunteers who rehome a horse are offered continual advice and support from World Horse Welfare’s staff and the opportunity to return the horse if circumstances change or for example, their child outgrows it.
In September 2010, James Gray – who owned Spindles Farm – was released from prison after serving just over 12 weeks of an eight-month sentence.
For more information visit www.worldhorsewelfare.org/rehoming
Stay in touch with all the news in the run-up to and throughout the major shows and events during 2026 and beyond with a Horse & Hound subscription. Subscribe today for all you need to know ahead of these major events, plus online reports on the action as it happens from our expert team of reporters and in-depth analysis in our special commemorative magazines. Have a subscription already? Set up your unlimited website access now
