news Ten Rehoming Centres officially accredited by RoR

Retraining of Racehorses (RoR) has formally accredited ten rehoming centres. Each of the ten centres meets certain key criteria and has passed an on-site inspection by the RoR Welfare Consultant and an official from the British Horseracing Authority (BHA).

RoR is British racing’s official charity for the welfare of retired racehorses and a key role for the charity is providing for former racehorses that are deemed ‘vulnerable’. On average, around one hundred horses a year enter RoR’s Vulnerable Horse Scheme to be cared for, rehabilitated and then rehomed.

Last year RoR implemented procedures to formalise its relationship with the centres that are selected to take in horses under the scheme. The centres receive funding from RoR for the care of the horses in question. The objective was to increase the transparency of the process by which centres are approved and to upgrade standards.

To become a RoR Accredited Rehoming Centre, each operation must sign up to the charity’s Code of Practice and agree the terms for the funding of horses within the Vulnerable Horse Scheme. The premises of each centre are also subject to inspection.

The accreditation procedure included the involvement of an independent, third party, the British Horseracing Authority (BHA). The BHA provided experienced officials, veterinary officers or stable inspectors, to assist the RoR Welfare Consultant in conducting inspections of the premises.

The centres were assessed in a range of areas to ensure they met the criteria of an Accredited Rehoming Centre. As well as checking that the on-site facilities were of a high standard, such as stabling, exercise, schooling and turn-out areas, the centres were also assessed on their staffing, veterinary care provisions, re-homing programme and governance, as well as the overall sustainability of the operation.

Variations in the size and scale of each operation were taken into account and not every centre needed to be a registered charity. It is RoR’s intention that there remains a geographical spread of centres across the country, along with diversity in terms of what each centre has to offer.

Accreditation is renewed on an annual basis and each centre is provided with a RoR Accredited Rehoming Centre kitemark to show they have been formally approved as meeting the criteria required to receive funding for the rehabilitation, retraining and rehoming of vulnerable former racehorses.

The ten accredited rehoming centres are:

• Greatwood, Marlborough, Wiltshire
• HAPPA, Burnley, Lancashire
• HEROS, Wantage, Oxfordshire
• Moorcroft, Slinfold, West Sussex
• New Beginnings, York, Yorkshire
• Peopleton Brook Farm, Old Sodbury, Gloucestershire
• Equine Management & Training (Fred & Rowena Cook), Stamford, Lincs
• Monkdown House (Kylie Manser-Baines), Maidstone, Kent
• World Horse Welfare, Aberdeen, Scotland
• World Horse Welfare, Snetterton, Norfolk

One further centre has applied to be accredited and the application is currently under consideration.

For more information contact: Philippa Gilmore, 01488 648998