The charity's founder, Ada Cole, was spurred into action after witnessing a procession of British work horses being unloaded and whipped for four miles to slaughter in Belgium.
This introduced the concept of 'Minimum Values', which effectively stops the export of live horses for slaughter from Great Britain.
[6] The charity has 16 full-time field officers based around the UK who investigate concerns reported by the general public.
[7] Horses needing attention are taken into one of the charity's four Recovery and Rehabilitation Centres, based in Norfolk, Somerset (the Glenda Spooner Farm[8]), Lancashire and Aberdeenshire.
The charity works in the developing world, training local people in skills such as saddlery, farriery, nutrition and horse management.