Communities For Horses

Communities For Horses is a charitable organization based in the United Kingdom. It works to improve equine welfare by providing education and support to horse owners in deprived areas.

History and philosophy

Communities For Horses (CFH) was founded in July 2017 to continue the pioneering outreach work of Communities Horse and Pony Scheme (CHAPS), a charity funded by the National Lottery to improve the lives of both people and horses in Swansea, Wales. In November 2018, CFH achieved its Charity Status and was registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales with the Charity no. 1180625.

CFH’s philosophy is defined in their motto: Educate. Support. Change. The charity’s aim is to provide non-judgemental support to deprived communities, as well as drive positive change by giving horse owners the opportunity to learn, improve their confidence and acquire life skills. Many of the horse owners CFH work with are under 25 years-old who find in their horses the only source of motivation to keep going or stay away from drugs.

Activities

The charity offers assistance with community projects by working in partnership with local authorities and other organisations to address the root causes of equine welfare issues.

However, in line with their philosophy, their most important activity relates to Education Programmes. Tailored to meet the needs of horse owners in the deprived areas, the main topics covered are (1) legislation around horse ownership, (2) equine psychology and (3) horse care, which includes feeding, stable management and first aid.

The charity supports many horse owners who are children or young adults under 25. In some cases, they have special educational needs. Previous work by the charity has shown that the benefits of their education programmes can have far-reaching benefits such as stronger “soft skills” and even improved performance back in school. In some cases, these educational programmes are designed to serve as a good complement for either school education or home schooling and have proven very effective for children with special educational needs such as ADHD, Dyslexia and similar learning disabilities.

Also, CFH offers equine welfare assistance and support through their 24hr telephone helpline and the Resources section on their website, plus they give advice on a case-by-case basis.

Finally, they run veterinary days and castration clinics to support horse owners in improving the welfare of their animals and to stop indiscriminate horse breeding.

Trustees and Management

1. Mrs S. Mcmillan (Chair)
2. Daniel Phillip Towers  (Trustee)
3. William Smith (Trustee)
4. Katherine Thomas (Trustee)
5. Melissa Eve Baker (Trustee)
6. Lisa Lanfear (CEO and Co-Founder)
7. Rebecca Parkhouse
8. Sophia Salmon
9. William Smith
10. Suzanne Rogers (Co-Founder)
11. Melissa Baker
12. Bethan Matthews

References

This article "Communities For Horses" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Communities For Horses. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

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