Our History

Five Decades of Equine Welfare

We feel incredibly humbled that our 600 acre site started as one man’s dream to alleviate equine suffering when he purchased eight acres of land in the hamlet of Bransby in 1968.

Bransby Horses charity founder, Mr Peter Hunt, rescued his first horse in 1947. Sally was a four-year-old mare who was kept near a bombsite in South London. She was found tearing about with a tyre around her neck after the furniture van she was kept in had overturned in a storm.

Peter rescued the young mare and when he moved to Bransby, Lincolnshire, to start the charity in 1968, Sally came too. One of the first horses rescued by the charity was a blind grey mare called Faith. Sally and Faith became firm friends.

Bransby Horses has grown significantly over the last five decades, acquiring new land and facilities, and is now one of the largest equine welfare charities in the UK, dedicated to improving equine welfare through rescue, rehabilitation, care, advice and learning.

Bransby Horses cares for over 300 horses, ponies, donkeys and mules across their two sites. There are also more than 550 out in foster homes under the Perfect Partner rehoming scheme.

In recent years, the demand for rescue has seen a dramatic increase for various reasons, including a lack of knowledge and financial hardship. In 2013, Welfare Officers rescued 67 equines, while in 2019, they rescued 142.

Thanks to public donations and legacies, a specialist quarantine unit (the Animal Reception Centre) was opened in 2013 in Bransby to improve biosecurity and enable the charity to better cope with the influx of equines in desperate need of help.

In 2018 the charity invested in a sister site – 800 acres of land in Barlings, near Langworth a few miles away from Bransby, Lincolnshire. After the significant flooding the Bransby site suffered in November 2019, the first group of horses and ponies were relocated to the Barlings site in early 2020. More continue to join them as the charity continues to grow in response to increased equine welfare demands.