World Horse
Welfare RoR
Pilot Scheme
Sees First Horse
Rehomed
Wold’s Agent (Ollie) is first
retrained racehorse to complete the
scheme and find a new home
orld Horse Welfare’s pilot
scheme with Retraining
of Racehorses (RoR) has
reached a milestone as
Wold’s Agent (Ollie), the first horse to
join the scheme, has found a new home.
The collaborative pilot scheme was
devised to use World Horse Welfare’s
expertise in preparing horses for new
lives and finding new homes for them
through its re-homing scheme which is
the largest of its kind in the UK. Funded
by RoR, the scheme is in addition to
World Horse Welfare’s existing UK
rescue and re-homing operations and led
to the appointment of specialist groom,
Emma Sawyers, who previously worked
at the Darley Racehorse Re-homing and
Retraining Centre and now retrains the
horses on the RoR pilot scheme at World
Horse Welfare’s Hall Farm in Norfolk.
Ollie arrived at World Horse Welfare’s
Hall Farm Rescue Centre in January
this year to undergo rehabilitation with
Emma. Ollie had a short racing career,
running a total of five times before he
was purchased by a lady who began his
training outside of the racing world.
Unfortunately, due to an injury she
became unable to care for him and so
he joined the World Horse Welfare ROR
pilot scheme.
Following physiotherapy and pole
work to develop and rebuild muscle
tone, Ollie’s ridden work progressed
quickly and after a few months he
began to take part in low-level dressage
competitions receiving high placings
each time. Once he joined World Horse
Welfare’s re-homing scheme, Ollie
received a lot of interest from potential
W
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Image: Ollie prior to leaving World Horse Welfare, August 2015
re-homers but Rossdales Equine
Hospital secretary, Rachel Clay, turned
out to be the perfect candidate.
Rachel Clay said, “I have been
riding for almost 30 years in a range of
disciplines but since becoming a mother
I have been taking things easy with just
hacking and light hunting. Now the
children are older I was keen to find a
horse which would help me get back into
competing and re-homing seemed like
the ideal solution. Ollie has settled into
his new home with us beautifully and
it is clear that he has been impeccably
schooled during his time at World Horse
Welfare. I’m really excited for us to start
our dressage career together!”
World Horse Welfare Deputy Chief
Executive, Tony Tyler said: “Ollie’s
successful re-homing is an important
milestone in the RoR pilot scheme and
we are delighted that he is going to a
home where he will be able to build
on his dressage success. We have also
recently added Freddie, anothe