The Coastal Horse Care Unit

The Coastal Horse Care Unit is based on a beautiful farm in the Cato Ridge area of KZN and is a Section 21 Company.

The CHCU gets involved in all aspects of equine welfare, including but not limited to:

• Re-homing horses and donkeys to suitable homes on a special adoption policy
• Owner education and equine medical clinics in underprivileged areas
• Investigating and resolving cruelty/neglect complaints
• Hospitalizing horses and donkeys where owners cannot afford treatment

Our major focus is the concern of the working horses/donkeys from the township and rural life throughout KZN. Animals are often poorly treated as a result of lack of education and poverty rather than deliberate neglect or abuse. The Unit sends trained inspectors into the townships and rural areas to educate owners and provide them with support in the care of their animals, including help with harnessing, feeding, vaccinations and de-worming. The Unit also collects old and unwanted tack from the horse community and give this to under privileged owners to ensure humane use of their animals.

In cases of blatant abuse the inspectors will confiscate the horse and take legal action against the owner, if a positive result is possible. Unfortunately, the legal process is very slow and the Unit does not have the resources for extended legal action and does not have the facilities to house animals subject to legal action over extended periods of months and often, years.

The education of owners, drivers and children in townships and rural areas where we work is a vital part of our organisation’s operations. We regularly hold training workshops in which we work, teach skills that not only benefit the working horse and donkey, but also empower the owner.

We provide a re-homing service for equines which owners no longer can afford or want. We locate and investigate suitable homes for these horses and donkeys for where they are best suited. Where horses are not suitable for re-homing we attempt to place them with foster homes. All re-homed horses are monitored on a regular basis and they will be re-possessed if the home is deemed unsuitable.