World Horse Welfare’s Belwade Farm, in Aboyne, Aberdeenshire, is home to around 65 horses at any one given time.

The centre now receives the largest number of equine neglect cases in Scotland and has expanded from 45 acres to 170 acres in order to meet demand. In 2012 a new indoor school was added, together with a visitor centre, bistro and lecture room.

The original farm was given to World Horse Welfare by Dianna Elliot, in the late 1980s and the doors were opened to the public in 1990. Eileen Gillen helped set up the farm and has remained there since as the centre manager as well as helping to train the horses.

“The expansion to the farm provided the local community with a great facility,” said Eileen. “It’s been made possible through donations to the charity, which enabled us to capitalise on the beautiful area of Deeside that we’re in.”

The visitor centre is in the perfect position to take in the beautiful views as well as overlooking the fields where the horses graze, allowing visitors to really in the surrounding area.

During the summer, it has more than 1000 visitors a week passing through its doors. There are lots of things to do, including meeting the horses, go on a nature walk and having a look around the farm.

Eileen added: “We run pony days and tours for a small fee to help fundraising as well as occasions such as birthday parties or wedding receptions. All the money raised goes straight back to the horses,” she explained.

“The visitor centre also helps us promote other charity work we are doing nationally or internationally. We have a campaign against the unnecessary long-distance transportation of horses to slaughter in Europe and through petitions are hoping to try and put a halt to long distance transport by our centenary year in 2027.”

“At Belwade, we deal with all ages and breeds, from Clydesdales to racehorses, to Shetlands. Due to this year’s long winter, we had an increase in the number of cases admitted to the farm. Luckily, we have the ability to accept more when we need to,” stated Eileen.

“In the period of January to May, the 60 horses already here were joined by 24 new cases and 10 returned horses. Each horse is treated as an individual and our main aim is to have each one rehomed.

“Our priority is the horses. Ideally, none of them are here for any more than two years as we need to keep turning over to be able to help other horses. We have many sections for our horses to be rehomed under – including a companion, hack, young handling and pleasure competition. Our job satisfaction comes from seeing the horses successfully in their future jobs,” added Eileen.

When horses arrive at Belwade they are seen by a vet within a week, are all passported, micro-chipped and blood tested, then treated as necessary. Any entire males get castrated and all of the horses receive visits from the dentist, farrier and physio.

“All of this is done in isolation and horses can be there for up to three weeks. Eileen continued: “We now see lots of semi-feral horses coming to us in large groups, they are dealt with as a herd before they are split up and worked with individually.

“We try to keep our costs down, producing our own hay and haylage, and horses are on minimal hard feed as they are fed to type. All the horses are out as much as they can be and can come into the big open barn where they are kept in groups.

“Annually it costs around £5000 per horse from when they arrive to when they are rehomed. We have a team of nine full-time yard staff, which each have a set number of horses to look after and seven other members of staff who cover everything from front of house to maintenance work. In this job you never stop learning,” concluded Eileen.

It costs just £15 to adopt a horse for three months and you’ll receive a welcome pack and written updates throughout the year. For more information visit www.worldhorsewelfare.org/adopt or call 01953497239.