Household Cavalry horses given ‘dirty water’, ‘only one hour of exercise’ and ‘shouted at’, whistleblower tells LBC

26 April 2024, 07:43 | Updated: 26 April 2024, 12:25

By Henry Riley

@HenryRiley1

Household Cavalry horses are kept in barracks which are inappropriate for their needs, a whistleblower has told LBC.

Two horses remain injured following Wednesday's six-mile rampage through central London when five animals bolted during an exercise after being spooked by construction workers.

Practicing for a Major General’s inspection in Hyde Park, the horses eventually threw four soldiers onto the ground - injuring three, along with a member of the public.

But LBC has been told by a whistleblower that the horses at Hyde Park Barracks are sometimes kept in “horrible” conditions.

Kate - which is an alias - worked with those same horses at the barracks for two years, before leaving just a few months ago.

She said she raised concerns about the welfare of the animals as well as the conditions they are kept in.

“Those horses are so nervous. They are ready to explode. I don’t think it’s a healthy environment. It doesn’t provide what a horse needs, and space,” she said.

Four people taken to hospital after military horses bolt through central London

Kate also explained that she saw rats roaming around where the horses are kept, loose cables, and said that they were often given “dirty water” - which volunteers believe caused the horses to become sick.

Concern was also raised that the horses were “kept in stalls, and not always loose boxes”, which Kate says gave them “very little possibility to move during the day”.

The whistleblower told LBC it meant they would sometimes “only have exercise for an hour a day, and very little sunlight, often stuck inside”.

Read more: Runaway Household Cavalry horse ‘Vida’ has ‘history of being spooked and kicked soldier in head during coronation'

Read more: Two Household Cavalry horses 'in serious condition' amid fears animals may not survive after London rampage

Photographer describes seeing spooked horses running through London as 'surreal'

It’s also alleged that the horses were sometimes shouted at by soldiers. She explains that while she was grooming a horse, it was shouted at by a trooper  who yelled “you stupid animal”.

Concerns have also been raised by Victoria Smith, a horse behavioural expert from Somerset.

She said: “I really do not agree with the way they are kept.”

“We’ve always know they are kept in stalls, not stables. They can’t have any grazing, they can’t stretch, they can’t run, they can’t roll. When I see them, they’re clearly very stiff -their heads are shaking and they don’t want to stand still”

“They are beautiful, majestic animals. It needs to change, it’s old fashioned and it doesn’t work”

Jennifer White, from the animal rights organisation PETA, said there should be an “investigation” into how horses are kept, and called for the government to reconsider how cavalry horses are homed.

An Army spokesperson told LBC: “We take the health and wellbeing of our military working horses extremely seriously. They are well looked after, exercised daily and have 24/7 direct access to world-class veterinary care.”