England and Wales confirm no plans to update equine welfare guidance

Scotland published updated equine welfare guidance in September 2026, developed by the National Equine Welfare Council with input from World Horse Welfare and other charities, replacing a code of practice that dated back to 2009. The new document moves beyond legal minimums to address horses' mental wellbeing and social needs alongside their physical care, drawing on a broad base of recent research and cross-sector expertise.

Horse & Hound has since confirmed that England and Wales have no plans to follow suit. A Defra spokesperson said there are "no plans" to update the equivalent code of practice for England, which dates to 2018, while a Welsh Government spokesperson said its own code "sets out clear standards" and that current focus remains on promoting awareness of it rather than revising it. World Horse Welfare's head of public affairs, Kim Ayling, described the responses as "disappointing," noting that updating the English and Welsh codes "would be relatively straightforward, as all the hard work has been done" in Scotland.

For horse owners and breeders, the practical guidance itself has value wherever it originates: welfare specialists at the Donkey Sanctuary and Redwings Horse Sanctuary both highlighted the Scottish document's breadth, encouraging keepers everywhere to read it as a reference point on providing horses, ponies and donkeys with a genuinely good quality of life, even while the codes that formally apply south of the border remain unchanged for now.