Skip to main content

Working horse appeal · Pakistan

Help Working Horses

Working horses pull carts, carry goods and keep families earning. Many suffer untreated wounds, lameness, exhaustion and dental pain without access to basic veterinary care.

DONATE NOW How your gift helps
Working horse needing mobile veterinary care

In brief

The best way to help working horses abroad is to fund mobile equine clinics, farriery, wound care, dental treatment, nutrition support and owner education where the horses actually work. WARN funds partner-led working-horse welfare in Pakistan, its in-network focus country.

~116M

Working horses, donkeys & mules

~600M

People who depend on them

~400K+

Horses in Pakistan (FAO est.)

Pakistan

WARN's in-network focus

Figures: FAO/FAOSTAT and peer-reviewed research. Full citations in the Sources section below.

Why Do Working Horses Need Help?

For millions of families, a horse is not a pet — it is the engine of the household. In Pakistan, WARN's in-network focus, horses haul bricks in kilns, pull carts in markets, work in agriculture and carry building materials. When the horse is healthy, the family can earn; when it is lame or injured, that income can disappear overnight.

Yet the people who rely on horses are often poor themselves, with no affordable access to vets, farriers or humane harness equipment. The result is widespread, preventable suffering: open harness sores, untreated hooves, dental pain, parasites, dehydration and exhaustion. Because owner and animal share the same hardship, helping the horse almost always helps the family too.

WARN is a registered global not-for-profit animal welfare organisation. Its role is not to run clinics itself but to fund partner-led working-equine welfare — mobile treatment, emergency care, practical equipment and owner education that reduce pain now and prevent it returning.

What Welfare Problems Do Working Horses Face?

Most are preventable with basic care. Peer-reviewed welfare research on working equids in low- and middle-income countries documents high rates of wounds, lameness and hoof disease (see Sources).

Harness & cart wounds. Ill-fitting harnesses, ropes and overloading rub and cut, leaving painful open sores on withers, chest and girth.

Lameness & hoof disease. Overgrown, cracked or untrimmed hooves and poor farriery are a leading cause of pain and early retirement.

Dental pain. Sharp points and untreated teeth make eating — and working — painful and inefficient for horses pulling loads all day.

Dehydration & heat stress. Long hours in high temperatures with too little water, shade and rest exhaust the animal and risk colic.

Brick-kiln & industrial work. Horses hauling bricks and building materials in kilns and construction sites face some of the harshest working-equine conditions on Earth.

Parasites & malnutrition. Worms and underfeeding quietly drain body condition; a thin horse cannot carry the loads its owner depends on.

Untreated injuries. Wounds are often left without pain relief, antibiotics or basic first aid — turning minor injuries into chronic lameness.

How Many Working Horses And Equids Are There?

Together with donkeys and mules, around 116 million working equids support the livelihoods of roughly 600 million people, overwhelmingly in low- and middle-income countries. Pakistan holds an estimated 400,000–500,000 horses. Because working equids are frequently left out of official counts, the real totals may be higher.

Working horses and working equids at a glance
Working equids worldwide ~116 million horses, donkeys and mules (peer-reviewed estimate)
People who depend on them ~600 million in low- and middle-income countries
Horses in Pakistan (est.) ~400,000–500,000 (FAO livestock data)
Most common work Cart haulage, brick kilns, agriculture, market transport, waste collection
Top welfare problems Wounds, lameness, hoof & dental disease, heat stress
Best clinic model Mobile veterinary care taken to where horses work — not removal
WARN focus Pakistan — partner-led mobile clinics, farriery & owner education
WARN's role Funds partner-led welfare; does not run its own equine clinics

Figures from FAO/FAOSTAT and peer-reviewed welfare research. See Sources below.

What Does WARN Fund For Working Horses?

WARN funds partner-led welfare in Pakistan — practical, field-based care delivered by local teams who know the communities and the horses.

Mobile equine clinics

Field treatment for wounds, infection, colic risk, lameness and exhaustion — taken to brick kilns, markets and industrial districts.

Farriery & hoof care

Hoof trimming and lameness support for horses who cannot travel to a clinic and may never have seen a farrier.

Dental care

Tooth rasping and pain relief so horses can eat properly and work without chronic mouth pain.

Nutrition support

Feed guidance and emergency support for thin or overworked horses whose owners cannot afford adequate rations.

Harness & owner education

Better-fitting equipment and practical guidance that prevent recurring load and harness wounds.

Donate to Working Horses

How Your Donation Helps

Every gift funds partner-led field care for working horses. The maximum possible share reaches the animals that need it.

£25

Hoof & wound care

Helps fund farriery and wound treatment for a working horse that has never seen a vet.

£60

Mobile clinic visit

Helps fund a mobile veterinary visit that brings treatment to where horses work.

£150

Community welfare day

Helps fund a field day of veterinary care, dental work and owner education at a brick kiln or market.

Donate to the Working Horses Appeal

WARN is a registered global not-for-profit animal welfare organisation, not a charity, so it cannot claim Gift Aid. The donation case is transparency: low fixed costs and partner-led delivery in the countries where help is needed.

Working Horses FAQ

Why do working horses need help?
Working horses pull carts, carry goods and support families in places where veterinary care is limited or unaffordable. Common, preventable problems include harness and load wounds, lameness, overgrown hooves, dental pain, parasites, dehydration and exhaustion. Funding mobile veterinary care, farriery and owner education where horses work relieves that suffering — and protects the families who depend on them.
What welfare problems do working horses face?
The most common are skin wounds from ill-fitting harnesses and overloading, lameness and hoof disease from poor farriery, dental pain, internal parasites, dehydration and heat stress, and untreated injuries. Brick kilns and construction haulage are among the harshest environments. Most of these problems are preventable with basic, affordable care.
How many working horses are there in the world?
Counted together with working donkeys and mules, about 116 million working equids are in service globally, supporting the livelihoods of roughly 600 million people in low- and middle-income countries. Pakistan holds an estimated 400,000–500,000 horses. Many are never recorded in official livestock data, so true numbers may be higher.
Is this the same as horse rescue in the UK?
No. UK horse rescue often means sanctuary or rehoming. For working horses abroad, the highest-impact model is usually mobile veterinary care, farriery, nutrition support, humane harness improvement and owner education where the horse works — not removal from its owner.
Where does WARN's working-horse work happen?
WARN's current in-network focus for working horses is Pakistan, where horses haul bricks, market goods and farm loads in industrial districts and rural areas. Wider regions such as India, Kenya and Tanzania appear on this page as educational context, not current WARN partner-network countries. WARN funds partner-led welfare rather than running its own clinics.
Does WARN remove horses from their owners?
Not as the default. For most families a horse is essential to income and transport, so the highest-impact model is to bring care to where the horse works — mobile veterinary treatment, farriery, dental care, humane harness support and owner education. Removal is only ever a last resort in extreme cruelty or abandonment cases handled by local partners.
Why are brick kilns a welfare priority?
Brick kilns rely on hundreds of thousands of equines worldwide to haul heavy loads in heat and dust. Welfare assessments routinely find high rates of thinness, hoof and limb problems, harness wounds and exhaustion. Practical improvements — better harnesses, water, shade, rest, wound care and farrier access — can dramatically improve lives without ending the livelihood.
Can UK donors help working horses abroad?
Yes. UK supporters can help fund partner-led working horse welfare in WARN's network. WARN is a registered global not-for-profit animal welfare organisation rather than a registered charity, so Gift Aid (which is only available to UK registered charities) does not apply — the case for giving is transparency and low-cost, partner-led delivery where the horses actually work.
How does my donation help working horses?
Your gift funds partner-led mobile equine clinics, farriery, dental care, emergency medicines and owner education in Pakistan. WARN is a registered global not-for-profit animal welfare organisation, not a charity, so it cannot claim Gift Aid; the case for giving is transparency — low fixed costs and partner-led delivery where help is scarcest.

Sources & references

Figures on this page are drawn from primary, peer-reviewed and government sources.

  1. FAO / FAOSTAT — Global and country livestock data — horse populations in Pakistan and worldwide.
  2. The Socioeconomic Impact of Diseases of Working Equids in Low- and Middle-Income Countries — Animals (MDPI), 2023 — Peer-reviewed: around 116 million working equids worldwide support the livelihoods of roughly 600 million people.
  3. Working equids in brick kilns — peer-reviewed welfare assessments — Documented high rates of thinness, hoof problems, harness wounds and exhaustion in kiln environments.
  4. WARN newsroom — Horse rescue and working equines abroad — How mobile clinics and owner education help working horses in Pakistan and beyond.
Help working donkeys appeal → See all WARN appeals →