The Horse Trust is today celebrating the progress made by the horses, ponies and donkeys rescued from Spindles Farm three years ago. Of the more than 100 horses, ponies and donkeys rescued from Spindles Farm between 4 and 9 January 2008, the 14 considered most “at risk” were taken to The Horse Trust in Speen,…
Visitors to The Horse Trust in Speen, Buckinghamshire are now able to meet four colts that were rescued from Spindles Farm in January 2008. For the last 18 months, the colts – Ben, Dazzle, Star and Walt – could not be brought into the main yard as they had not been gelded, so had to…
Buckinghamshire horse dealer James Gray and his family’s appeal against their sentence for animal welfare convictions have been quashed at Aylesbury Crown Court today, after their convictions for animal welfare offences were upheld last week on 6th May. The sentencing remains as previously set last May 2009, however, James Gray has absconded from court and…
Members of the Gray family have today had their convictions for animal welfare offences upheld by Aylesbury Crown Court. James Gray, his wife Julie, daughters Jodie and Cordelia, and James Gray Junior, were successfully prosecuted by the RSPCA in 2009, but appealed against their conviction. “We are delighted that the court has upheld the verdict,”…
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Jeanette Allen
Chief Executive Officer
Jeanette is a chartered director who began her career in the commercial sector, setting up and running her own successful recruitment business. After the sale of the business she moved to the charity sector as a fundraiser for the NSPCC and later Bart’s Hospital before becoming the CEO of the MedicAlert Foundation.
Jeanette became the CEO of The Horse Trust in 2010 where she has undertaken a strategic review of the Trust’s charitable aims and objectives and also implemented a major re-development project at the charity’s base, the Home of Rest for Horses, in Buckinghamshire.
Carolyn Madgwick
Director of Legislation & Enforcement
Carolyn joined The Horse Trust in 2016 having spent 27 years as a Senior Trading Standards Officer leading a team of officers specialising in the enforcement of animal health and welfare legislation. At The Horse Trust, Carolyn maintains her level of expertise in legislation, develops training materials and provides training and advice on legislation for many audiences including the Emergency Services, Local Authorities, Vets and other equine charities. She is the current Chair of the National Equine Welfare Council (NEWC), the British Horse Council representative on the RCVS Riding Establishments Sub-Committee and represents the Trust on many other committees and in meetings with Government Officials.
Charlotte Launder
Director of Training
Charlotte has more than 20 years’ experience working with horses and has been at The Horse Trust since 2012. Prior to this Charlotte worked as a lecturer at an agricultural college during her PGCE teaching students in Further and Higher Education. As the Director of Training, she coordinates internal and external training courses. This includes training the Equine Care Team internally and externally, training Emergency Responders, Welfare Professionals, Farriers, and other professionals. Charlotte also manages the retraining of horses at The Horse Trust using behaviour modification techniques and is working towards becoming a Clinical Animal Behaviourist to support this.
Claire Lett
Director of Finance & Administration
Claire has been a qualified accountant for over 20 years. Having joined The Horse Trust in 2001, Claire is the Director of Finance and Administration where she deals with everything financial up to and including full statutory accounts. As part of the senior management team she has also been involved in all aspects of modernising the charity and setting and achieving its strategic goals. Claire was a dedicated rider and horse owner for many years and feels passionately about all animals.
Jan Rogers
Director of Research and Policy
Jan is a psychology graduate who before joining The Horse Trust spent 15 years with British Equestrian, the UK governing body for horse sports, running programmes to identify future talent in young performance horses. Jan came to The Horse Trust in 2017 to look after research grants and policy for the horse world. This two-part role involves sharing the knowledge learned from funded projects as well as understanding regulations and the political environment in the horse world, so that the research we fund is relevant and directly applicable to the wellbeing of horses.
David Andrews
Estate Manager
David is one of the longest standing members of The Horse Trust team. After working as a chef for a period of time, he joined The Horse Trust in 1998 as an estate worker. David is now the Estate Manager, and takes care of all maintenance of our 280 acre estate including ensuring that the fields in which our horses, ponies and donkeys live are well maintained, that they are secure and provides our residents with the best possible environment.
Gemma Pearson
Director of Equine Behaviour
Gemma combines her time between research and outreach as Director of Equine Behaviour at The Horse Trust and running a referral clinic for clinical equine behaviour cases where she is based at the University of Edinburgh. She is also an accredited racecourse veterinary surgeon and enjoys working at Musselburgh racecourse.
After working in ambulatory practice Gemma moved to the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies where she completed a rotating residency programme in the equine hospital, completing her Cert AVP (EM), alongside an MScR investigating horse veterinarian interactions.
Subsequently she completed her CCAB (certified clinical animal behaviourist) and her PhD thesis ‘Stress in equids undergoing veterinary care and the development of interventions that positively influence the horses’ experience’. As well as continuing with her own research she supervises several students at PhD, MSc and undergraduate level.
Gemma is frequently invited to lecture internationally, as a recognised expert in this field and an excellent communicator. One of the most successful projects was filming a series of short YouTube videos with the British Equine Veterinary Association aiming to reduce injury rates when dealing with difficult horses under the ‘Don’t break your vet’ campaign.
As the Veterinary Liaison Officer for the International Society for Equitation Science, Gemma is passionate about improving interactions between horses and people, specifically regarding the application of learning theory. In her spare time she has competed up to advanced level endurance on a homebred horse as well as enjoying competing in affiliated dressage and eventing. Currently she is retraining a Thoroughbred recently retired from racing.
Gemma is a qualified veterinary surgeon with over 15 years’ experience with behaviour cases. Gemma is now a qualified Equine Clinical Animal Behaviourist and is the Veterinary Liaison Officer for the International Society for Equitation Science, where she has been involved with several working parties to improve the welfare of horses around the world. Currently, Gemma is undertaking a PhD investigating the stress response of horses undergoing veterinary treatment, with the plan to develop low stress handling techniques.
Jim green
Director of Operations for BARTA
Jim co-founded the British Animal Rescue and Trauma Association (BARTA) in 2012 and together with Professor Josh Slater, promoted the growing initiative alongside their regular careers. BARTA was established with a clear vision to support first responders in the resolution of emergency situations involving animals, with informed, safe and welfare driven plans. In 2019, BARTA became a subsidiary of The Horse Trust and this partnership enabled Jim to continue the journey as full time Director of BARTA. Jim continues to respond operationally to animal incidents through his on-call role as an Animal Rescue Specialist with Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service.
Liane Preshaw
Quality of Life and Research Director
In her role, Liane supports the team by researching new developments in how we care for, manage and train horses, so that we can continue to update and improve our practices, and therefore improve the welfare of the horses in our care. Liane also develops training resources for trainee clinical animal behaviourists and assists the team in dealing with behaviour cases. Liane has a Post-Graduate Diploma in Clinical Animal Behaviour, an MPhil in assessing horse welfare, and an MSc and BSc in Equine Science. She is an ABTC registered Accredited Animal Behaviourist and has achieved pre-certification as a Clinical Animal Behaviourist, which means she has met the knowledge criteria for this role. Liane continues to develop her clinical skills and is working towards becoming an ABTC registered Clinical Animal Behaviourist. She is also a BHS Accredited Professional Coach.
Nicola Housby-Skeggs
Veterinary Director
Nicky graduated from the Royal Veterinary College in 2007 and joined The Royal Army Veterinary Corps. She served for 10 years: firstly, with Military Working Dogs preparing them and their handlers for deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan. Later she served as the veterinary officer for The King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery and The Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment with some of The Horse Trust’s most loved residents including the late Falstaff and Captain Greatgun. She now works as the Veterinary Director for The Horse Trust providing both the onsite veterinary provision, internal and external training and providing part of the RVC final year rotations.
Russell Pickin
Director of Equine Care
Before joining The Horse Trust, Russell completed thirty-four years’ service with the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS). He specialised in public order work as an instructor at the Public Order Training Centre and then the Mounted Branch. As a Mounted Branch Inspector, Russell commanded mounted units on countless public order, large incidents and ceremonial events across London and finished his career riding on and commanding the mounted units at Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee. He was the Chairman for the National Mounted Training Advisory Group and also the MPS’s Chief Equitation Officer responsible for buying and training police horses and the training of the MPS’s mounted officers. During this role he developed a good working partnership with The Horse Trust where he is now the Director of Equine Care and heads a team of grooms and volunteers that look after our 130 horses.
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Jessica Tallman
Director of Fundraising & Communications
Jessica has been at the heart of The Horse Trust’s fundraising and communications since 2020, working tirelessly to secure the vital support that keeps our sanctuary running. From planning major events and writing grant proposals to championing our work in the media, no two days are ever the same!
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Growing up in Kentucky, Jessica was surrounded by animals and always had a passion for their wellbeing. Now, she works shoulder to shoulder with our team of experts, helping give back to the horses who have given so much to us.
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With six years in the charity fundraising sector, including roles at Coeliac UK, and previous experience in the corporate sector, Jessica brings a wealth of knowledge in development and growth. She also holds Bachelor and Master’s degrees in Arts, History, and Business from the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of Aberdeen.
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Jessica is a driving force behind our fundraising success, ensuring we can continue providing the best possible care to every horse, pony, and donkey at our Home of Rest for Horses and beyond.
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