THE RSPCA says exhaustion of horses will be a big focus for the team at this year’s Appleby Horse Fair, which begins tomorrow (Thursday 6 June).

The annual Gypsy and traveller event - which goes on until Monday (10 June) - is both the RSPCA’s biggest deployment of staff and multi-agency undertaking of the year, with six other horse organisations also involved.

This year 34 RSPCA officers will be attending including specialist equine officers from across England and Wales. Blue Cross, Bransby Horses, British Horse Society, The Donkey Sanctuary, Redwings Horse Sanctuary and World Horse Welfare are also sending staff to work in various capacities.

RSPCA chief inspector Rob Melloy said: “Exhaustion of horses will be a big focus for the team at this year’s Appleby.

“We’ve had overworked and dehydrated horses on our hands for the past three years.

“The majority of horse owners at the fair are good horsemen and women but there are some myths that need debunking, specifically around the provision of water. It is okay to allow a horse to drink immediately after exercise.

Watch: A video of exhaustion testing courtesy of Redwings is available here

“When you’ve bought a horse you don’t know how much that horse has already been worked, some of these horses are being massively overworked over the course of the fair, it would be like asking someone to run a marathon three days in a row.”

Blue Cross is sending six people from their horse team and two from education. Bransby Horses is sending a team of three people. The Donkey Sanctuary is sending five donkey welfare advisers and one vet. Redwings Horse Sanctuary have nine staff in attendance - four veterinary surgeons, two senior field officers, three people from the education team and a farrier. World Horse Welfare will be sending eight members of staff.

There will be a vet station at Salt Tip Corner where assistance can be sought for any animal that needs it. The vet station will be staffed on Friday, Saturday and Sunday between 10am and 4pm.

The RSPCA will be tweeting from the event from its @RSPCA_Frontline account and Redwings will be running their #BestAtAppleby welfare awards again this year to recognise excellent examples of equine health and horsemanship, with the overall champion and junior champion announced on Sunday.