THE BRITISH HORSE SOCIETY

Registered charity 210504 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · Wikidata: Q2925728 · Wikipedia · also known as BHS · also registered in Scotland as SC038516 (OSCR)

The British Horse Society works for horses and riders in the UK and abroad. Focusing on horse welfare, horse and rider safety, access and rights of way, training and approving livery yards and riding schools. The Society promotes community participation in healthy recreation involving the horse, at both competition and grass roots level.

Objects

1. TO PROMOTE AND ADVANCE THE EDUCATION, TRAINING AND SAFETY OF THE PUBLIC IN ALL MATTERS RELATING TO THE HORSE; 2. TO PROMOTE THE USE, BREEDING, WELL-BEING, SAFETY, ENVIRONMENT, HEALTH AND MANAGEMENT OF THE HORSE FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT; 3. TO PROMOTE COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION IN HEALTHY RECREATION INVOLVING THE HORSE; 4. TO PROMOTE AND FACILITATE THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY, NEGLECT OR HARM TO HORSES AND TO PROMOTE THE RELIEF, SAFETY, SANCTUARY, RESCUE AND WELFARE OF HORSES IN NEED OF CARE, ATTENTION AND ASSISTANCE; 5. TO PROMOTE AND SECURE THE PROVISION, PROTECTION AND PRESERVATION OF RIGHTS OF WAY AND OF ACCESS FOR RIDDEN AND DRIVEN HORSES OVER PUBLIC ROADS, HIGHWAYS, FOOTPATHS, BRIDLEWAYS, CARRIAGEWAYS, PUBLIC PATHS AND OTHER LAND. HORSES FOR THE PURPOSE OF THE OBJECTS MEANS ANY MEMBER OF THE FAMILY EQUIDAE.

Area of benefit: NOT DEFINED

The charity’s charitable objects and area of benefit, quoted from its governing document as held on the Charity Commission register.

Causes: Education/training · Amateur Sport · Animals · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Warwick, West Midlands, England (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity reported a surplus on unrestricted, undesignated, consolidated funds of £1,466,000 for the year ended 31 December 2025. Total income increased to £17,655,000 from £15,996,000 in the prior year, while total expenditure rose to £17,466,000 from £16,904,000. The trustees confirm that the level of unrestricted, undesignated consolidated reserves of £5,846,000 is within the acceptable operating range of £5.0 million to £6.5 million identified in the reserves policy.

Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by UHY Hacker Young (Birmingham) LLP. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.

In its annual return the charity told the Commission it is also regulated by: Financial Conduct Authority. This is the charity’s own declaration; it is not a rating and has not been verified by the Commission or by this site.

Policies the charity declares

In its annual return the charity told the Commission that it has the policies listed below. This is self-declared: it is not verified by the Commission or by this site, and it is not evidence of how a policy works in practice.

• Bullying and harassment policy and procedures
• Complaints handling
• Complaints policy and procedures
• Conflicting interests
• Financial reserves policy and procedures
• Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
• Internal risk management policy and procedures
• Investing charity funds policy and procedures
• Investment
• Paying staff
• Risk management
• Safeguarding policy and procedures
• Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
• Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
• Social media policy and procedures
• Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
• Trustee expenses policy and procedures
• Volunteer management

From the charity’s annual return (Part A, self-declared)

Answers and figures the charity gave in Part A of its annual return to the Charity Commission. They are self-declared: not verified by the Commission or by this site. Only positive answers and figures are listed; items not listed are simply not shown.

Source: this charity’s annual returns on the Charity Commission register.

Corporate structure

• Registered company of the charity Companies House 00444742

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — British Horse Society (matched by registered charity number).

Company officers (Companies House)

Current officers of the charity’s own company per the Companies House register, cross-checked against the Charity Commission trustee list by name. A director not on the trustee list is usually a timing or naming difference between the two registers — check both records before drawing conclusions.

• MCCARTHY, Sally — director, appointed 16/07/2026on trustee list
• HILLIER, Victoria — director, appointed 16/07/2026on trustee list
• HARE, Jonathan Arthur — director, appointed 16/07/2026on trustee list
• STENNETT, Philip Andrew — director, appointed 17/07/2025on trustee list
• GRIEVE, Lucy Barbara Elizabeth — director, appointed 17/07/2025on trustee list
• GRIFFIN, Susan — director, appointed 17/07/2025on trustee list
• SPENCER-WILLIAMS, Sarah — director, appointed 17/07/2025on trustee list
• GREGORY, Samantha Claire — director, appointed 11/07/2024on trustee list
• GREENWOOD, Nicola Suzanne — director, appointed 29/06/2022on trustee list
• SILCOCK, Karen — director, appointed 30/06/2021on trustee list
• EDWARD, Alexis — secretary, appointed 03/09/2024

Official officers record.

Property (HM Land Registry)

1 registered title in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (1 freehold). All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook (177,807 followers) · instagram (48K followers)

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/12/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~5.3 months of spending — above the median for charities its size (median 4.6 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (93% of income) — components as reported reconcile to the return’s total income; not from the accounts narrative.

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 3.9% of total income — above the median for charities its size (3.7%) (benchmarks).

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (14/09/2021) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (19/12/2018) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• Karen Silcockchair · trustee of 1 other charity
• Jonathan Hare
• Lucy Grieve
• Nicola Suzanne Greenwood
• Philip Andrew Stennett
• Sally McCarthy
• Samantha Claire Gregory
• Sarah Spencer-Williams
• Susan Griffin
• Victoria Hillier

Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).

Operates in: Isle Of Man · Northern Ireland · Scotland · Throughout England And Wales

Income and spending

Common questions

Known funders

Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.

Grants marked “Unverified read” were flagged by automated checks as possibly misread from the funder’s filed accounts. They are listed, but left out of the totals, counts and funder relationships this site computes.

Government & lottery funding

Grants to this charity published as open data by government and lottery funders (360Giving).

Funders of similar charities

Funders whose accounts show grants to charities similar to this one (and no recorded grant to this charity) — a starting list for fundraisers.

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with ASSOCIATION OF BRITISH RIDING SCHOOLS.

• ASSOCIATION OF BRITISH RIDING SCHOOLS income £153k
• THE IRISH DRAUGHT HORSE SOCIETY (GREAT BRITAIN) income £124k
• RETRAINING OF RACE HORSES income £2.5m
• SPORT HORSE BREEDING OF GREAT BRITAIN income £280k
• BRANSBY HORSES income £8.3m
• THE SHIRE HORSE SOCIETY income £595k

Side by side with its peers

Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.