THE RSPCA is appealing for people in East Lancashire with room for horses to open up their stables as foster homes.

An emergency appeal has been launched because the number of young horses in the charity’s care has doubled in the past year.

The charity is looking after 600 ponies and horses which have suffered neglect and cruelty, and almost half of them are youngsters.

To tackle the growing horse crisis, the RSPCA has launched the Stable Future appeal to find fosterers to temporarily look after some of its 270 youngsters, which are too young to be ridden.

RSPCA chief inspector Cathy Hyde, equine officer for the North of England, said: “Over the past year we’ve seen a huge increase in the amount of horses being abandoned, or allowed to get into an appalling state because the trade in horses has collapsed.

“We’ve heard of young horses being sold for £5 – less than the price of a bottle of wine.

“They’re being bought and sold in pubs, and we’ve come across a case of someone keeping a horse on a tower block balcony and feeding it on kitchen scraps.

“We have a never-ending tide of young horses coming into our centres.

“Fostering our youngsters is a way that horse lovers can help us with this problem.”