The program on equine welfare, addresses the livelihood issue of the equine owners', by directly working on issues related to the welfare of the equines. The program talks of five freedoms (freedom from pain &and suffering, freedom to eat, freedom from wounds, freedom from fear, freedom to move freely in group), and collective action promoted by equine welfare groups formed at the community level. An important aspect of the program is easy access to quality service delivery related to equine welfare. So, we work with government vets, farriers, hair clippers, local health providers and para vets, so that welfare of the equines becomes a responsibility of all rather than just the equine owners.

Working with this community for the past six years, SAKAR has tried to establish the identity of women as equine owners. As a result participation of women equine owners’ increased and special intervention was designed for them. At present we are working in 2 districts of Bareilly and Rampur under this program. In Bareilly there are 8786 equine owners, with 64 women equine owning groups. There are 6 networks of equine owners with 890 equine owners as members. Linkage with other government schemes and NRLM has been our forte. From time to the equine owners are capacitated on different acts like RTI, DV act, PCPNDT act etc. 34 Community resource persons have been identified in different blocks who are supporting the program in the field for its sustainability. Similarly in Rampur district there are 4590 equine owners, with 70 women equine owning groups. There are 4 samities with 589 equine owners.