Who are we?
Victoria Privett (EnduranceWithDarcey)
Victoria, known more commonly online as 'EnduranceWithDarcey', is a content creator that creates general equestrian content, mainly focused on equestrian safety and hacking videos, for her social media platforms. She started an online series in April 2023 called "Horses vs dogs" posting the footage from when her horse Darcey was injured on a bridleway by an out of control dog. Victoria was left feeling incredibly disappointed by the incident and the police outcome that she wanted to spread more awareness on the topic. Since then, Victoria has documented every interaction she has had with dogs while out with her horses, including the good and heart-warming moments, near-misses, bad and ugly incidents. Her videos have totalled tens of millions of views and have been seen worldwide. Victoria started a change.org petition after her incident which amassed over 40k signatures, but sadly the UK government wouldn't accept it and therefore she had to start from scratch on the official government petition site. The petition went live for a few months, but then a general election was called and all petitions were closed. During that time, she received an email from now fellow campaigner, Katie Smart. A new petition was finally made and ended with over 22k signatures in May 2025, forcing the government to respond. The response from DEFRA was frustrating, but it gave Victoria and Katie clues as to which direction to go in next.
Katie Smart
Katie is an Outdoor Education tutor, actor and equestrian performer. Katie sent an email to Victoria in June 2024, asking if she would use her platform to help raise awareness on the issues of out of control dogs following the tragic loss of her horse, Sir George, from a dog attack in his paddock which resulted in catastrophic physical damage to George's front legs and tendons. Following referral to an equine specialist veterinary hospital, given the severity of his injuries and the low percentage of successful surgery and recovery, the heart-breaking decision to have George euthanised was made. As Victoria was already raising awareness on the topic, she and Katie joined forces, with Katie doing a tremendous amount of leg work in the background and Victoria doing the public face of it through social media. Katie has been instrumental to the current level of success the campaign now has, and in summer of 2025, Katie coined the term 'Leash & Release', and therefore the campaign name was born. Katie has worked alongside Victoria to bring about changes to the existing laws and to raise awareness of the stark reality that there are dog attacks and incidents happening daily across the UK.
