THREE horses who were left to suffer with overgrown hooves, lice infestations and inadequate dental care are on the road to recovery and looking for new homes.
Sam, a 19 to 21 year old chestnut thoroughbred gelding, Pepsi a 17 to 23 year old bay thoroughbred mare and Tony, a piebald Shetland gelding aged around 17 years old - were living in hazardous conditions in a field off School Lane, Wike, in West Yorkshire back in April 2020.
Their owner, Dianne Cox, 64, of Churchill Flats, Pool-in-Wharfedale, had denied neglecting the horses but was found guilty of two animal welfare offences following a trial at Kirklees Magistrates Court on January 14, 2022 and banned from keeping equines for 24 months.
The court also imposed a deprivation order on Sam, Pepsi and Tony.
Cox appealed her conviction and sentence at Leeds Crown Court shortly after the trial concluded but abandoned it on January 26 this year, meaning the RSPCA - which has met the cost of caring for the horses at a private equine facility since the start of the investigation - can now legally begin the process of rehoming them.
RSPCA inspector Kris Walker, who led the investigation for the animal welfare charity, said: “After nearly three years, we’re pleased that this long-running case has finally concluded and we can, at last, start to find permanent new homes for Sam, Pepsi and Tony. The contrasting pictures of the horses now and then speak for themselves, and we’d like to say a huge thanks to the staff at the equine yard who have supported them on what has been a very long journey. It’s clear that once they started to receive appropriate nutrition, endoparasite care and dental treatment, they started to go from strength to strength, although Sam is likely to be permanently lame to some degree and will need closely monitoring for the rest of his life due to the chronic neglect of his hooves.”
At the trial the court heard how inspector Walker visited the field in Wike on April 12, 2022 following concerns for the horses’ welfare and they were seized by police on the advice of a vet who attended the location. Grazing at the site was extremely sparse, fencing was in a state of disrepair and loops of sheep netting and loose barbed wire had the potential to cause injury.
The court heard Cox had previously been warned by RSPCA officers in 2018 and 2019 about the condition of her horses and given notices to improve their welfare but had failed to heed advice.
Sam was found to be in lean to poor bodily condition with his ribs, hips and pelvis visible. His hooves were severely overgrown, splayed and cracked, causing him to trip on both front feet when he walked. He was also lame and suffering from laminitis, an extremely painful inflammatory foot condition which is predisposed to by having overgrown hooves. Pepsi was in a similarly malnourished body condition, while Tony had suffered patchy hair loss as a result of an untreated lice infestation, a condition which was present in all three animals.
A vet who gave evidence at the trial said the horses had suffered because Cox had failed to take preventative health care measures to protect them from pain, injury, suffering and disease.
She said that in her opinion, Sam had not received any farrier care for six months or dental work for 12 months. Pepsi’s hooves had not been trimmed for a minimum of four to five months and there was no evidence her teeth had been looked at within the last two years, as was the case for Tony’s. All three had dry, patchy and poor quality coats - frequently seen in malnourished animals - and lice infestations which had been present for a minimum of ten days.
The vet said: “The grass cover on the field was extremely sparse and would not support the nutritional requirements of the horses. There was a small amount of hay provided but not enough to support feeding the three of them within the field for the day, given the sparsity of the grass.
“The basic needs of these horses had not been met, with all of the problems identified being part of basic horse husbandry. All these issues should be easily recognised and rectified by a responsible owner.”
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