A couple from West Sussex have been banned from keeping horses for three years after been found guilty of neglect.
Colin and Barbara Robinson appeared before Haywards Heath magistrates on Monday (21 September) and Thursday (24 September) and were found guilty of failing to provide adequate veterinary care and assistance to their horse Ghandi.
The 19-year-old Hanoverian gelding was found emaciated and with a large untreated wound on his withers at Ravensbury Farm in Billinghurst.
The pair were ordered to pay £3,000 each in compensation and £1,000 each in costs.
They plan to appeal.
World Horse Welfare were alerted to Ghandi by a member of the public in June 2008 and was taken to a safe holding before being deemed fit to travel to the charity’s Norfolk centre.
In just under four months Ghandi put on 126 kilos and his withers had healed. But he proved unresponsive to treatment for other health issues and was put down.
World Horse Welfare field officer Ted Barnes said “In his time Ghandi must have been a very impressive horse and I find it very upsetting that Mr and Mrs Robinson did not offer him the dignity in his later years that he deserved.”
