Yearling colt pulling cart was repeatedly whipped after he collapsed in the road from ‘extreme submission, fatigue or despair’
A man was caught on video repeatedly hitting the young horse
The case of a man filmed repeatedly whipping a colt who was pulling a cart, shod, at a year old – and continuing to beat him after he “collapsed with exhaustion” – is one of many, the RSPCA has revealed.
The charity told H&H about the case of Mouse, who was rescued from Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, in 2023, as its figures have shown a 90% increase in reports of people whipping animals over the past five years.
“Video evidence captured a foal pulling a cart in Buckinghamshire who was whipped excessively by a man until he collapsed with exhaustion and then was whipped again when he lay helplessly on the ground,” an RSPCA spokesperson said.
“A shocked passer-by filmed the incident on July 11, 2023, which then showed the man removing the harness and cart but the young horse remained on the floor before finally getting up. The harness and a cart were attached again to the struggling horse and another video two minutes later shows the piebald struggling, with its legs buckling. Once again the foal is whipped excessively before collapsing on the road.”
The incident was reported to Thames Valley Police; officers attended and the yearling, Mouse, was seized and put in RSPCA care.
The charity investigated, and a vet who reviewed the footage said the first clip showed the horse pulling the cart along a road and stopping as he came into view, tossing his head and refusing to go forward.
“The horse appears clearly young and untrained and seems to be unaccustomed to the blinkers and bridle it is wearing, let alone to the cart it is pulling,” the vet said.
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“When the horse stops, the owner whips the horse repeatedly, both over the dorsum and over his right side. The horse eventually kicks out as he tries to evade the beating, catches the right hindleg over the bar of the cart, staggers and goes down on to the road, taking the cart with him.
“The owner can be seen to then beat the horse again repeatedly before he untangles the horse from the cart, swaps carts with another gentleman and reattaches the horse to the new cart. Whilst the cart is being reattached the horse is seen to be constantly resting the left hind leg.”
The colt after he was rescued
The second clip, which was recorded two minutes after the horse left the scene of the first, showed him approaching a main road.
“He stops at the junction, his hind legs are noted to be swaying with weakness/fatigue,” the vet said.
“The owner beats the horse repeatedly to try to get him to cross the road and once this happens he gets back on the cart only to hit the horse again with the whip.
“At this point the horse tries again to evade the attack and lies down flat on his side on the road. He remains in lateral recumbency until the tack and cart are completely removed from him and then he stands.”
The vet also examined the horse following the incident, adding: “He was found to be very quiet and somewhat subdued. He was confirmed to be no more than a year old by his teeth, but the incisors were noted to be very discoloured.
“Areas of alopecia were noted in the right elbow region and either side of the tail. The elbow region patch was dry and scaly and thought to be where a harness had rubbed. The areas by the tail were presumably secondary to faecal staining. Both areas were red and tender to the touch.
“The colt had handmade shoes on all four feet that were audibly loose when he moved. Nail holes were visible where previous shoes had been nailed on. All hooves were overgrown. When walked, the colt appeared very weak and swayed from side to side.”
Extreme exhaustion
The colt was closely monitored; vets were concerned as he spent a long time lying down.
“No specific cause for this lethargy was found and it was presumed to be extreme exhaustion,” the vet said. “He improved steadily over time.
“When the foal lies down on the road in the camera footage it has to be considered an extremely submissive response for a horse. Horses are a fight-or-flight animal and would normally ‘jump up’ if they slipped or fell. For this animal to simply lie down and stay lying down despite cars passing him and the cart being untied from him is an act of extreme submission/fatigue or despair.”
At a court case brought by the RSPCA last year a man pleaded guilty to three animal welfare offences and was given a five-year ban on keeping all animals and ordered to carry out 175 hours of unpaid work.
Mouse was able to recover in RSPCA care and was made available for rehoming.
The RSPCA said this week that 16,033 beating incidents were reported last year, almost double the 8,459 reports made in 2021.
“Every 15 minutes the charity receives a beating report – this represents a staggering 85% of all animal cruelty complaints made to the RSPCA, meaning it deals with more animals being beaten than any other issue,” a spokesperson said, adding that the charity is grateful to members of the public who report the cases.
Superintendent Jo Hirst said: “To help rescue animals from these situations we rely on the public to be our eyes and ears and report any concerns about animal abuse to us and we are grateful that so many people do and are more aware of the problem.
“We’re also finding that CCTV footage, doorbell cameras and smartphones are providing a view into society that we never had before, meaning that animal beatings are more likely to be caught on camera in supermarket car parks, on streets, in lifts, and even behind closed doors in the home.
“This could also account for the rise that we are seeing as they are more likely to be caught on camera, uploaded to social media or reported to us.”
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Eleanor is an experienced journalist who spent over eight years working for local and national newspapers before joining H&H as news editor in March 2016. Passionate about equine welfare and exposing the truth, Eleanor has reported on all aspects of the industry, from Brexit to anti-bullying campaigns, and from dressage rules to mules. Her sport of choice is showjumping, in which she competes her own horses, and she also enjoys reporting at local jumping shows through to international championships.