A farrier who has been struck off for “striking a horse with a hammer” has questioned how he was found guilty on just the evidence of one person.
Antony Marris was found to have used unnecessary force towards nine-year-old mare Diana’s Pride last August by hitting her with his hammer. He told H&H there was neither malice nor intent to hit the mare, but that he caught her by accident when she moved quickly, possibly because she was reacting to a wasp sting, and he threw his arms out inadvertently to try to keep his balance.
The Farriers Registration Council (FRC) found Marris guilty of serious misconduct in a professional respect, and suspended him for a year.
“It was an accident,” he said. “She’s normally very good to shoe but I think she was stung by a wasp and reacted very sharply, and as she pulled away, [I lost my balance and] the hammer hit her. There was no intention or malice behind what happened.”
Marris said he asked the horse’s owner for fly spray, which was applied, and no more was said until he was about to leave. He said at that point the owner told him he was unhappy with what had happened.
“I tried to explain it was an accident and I could only apologise for not getting myself out of the way quickly enough,” he said. “We went to see the horse and talked for five to 10 minutes and he agreed he understood that’s what happened and it was an accident. We shook hands and that was how it was left.”
Marris added that there was no injury to the horse, nor signs of discomfort, and that she was standing “half asleep” for the rest of the time he shod her.
The FRC hearing took place last month, and Marris said he had hoped there would be CCTV footage of the incident that would back his case up.
“I thought I’d seen cameras there and hoped something would come up but it was just a ‘he said, he said’ case,” he said. “I couldn’t prove what had happened because I didn’t have a body camera or anything; that’s the situation we’re in now. The only evidence was from [the owner], and a photo [which the FRC said ‘showed a clear imprint of a hammer on the horse’s hindquarters’]”. H&H asked to see the photo, but it has not been released.
Marris added: “I can’t get my head round it, they could have suspended me for six weeks if they weren’t sure but a year – being a farrier is all I’ve known and it’s been taken away without justification. I’ve got two children; one’s disabled and we’re trying to get him private healthcare. We were thinking about appealing but I was advised by an equestrian solicitor that it’s very difficult to appeal; you have to go direct to the High Court, the costs are significant. There’s no union or anything for farriers, the FRC has no one to answer for and there’s no protection; you haven’t got a leg to stand on.
“The FRC rules say they don’t have to have sufficient evidence to make a decision. How can you be sure without evidence? I was upset by the complaint but didn’t really believe they could possibly believe that’s what happened.”
In his complaint form to the FRC, the horse’s owner said when the incident happened, Marris was “bending down, presumably nailing on the shoe to the right forefoot of the horse although I cannot say for definite what he was actually doing”, and that he, the owner, was standing about a metre behind the horse.
“Suddenly, and for no reason that was immediately apparent to me, Mr Marris stood up and hit the horse as hard as he possibly could in a backhand motion with his hammer,” the owner said, adding that he “remembers very clearly” the head of the hammer making contact with the horse’s quarters.
He said he was “very upset” but said nothing straight away as he “did not feel there was anything to gain by having an argument at that point and potentially leaving the horse half-shod with nails sticking out of her foot”.
The owner said the blow had been hard enough to leave “a clear image of the hammer” on the horse, which he included in his complaint, and that in the conversation with Marris, the farrier was “contrite” and apologised.
In Marris’s response, he cited the heat of the day and the increasing number of flies and wasps, and that as he fell, “twisting awkwardly” when the horse pulled her leg back sharply, his arm and hand containing the hammer “glanced across” the mare’s quarters.
The FRC disciplinary committee considered the horse’s owner a credible witness and could see no reason for his fabricating an account, but found Marris’s account “less than credible”, finding it “difficult to envisage how the imprint could have been made by a glancing blow”.
The committee cited an incident from 2018, heard by the FRC in 2020, in which a complainant claimed that Marris used his hand to strike a horse who repeatedly pulled her foot back. At that time, the committee warned him about his future conduct, “yet had gone on to strike a horse for a second time”.
Marris was also found guilty of failing to complete annual returns; farriers must yearly update their contact details, provide proof of insurance and confirm they have had no criminal convictions or cautions, which he failed to submit for some years. He told H&H that his disabled son, who was born three months premature, was in hospital for a long period of time so he forgot the return, but carried out extra continued professional development to try to make amends. In his statement to the FRC, Marris said he had no intent to deceive.
“On any view this was a very serious case,” the FRC said. “It involved a deliberate attack on a horse by a farrier engaged to shoe the horse and resulted in an imprint of the hammer being left on the horse, such was the force used. Despite this, the respondent had wanted the committee to believe that little or no force was used and that it had been an accident. There was, in addition, the failure to complete his annual returns for five years.
“The committee was aware of the harsh impact upon the respondent of such a sanction but was of the view that the need to protect animal welfare and the public’s confidence in the profession of farriers, outweighed his interests and that it was necessary to send out a message that this kind of behaviour is not to be tolerated.”
Marris said the owner of the horse involved in the previous incident accepted his apology, asked him to shoe her horses again afterwards and tried to retract her complaint once the process had started.
The FRC registrar told H&H: “The disciplinary committee of the FRC operates independently of the council; the committee’s determination and decision in respect of the facts, serious professional misconduct and sanction are set out, in detail, in the article. Mr Marris was represented by counsel and an instructing solicitor at the hearing, and the committee are advised by an independent legal assessor. It was open to Mr Marris to appeal to the High Court in respect of finding, sanction or any other matter pertaining to the hearing; Mr Marris did not do so.”
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