Horse left in pain with broken pelvis, court told
A teenager who left his horse in pain with a broken pelvis has been disqualified from keeping horses for seven year and fined £150 with £350 costs.
Michael Eastwood, 18, of Cow Lane, Edlesborough, Bucks, appeared before Luton Magistrates’ Court on 18 May where he pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to a horse.
The bay filly, called Francine, was injured after she was placed in a field in Govebury Road, Leighton Buzzard, with a stallion, which injured her.
But Eastwood failed to check on Francine and she was left injured in the field for five days last October.
Speaking after the case, RSPCA inspector Kirsty Withnall said: “When we were called out to Francine it was clear that she was badly injured and that she was in an awful lot of pain.
“While this injury was caused by an accident, Eastwood had failed in his duty to care for Francine by not checking her on a daily basis and this is clearly not acceptable.”
Eastwood signed over Francine to the care of the RSPCA and she is recovering well but, due to her injury, she will never be able to be ridden.
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A self-confessed newshound, farmer’s daughter and journalist of many years' experience, Charlotte worked on regional papers before joining H&H in 2007. A regular rider, she visited Ireland in 2010 to investigate the fate of Irish horses through the recession, to much acclaim, and reported from the FEI General Assembly in Rio de Janeiro in 2011. She left Horse & Hound in March 2013.