Men banned from keeping horses after leaving stallion’s injuries untreated
A London man and a friend who was looking after a horse for him have both been fined and banned from keeping horses for five years after allowing wounds to a stallion’s sheath to go untreated.
RSPCA inspector Rosie Russon was answering a call in May 2012 about a thin pony at stables in Captains Wood Road in Maldon, Essex.
She found Little Man, a five-year-old grey roan cob, standing in a field with untreated injuries to his sheath, swelling from his genitals to his neck and a serious infestation of mites in his feathers.
Blood tests showed he was suffering from malnutrition.
Inspector Russon says: “On interviewing his owner I discovered that, during the previous week, Little Man had tried to jump a five-bar gate to get to his mare in the next field but failed to clear it.
“He landed with his head underneath him looking backwards and his back legs caught on the other side of the gate.”
“Apparently, a member of the public found him stuck and dismantled the gate to get him onto his feet again.”
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At Chelmsford Magistrates Court on Tuesday (22 January) Little Man’s owner John O’Leary, aged 63, of Cranley Gardens, London, was found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering.
He was ordered to pay £2,100 costs and fined £1,600.
And Dereck Boyce, aged 65, of Rectory Road, Woodham Walter, Essex, who looked after Little Man, a mare and a filly for Mr O’Leary, was also found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering, ordered to pay £2,100 and was given a 200 hours community service order.
Both were banned form keeping horses for five years.
Little Man was taken into the care of the RSPCA and has since been gelded.
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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.