Mother and daughter face neglect charges following pony deaths

Twenty-nine ponies died after being left to live in appalling conditions, a court has been told.

A mother and daughter from a village near Southampton are appearing at New Forest Magistrates Court charged with causing unnecessary suffering to animals.

Debra Green, 41, and her daughter Michelle, 19, from Holbury, each deny four charges in the trial which began on Tuesday.

Jeremy Green, prosecuting for the RSPCA, said 12 ponies were already dead when found in a field on December 2006 and another 17 had to be shot.

He said the horses were lying or standing in mud and their own excrement and were suffering severe respiratory infections.

But an expert witness for the family, Madeline Forsyth, said the ponies’ deaths had been caused by a bacterial infection unconnected to the wet and muddy conditions.

The case continues.

Stay in touch with all the news in the run-up to and throughout the major shows and events during 2026 and beyond with a Horse & Hound subscription. Subscribe today for all you need to know ahead of these major events, plus online reports on the action as it happens from our expert team of reporters and in-depth analysis in our special commemorative magazines. Have a subscription already? Set up your unlimited website access now