Notorious fly-grazer guilty of cruelty charges
Notorious fly-grazer and gypsy cob breeder Tom Price was back in court earlier this month (7 October) and found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering to another 12 horses.
He was also found guilty of a further charge of failing to take necessary steps to ensure that the horses in his care were provided with a suitable diet.
Price, from the Vale of Glamorgan, was jailed for eight months last year on 57 welfare and cruelty charges.
This fresh case related to a group of horses and ponies kept at Lanmaes Fields, in Cardiff, between 6 and 14 March 2013.
Cardiff Magistrates Court heard that the welfare needs of some of the animals had not been met. An example of this was that there was no fencing to stop the horses from straying onto the road.
Price argued that the horses were not his but had been transferred to his son Thomas Hope Price in January 2012.
The District Judge did not believe Price and he was disqualified from keeping horses for five years.
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He was also sentenced to 32 weeks in prison, to run concurrently, which was suspended for two years, and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £80.
He was found not guilty of one offence of failing to provide the local authority with horse passports when asked.
Cardiff Council’s Daniel De’Ath said: “This was a serious case of cruelty. The council will continue to be vigilant.”
World Horse Welfare’s Roly Owers added that Price’s actions “fully deserved” the additional five-year ban.
“This case is another example of why a regulated system of microchips should be required for all horses, no matter what their age, and that this system is enforced — not least to help punish characters like Price,” Mr Owers added.
This news report was originally published in Horse & Hound magazine on Thursday 23 October, 2014
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Sophia Heath joined Horse & Hound in July 2013 having previously worked for the Daily Telegraph's Olympics website, CNN International and Omnisport. A Durham graduate with a Masters in journalism from City University, Sophia has evented, showjumped and hunted. Sophia left Horse & Hound in early 2015 to join an international boating website.