Woman banned after neglecting horse
A woman from Kent has been banned from keeping horses for 3 years and fined £8,000 after neglecting a young horse.
The chestnut colt was found emaciated and collapsed in a field in January 2013.
Susan Savage pleaded guilty to failing to meet the welfare needs of the horse, at Sevenoaks Magistrates’ Court last week (15 April).
When found the horse was extremely thin. The RSPCA called a vet to put the animal down.
RSPCA inspector Dave Grant said: “This poor young colt was in a terrible way and suffering a great deal. I just can’t understand how anyone could have just left him like that.
“There was just no flesh at all on his body — he was so skinny.
“We tried to get him to stand several times but he was just too weak and the vet said there was nothing really he could do to alleviate his pain.
Never miss out on the latest happenings in the equestrian world
“He said he thought this suffering would have been going on for at least 4 weeks — perhaps longer.
UPDATE SEPTEMBER 2014: The sentence has been reduced and defendant Susan Savage (DOB 29/08/62) is now no longer disqualified from keeping horses and has had her costs reduced to £500.
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
A graduate of Exeter University, Amy joined our news team from Redpin Publishing in 2008 as news writer. She was promoted to deputy news editor in May 2013 and became news editor in April 2015. She left Horse & Hound in March 2016 to take up an editorial position in Dubai.