Many caring horse owners will have been following the sad story of the neglected Scottish shetlands, which were rescued by the RSPCA and World Horse Welfare.
Last week the ponies’ owner was sentenced by the Crown Court, with an immediate custodial sentence of 12 months and given a lifetime ban on keeping all animals, with no application for the ban to be lifted for 12 years.
Eleven miniature Shetland ponies suffering excruciating pain have had their lives turned around by our Penny Farm Rescue and Rehoming Centre following a call from a concerned member of the public. They found nineteen Shetland ponies in varying states of neglect.
World Horse Welfare Field Officer, Sarah Tucker, who was involved in the rescue, shared her satisfaction at the sentencing:
“I am absolutely delighted to see the increased sentencing guidelines for animal cruelty that we successfully campaigned for, being used to good effect. We hope that we see more uses of lifetime bans in future cases.
“The defendant had a veneer of respectability within the showing world with two of her ponies well-looked after and in show condition, but she allowed the others to suffer in such a dreadful way, despite having received a previous caution for identical offences. So many of this group of Shetlands were suffering with laminitis and the owner will now see the consequences of allowing this to happen.“
When they were found most of the ponies were overweight, many had overgrown hooves, and a number showed signs of extreme laminitis — a painful condition affecting their hooves. Tragically, the severity of neglect resulted in six of the ponies needing to be euthanized on site due to the pain and suffering caused by chronic laminitis and two more were later euthanized due to ongoing health issues.
Anyone who feels they would like to rehome one of their horses can find out more by visiting HERE. Full story on the World Horse Welfare website.
