Neglectful owner NOT banned from keeping horses

Monday, 7 November 2011 16:25

A retired farmer has managed to avoid a ban on keeping animals after neglecting to treat his 15 year old horses’ chronic laminitis, resulting in the horse being unable to walk, becoming overweight and having overgrown hooves.

The SPCA received a public complaint back in September 2010 and despite the warning Mr Adam failed to rectify the problems his horse was suffering from. Wriggles had to have nerve blocks put into her legs in order to move her, and it took three days to stabilise her for transport to an SPCA centre.

Laminitis, if caught early, can be thoroughly treated and the horse returned to a clean bill of health. In this case however, the neglect shown by Mr Adam meant that Wriggles was too sorely affected by the disease and the decision was made to put her to sleep as her suffering would only have continued.

Her hooves had been left untrimmed for 15 years; a basic practice for any horse owner, hoof-trimming is recommended at intervals of every 6-8 weeks – disregarding this most simple of tasks meant that Wriggle would have suffered from discomfort for the majority of her life.

Despite the severity of his neglect, Mr Adam was only charged a £450 fine. The SPCA has stated that it would have liked to have seen a stiffer sentence, but has accepted the court’s decision on the case. Ideally, a ban for life on keeping animals would have been the preferable outcome, as this was a tragic accident that could have been avoided with just a little care and consideration.