Somerset woman handed 10-year ban from keeping horses over welfare offences
It follows an inspection by the RSPCA over concerns about the animal earlier this year
A woman from Somerset has been sentenced after letting a starving horse suffer.
Katrianna Jade Rich, from Lower Peasedown, ran a small holding with a number of horses, sheep and goats, and earlier this year was visited by the RSPCA over welfare concerns.
The 29 year old was yesterday handed a 10-year ban at Bath Magistrates Court (August 9) and means she is not allowed to keep horses during that period after pleading guilty to animal welfare offences at an earlier hearing.
The court heard how Rich, who ran a small holding with a number of horses, sheep and goats, was visited by RSPCA Inspector Daniel Hatfield and a field officer from World Horse Welfare on February 9, 2023 after welfare concerns were raised.
That's where they found Murphy the horse.
Despite being covered by three rugs, the horse was described by the inspectors to have been in a 'visibly poor condition', and was later given a body condition score of 0.5 out of 5.
He also was found to have poor feet with overgrown hooves, which were impacted with debris - including embedded stones - as well as having poor dental health and a fractured tooth.
He was certified as suffering by the vet and was taken into possession by police and passed into the care of the RSPCA.
Inspector Hatfield, who investigated for the animal welfare charity, said: “I could still easily see his hip bones sticking through the rugs, appearing in really poor body condition and once the rugs were removed you could see just how poor bodily condition he was in – you could see his ribs, hips and spine easily and he stood there with his head stooped down looking extremely depressed and you could see the dips in the side of his head.”
Further tests found he had a high worm burden, however the vets found nothing abnormal to account for the poor body condition, aside from prolonged starvation.
Murphy gained weight once in the care of the RSPCA.
Alongside the disqualification, which she can not appeal for ten years, Rich was also ordered to carry out a nine week curfew and pay £400 costs.