A FATHER of nine has been banned from owning horses for five years and ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid community work after mistreating a five-year-old stallion.
Dereck Boyce, 65, from Rectory Road, Woodham Walter, who was caring for the animal for brother-in-law John O'Leary, pleaded guilty at Chelmsford Magistrates Court to causing unnecessary suffering and failing in his duty to care for the horse, called Little Man.
An RSPCA inspector discovered the maltreatment after following up reports of a "very skinny horse" in Maldon.
Upon arrival, inspector Rosie Russon found Little Man with untreated bleeding wounds to his chest and genitals, an infestation of mites in his feet, and evidence of malnutrition.
Inspector Russon said: "On interviewing his owner, I discovered that, during the previous week, he had been feeling frisky and tried to jump a five bar gate to get to his mare in the next field but failed to clear it.
"He landed with his head underneath him looking backwards and his back legs caught on the other side of the gate.
"Apparently, a member of the public found him stuck and dismantled the five bar gate in order to get him on to his feet again."
However, Mr Boyce failed to treat the injury and kept the animal fenced off with no shelter, bedding or grazing, the court heard on Wednesday.
Little Man's owner, Mr O'Leary, 63, from Muswell Hill, London, was similarly handed a five-year ban and £1,600 fine, and both men were ordered to pay a share of the RSPCA's £2,100 costs, despite O'Leary claiming he had asked Boyce to care for Little Man so that he could be with his 42-year-old daughter Jennifer, who suffers from a brain tumour.
Mr Boyce expressed surprise that the RSPCA were contacted after the incident on May 24 as he was already caring for two horses owned by his wife, as well as dogs and chickens and treated them all equally.
Lorna Glover, representing O'Leary, a retired bricklayer, told the court: "He simply wished to have a hobby – horses had not been part of his life. He cannot read and is not an educated man. He has an impaired understanding. He has not owned horses before and did not appreciate how much care had to be taken, looking after them."
Little Man was subsequently sedated and treated by vets with a tetanus booster, antibiotics, and anti-inflammatories. He has now been rehomed.
Both men expressed their remorse and shame at the incident.
Louise Maples, representing Boyce, said: "He should have inspected the horse more carefully. He accepts there was no actual shelter for the horse, but it was put in stables at night.
He accepts he hasn't gone above and beyond what he should have done. Perhaps there was ignorance in the appropriate care of this animal."
