CONVICTED (2014) | riding school owner Tina Hodge, born December 1966, of 11 Cullimore View, Ruspidge, Cinderford GL14 3HP – failed to meet the welfare needs of two horses.
Hodge, owner of Forest Trekking based at Court Farm, Coleford Road, Bream, Lydney GL15 64S, was ordered to pay more than £1,400 in fines and costs after being found guilty of horse cruelty. She was not banned from owning animals.
She was charged with failing to ensure a dark bay horse named Star received veterinary care for an injury and not providing hoof care for a piebald pony called Lucky. Magistrates found her guilty and fined her £220 and ordered her to pay £1,200 in costs.
The RSPCA was called in March 2013 and inspector Pippa Hodge found Star with an untreated rug sore.
Three months later, in June 2013, Lucky was found at Forest Trekking with feet curled up into “Aladdin’s slippers”. He had not been exercised and had apparently been in his stable for seven months.
Hodge had previously been advised on caring for horses from the RSPCA and World Horse Welfare.
RSPCA inspector Suzi Smith, who investigated Lucky’s case, said: “I am pleased that this case has now been resolved.
“The defendant said that Lucky was difficult to catch and that’s why his hooves were in such an awful state, but we managed to catch and load him onto transport, as well as trim his hooves, quite easily.
“There can be no excuse for someone who keeps horses not to provide them with the most basic care to meet their needs and that includes ensuring they receive veterinary care and farriery when they need it.
“If they can’t cope with this they need to seek help.”
World Horse Welfare field officer Phil Jones said: “This case is sadly typical of the types of cases we deal with.
“We regularly see owners who have more horses than they can cope with meaning that the animals do not get the level of care and attention they need and the situation can escalate into a welfare problem.
“World Horse Welfare would always advise that if horse owners are feeling overwhelmed or need help coping they should get in touch early, ask for help and try to follow the guidance given to ensure that the best option is taken for horse welfare.”
Both Lucky and Star were rehomed following their recovery.
Forest of Dean and Wye Valley Review
Update October 2014
It was reported that Forest of Dean District Council refused to renew Hodge’s Riding Establishment Licence. The decision came after the committee visited the Court Farm premises and saw conditions for themselves.
Hodge’s re-application to offer horses for riding at Court Farm was overshadowed by a public campaign against the council granting her a licence – a campaign that began soon after her conviction in April 2014, and which included internet petitions gathering signatories, and a handbill which was distributed around the Forest.
The handbill read: “Horse neglect. Tina Hodge still continues running Forest Trekking from Court Farm, Bream – after conviction (she is) still in ownership of 35 badly kept horses. Stop this suffering. Support our campaign.”
The re-application was for a total of eight, named, horses. The Licensing Committee reported that they had received five emails and two letters asking that Hodge’s licence not be renewed, and one letter in support of the application.
Animal rights campaigners in the area were quick to applaud the decision, with one group, ’Forest of Dean Animal Rights’ releasing the following statement:
“We applaud the decision of the Forest of Dean District Council to deny convicted animal abuser Tina Hodge a licence to run her trekking business.
“Her continued trading was another stain on the Forest of Dean, that she will be no longer allowed to trade is a step in the right direction.”
Update November 2021
Sadly it would appear that the decision not to grant Tina Hodge a Riding Establishment Licence was later reversed and Forest Trekking continues to trade in 2021. There are allegations that Hodge continues to show scant regard for the welfare of the horses in her care with reports of animals being up to their knees and mud and a yearling being found dead. There has also been criticism of the local authority with suggestions that they are turning a blind eye to Hodge’s alleged cruelty.
Update May 2022
Tina Hodge was ordered to pay almost £4,000 in court costs after admitting she endangered the health of nine horses by failing to unwrap their hay bales properly, putting them at risk of swallowing plastic.
Hodge pleaded guilty at Cheltenham Magistrates’ Court on May 11, 2022, to failing to take steps to ensure that the needs of the horses on land opposite Court Farm, Coleford rd, Bream, were met on 5th March 2021
As well as being ordered to pay prosecution costs of £3,900 and a victim services surcharge of £22, Hodge was also given a three-year conditional discharge.
The charge which she admitted was brought under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 and stated that she “did fail properly to remove all plastic wrapping and netting from the hay bales deposited as food requiring the horses to rip the plastic wrapping netting in order to eat, causing a health risk to the horses by ingesting small amounts of plastic.”
Hodge denied two further similar animal welfare charges which were dismissed after the prosecution offered no evidence
One of those charges was that she failed to muck out the stables “causing four horses to stand in excessive faecal waste of approximately two feet in height and failed to provide the horses with access to fresh water.”
The other alleged that the needs of three horses were not met “in that the horses were standing in an excessive amount of faeces and wet straw that had not been mucked out for some time, with wet bedding due to large holes in the roof and no visible access to drinking water.”
Hodge had denied all three charges against her but admitted one of them on the scheduled day of trial and the others were then not proceeded with.
The magistrates said her credit for pleading guilty was reduced because of the lateness of plea.