CONVICTED (2023) | George Turner, born c. 1986, of Village Farm, Broad Balk Lane, Norton-le-Clay, York YO61 2RS – left a filly to become so emaciated she could barely stand
George Turner denied causing unnecessary suffering and failing to meet the needs of the unnamed thoroughbred-type filly, but was found guilty of both offences after a two-day trial.
The RSPCA were alerted to the plight of the starving horse by a concerned member of the public. Inspector Alice Cooper subsequently attended the scene accompanied by an equine veterinary surgeon, two police officers and a representative from the charity World Horse Welfare.
When Turner arrived, he confirmed that the filly and four other thoroughbred-type horses belonged to him.
Giving evidence in court, Inspector Cooper said: “The horse was very thin. Her spine was prominent and protruded like a ridge along her back, and the bones around her back end looked sharp and pointy. Her demeanour seemed very subdued, and she stood with her head bowed. When walking she appeared slow and quite weak.”
The young horse also had extensive rain-scald across her back and rump and had not been provided with any shelter to escape adverse weather conditions. The vet who examined the horse in Turner’s presence, confirmed the filly was suffering and she was seized by the police.
She was so poorly that she collapsed when transportation arrived and required support to get onto the trailer.
She was initially taken to a specialist equine hospital for treatment before being moved onto a boarding establishment where she had to be supported to stand up. Sadly her condition continued to decline and she was eventually put to sleep on welfare grounds.
A post mortem revealed she had an emaciated body condition, extensive ulceration of the stomach – which may have been predisposed by a lack of adequate food – and a heavy worm burden.
Giving evidence, the vet told the court that clinical examination of the horse “showed an animal that was in extremely poor condition and was very obviously sick and in need of veterinary attention.
She added: “The horse was very dull and weak and it would have been obvious to even a lay person that she was in extremely poor body condition and emaciated. These factors were chronic in nature and a responsible, reasonable and caring horse owner would have recognised that the horse was failing to thrive and was becoming emaciated.
“The forage provided in the field for the horses was not enough to provide them all with their daily nutritional requirements. The filly may have experienced competition for food and as such should have been provided with ad-libitum food, endoparasite control and veterinary care.”
The vet said it was her professional opinion that it would have taken a minimum of six weeks for the filly to become emaciated and that she’d been caused to suffer unnecessarily for at least two weeks.
The court heard that Inspector Cooper made repeated attempts to contact Turner to interview him about the filly, but was told he was a “busy man”. In January 2021 a solicitor contacted the RSPCA to arrange an interview for Turner, but it never went ahead and Turner represented himself in court.
During the trial Turner stated he “had not done anything wrong” and that he did not want to be disqualified from keeping equines as “he had knowledge of horses and had been successful in raising them in the past”.
In mitigation he said he had financial difficulties, but did not produce any details to corroborate his circumstances.
After the case, RSPCA Chief Inspector Justin Le Masurier said: “This was a very distressing case and we would like to thank World Horse Welfare and other partner agencies for their assistance, as well as the members of the public who reported their concerns about this young horse to us.
“A responsible horse owner would have intervened and provided their animal with veterinary attention long before they had got into such an appalling state, but this didn’t happen and sadly this filly suffered unnecessarily for a long time as a result of Mr Turner’s neglect.”
Sentencing | 18-week suspended prison sentence; costs of £1928 plus victim surcharge. Deprivation order for the four other horses. Banned from keeping animals for 10 years.