Owner of pony found dead with chain still attached banned from keeping horses

The owner of a Shetland who was found dead with a chain still attached to its tether – and another who was alive but in “very poor” condition has been given a suspended prison sentence.

Stephen Edward Griffiths, of Llansteffan, Carmarthenshire, was sentenced at Llanelli Magistrates’ Court on 13 February, having pleaded guilty to two animal welfare offences.

The 62-year-old had admitted caused unnecessary suffering to a male Shetland pony by failing to adequately investigate and address the cause of his poor body condition, and failing to meet the needs of both Shetlands.

The court heard that the RSPCA had been told there were two Shetland ponies needing a welfare check in Llansteffan. RSPCA Inspector Keith Hogben attended on 18 June last year.

“When I arrived at the location I observed a dead grey Shetland type pony in thin condition, hair loss with a chain attached to a collar around its neck but not attached to anything at the other end,” he said.

Mr Hogben added that near the dead pony was a coloured Shetland type in “obvious thin body condition with its spine and ribs easily visible” with a “skin issue”. He had been sprayed with purple spray and was tethered by a chain from his head collar to a tree.

Mr Hogben said there was a bucket of water near the tethered pony but he had been told the caller had put it there.

He asked an equine vet to attend, and Griffiths told him the grey Shetland had been dead for “a couple of days”, but he had not been able to move the body as his tractor had broken. Mr “Mr Hogben was also informed that he had only had the ponies in his care for ‘a couple of months’ and had rescued the skewbald pony from Cross Hands,” an RSPCA spokesperson said.

The skewbald was deemed fit to travel by the vet and was signed over into the RSPCA’s care.

In the vet’s witness statement, it was said that the skewbald miniature Shetland stallion was tethered on a short chain, approximately eight foot long.

“He was in a very poor body condition,” the vet said. “His access to available forage was limited due to the tether as the available space he could access was well grazed. He also had a very heavy lice infestation.” The pony’s body condition score was 0.5 out of five.

The vet said the dead grey mare was also in “very poor body condition”, with a body condition score of 0.5 out of five.

“Her spine and spinous processes were protruding, her ribs obvious to see despite her long coat and a skeletal body pelvis,” the vet said.

In mitigation it was heard that Griffiths is “genuinely remorseful”.

He was disqualified from keeping equines for 10 years and given a 16-week prison sentence for the first offence and 16 weeks for the second, to run concurrently and suspended for two years. He was made subject to a community order for one year, and ordered to complete 15 rehabilitation activity requirement days and pay £250 costs.

The surviving Shetland, Groovy Bob, has improved following veterinary treatment in RSPCA care and has been rehomed, the charity’s spokesperson said.

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