4:37pm Wednesday 14th January 2009
By Andy Carswell
ANIMALS examined at a south Bucks farm suffered a “heavy lice infestation” and were unable to walk properly because of overgrown hooves, a court heard today.
Over a hundred horses, donkeys and ponies were seized from Spindles Farm in Chalk Lane, Hyde Heath, on January 9 last year following advice from vets.
They said there were problems with either their environment, diet, behaviour, need to be kept apart from or with other animals, or being free from injury and disease.
Marc de Brauwere, the head of welfare and rehabilitation and a vet at the Redwings horse sanctuary in Norfolk who attended the farm, today told Bicester Magistrates' Court: “I felt the animals would be very likely to suffer if their circumstances did not change with immediate effect.”
He said many animals were “effectively wild or unhandled”, and food and water supplies were “inadequate” in the farm yard and a field where many of the animals were kept.
Mr de Brauwere told the court: “As it was the depths of winter, the grass growth is typically very slow. There was sparse grazing on the field and large areas of mud.
“I was of the opinion the amount of grazing on the field was inadequate to sustain the number, types and ages of equines on the field at the time.”
He said the only food source he saw in the field was a bail of hay.
He said: “I felt the quantity was insufficient, that the location offered only a single opportunity for the equines to feed, and that there was more than one group of animals in the field.”
Some of the animals in the field were ponies which Mr de Brauwere said appeared to be aged under six months.
He said the pens in the yard were “overcrowded”, which he said had an impact on feeding.
He told the court: “The density of the animals meant the feed was being trampled into the field and the barn, and again competition issues meant the animals were not getting equal opportunity to feed the required amount for their need.
“This placed a mental stress on the animals, as well as difference in the body condition and health.
“I felt there were health issues with the majority of the animals. Their behaviour and demeanour was dull and depressed. I felt they were listless and showing very low levels of activity, apart from squabbling over feed when it was present in the pens.”
Mr de Brauwere was asked to describe the health problems being suffered by the equines.
He told the court: “The clinical signs I could see included collection of discharge, mucus and pus in the corners of the eye.
“The hair coat was of poor quality. There were bald patches and the coat was not always thick enough to provide full winter protection. There was a lot of soiling on the coat, beyond what I would consider typical or normal in that situation.”
The soiling “had the appearance of being caked into the hair”, and was composed of faecal material and composting bedding material, said Mr de Brauwere.
He added there was “a heavy lice infestation”, which led to the animals itching “fairly frantically”.
In some cases this had caused trauma to the animals' skin.
Mr de Brauwere said the pain caused was “like having itching powder poured down the back of your shirt and having your hands tied”.
Some of the animals suffered open sores and others had had hair “rubbed away completely”, said Mr de Brauwere.
There was also evidence of an equine respiratory disease called 'strangles', with some animals suffering abscesses, coughing and pus discharge.
Coat condition “varied from animal to animal”, he said, but added it was generally “sub-optimal”.
He also said he examined many animals with “significantly overgrown” hooves.
Mr de Brauwere said this had the potential to cause problems with the horses' ability to walk, adding it “suggests lack of farrier attention”.
“It can result in considerable lameness and pain,” he said.
Many of the animals were being kept in pens in the farm yard.
Mr de Brauwere told the court the smell from the pens was “strong smelling”, “not consistent with horse care” and “unhygienic in the extreme”.
He attributed the smell to rotting bedding.
“It prevented the animals from having a dry place to lie down and rest, which in many cases would have been difficult anyway because of the overcrowding,” he said.
One of the pens contained evidence of the remains of a dead animal, the court heard.
Water troughs in many of the pens contained faeces, he said, which “inhibited” the animals from drinking from them.
This would have led to dehydration and colic, he said. Many were already suffering from diarrhoea.
He said within days some of the animals were more “animated” and it “became difficult” to handle some of them.
In all, 13 horses and eight ponies were taken into care by Redwings.
One animal was described as having a “dull” coat, and was “very nervous and not used to being handled”.
A pony had had “no or minimal handling since birth” and another pony was described to the court as having “scabby skin, scales and crusting”.
Mr de Brauwere was not cross-examined by the defence.
Five people each deny twelve charges under the Animal Welfare Act of causing unnecessary suffering and failing to meet the welfare needs of 125 horses, ponies and donkeys.
They are James Gray, 44, Julie Gray, 41, and Cordelia Gray, 20, all of Spindles Farm, Jodie Gray, 26, of Park Road, Ashford, Middlesex, and a teenager who cannot be named for legal reasons.
The trial continues.
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