A woman has been banned from owning horses for life after admitting to causing suffering to four animals. 

Charlie Hingley, aged 27, of Stoney Lane, Netherton appeared at Birmingham Magistrates Court on Monday, September 25 for sentencing.

She was joined by another defendant Lucia Stanton, aged 19, of no fixed address but linked to Leeds.

Five horses owned by the pair were found suffering between December 2022 and January 2023 at a field on School Lane, Bromsgrove.

Four were owned by Hingley and one by Stanton.

At an earlier hearing, Hingley pleaded guilty to four offences of causing suffering to four horses named Sonny, Celly, Luna and Bobby, and Stanton admitted causing suffering to a miniature Shetland pony named Waffles.

On January 22, witnesses saw a tractor lifting a collapsed horse and raised the alarm for an equine bailiff to attend. The bailiff requested the owner, Hingley, call a vet immediately.

The vet sadly found a second horse, Sonny, collapsed and he had to be put to sleep on welfare grounds immediately.  

Celly, the horse that was lifted by the tractor due to his emaciated condition, was relinquished by the owner and removed from the site. The RSPCA was later called to check on the remaining horses.

RSPCA inspector Suzi Smith said: “When I arrived at the first field, my initial concern was for a piebald mare, Luna, and a young Shetland, Waffles, because both looked to be in poor body condition visually, despite fluffy winter coats and Luna had rain scald on her back.

“After taking a closer look at Luna, I could see she was significantly underweight, I could see her ribs, pelvis, spine and shelf at the top of the ribs, and when I put my hands along Waffles’ back, neck and pelvis, I could feel all these structures easily with no muscle along the sides of the spine.

“In the second field, I was immediately concerned for a third horse, a bay colt named Bobby, again because of his poor condition.”

Two horses were signed over by Hingley to the RSPCA and the third pony, owned by Stanton who was not present, was repossessed by police and given to the RSPCA. All three were transported to an equine hospital for further treatment.

In a witness statement, the vet described all three horses as having a body condition score of just one out of five with the most likely cause being extreme worm burden.

Sadly, Luna’s condition deteriorated, and she had to be put to sleep to prevent further suffering.

Inspector Smith added: “The vet confirmed the pasture management at these fields was totally inadequate with extensive faecal contamination and that the extremely high worm burden had caused their poor body condition.

“I am very pleased that thankfully, Waffles and Boody made good recoveries in RSPCA care and Celly has made a good recovery in the care of the equine bailiff.”

Hingley was disqualified from owning equines for life with no appeal for 10 years and given two 12-week prison sentences to run concurrently, suspended for 12 months. She was also given a rehabilitation activity requirement of 15 days and ordered to pay £400 in costs.

Stanton was disqualified from owning equines for 10 years with no appeal for five years and was ordered to pay a total of £820 in fines and costs.