A Shetland Pony who was found with severely overgrown hooves will now be rehomed, following a court prosecution.
The RSPCA attended a field in Efail Isaf near Church Village back in March of this year where Shetland Pony Fergus was found with hooves that were beginning to curl due to being so overgrown.
His owner, David Andrew Davies of Llantwit Fardre, attended Merthyr Tydfil Magistrates’ Court for sentencing on Wednesday 12 November after pleading guilty to one offence under the Animal Welfare Act.
It was that he failed to meet a combination of needs for Fergus in that he failed to protect him from pain, suffering, injury or disease (overgrown hooves), for adequate farrier care and in the need to exhibit normal behaviour patterns.
At sentencing he was disqualified from keeping equines for two years, however, the court suspended the disqualification order for six weeks to allow rehoming of his other horse.
Davies was handed a 12 month Community Order, must carry out 100 hours of unpaid work, and was ordered to pay a £114 victim surcharge and £400 costs.
A deprivation order was made on his Shetland pony Fergus, meaning he will now be rehomed by the RSPCA.
In mitigation it was heard that the offence was not of a deliberate action and he also had personal pressures.
In a witness statement, provided to the court from RSPCA Inspector Simon Evans, he said the field was large and sloped away steeply to a stream at the bottom and had good grazing available.
He said: “In the field were two equines, a piebald cob mare in normal body condition and a bay Shetland gelding with two white, hind, socks and tail.
“The Shetland, too, was in normal body condition but its hooves were overgrown and beginning to curl upward, forcing the pony to walk at an awkward angle.”
Inspector Evans added that he had visited the field in 2023 and had spoken to the owner of the equines previously and had given advice.
He said he watched the pony as he walked who “placed the tip of its front hooves onto the floor but then almost rocked back onto the heel of the hoof, so that the tip of the hoof was off the floor again”.
He added: “Due to the unevenness of the misshapen hooves, the pony’s feet were also made to roll outward, with the weight seemingly taken on the outside of each hoof.”
An equine vet attended and confirmed that the pony was suffering unnecessarily due to a lack of farrier care and police took Fergus into their possession.
In a written statement, provided by the equine vet, they said that in their professional opinion the pony was suffering due to “severely overgrown hooves” leading to pain and placing additional strain on tendons and joints.
The pony’s gait was also “markedly altered by the severity of his overgrown hooves” which would restrict the natural roaming behaviour.
The vet added: “In my opinion, the timescale of suffering would equate to months to years. The pony’s hooves were approximately 10cm overgrown.”
In RSPCA care Fergus has had his hooves trimmed and now will be made available for rehoming.
