Dawn Rose cruelty case

[poop]

Re Colin, i think he got legal ownership of the ponies he was producing so they were safe.
I think as people started to wise up to her she went off to other breeders who were out of the loop to buy more - i remember reading she had gone on a buying spree to Yorkshire for Section B's. She didnt just buy one she would buy 3,4 or more on each trip. One of her Original purchases was virtually a whole herd of Ebbw sec D's including a stallion!
You certainly cannot apply the argument about indiscriminatly bred poor quality colts to her as she bought some of the best ponies / bloodlines available, however she herself was then mating all and sundry so had she managed another year then we would have seen some not so good results of that.
As for the picture of her on the Sun online, she looks rather well dressed for someone on benefits, as for the bizarre attire perhaps she has converted to Islam with the burka style headgear? Why would she hide her face if she was innocent?
Having found her online self penned writers blog (she claimed to be a writer) it just confirms that she was living in a complete fantasy land. One that obviously involved animals (which she claimed to so love) that lived on fresh air.
I hope the press let this run for quite a while longer.

[amumwithapony]

im so glad that some people, including colin, didnt let her have all the ponies she had 'bought' and that he kept the ones that he had been producing, probably loosing himself money in the process. i know someone who did the same, having paid for a pony, then decided to leave it there at livery. livery bill got bigger and bigger, stuff hit the fan and my friend negotiated with her to keep pony to cancel livery. Livery came to about 2k, pony worth £650. at least some people acted decently throughout this terrible saga, and put the welfare of ponies first. i wonder how many she did end up buying in the end, i know they took 69 from her, but i know she had a lot of others she hadnt picked up yet. lucky lucky ponies.

[poop]

good ol Daily Mail is also running this as a story
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1211119/Wealthy-divorcee-left-69-horses-starve-stud-farm-failed-escapes-jail.html

[brindlerainbow]

Good that Colin Tibby got legal ownership of the ponies that he was producing due to non payment of production fees, at least he didnt send them back to her and didnt they have a lucky escape!! It seems that the majority of the ponies were very well bred though I must admit if I was a breeder which im not, and an unknown person, and im assuming she was unknown in the Welsh world?? came to me to buy a herd including a stallion and had plenty of money to throw around I would be a tad suspicious and would in a kindly manner suggest that I view the home first as the welfare of my ponies is far more important than a big cheque in my pocket. If a buyer has nothing to hide they should agree to that.If I am buying a pony I always give the seller the option to view my place and get references before they agree a sale because I know I have absolutely nothing to hide, my ponies are looked after and adored as they deserve to be. Dawn Rose may have thought the way she looked after her ponies was acceptable but if any of the sellers had viewed her place before agreeing a sale they may have realised things were not right with the stupid woman. Maybe in the future when, not if, this kind of thing happens again because it almost certainly will happen again, if there is someone buying ponies or keeping ponies in an unacceptable way then would it be possible to make it public on forums or through word of mouth to let people know not to sell to someone who could end up making ponies lives a misery. Bit of a long shot I know but I think us genuine horse lovers out there need to try and make a difference if we can!!!!

[sallyw]

I cant understand why she is described as 'wealthy divorcee' in some papers and yet in other she is said to be on benefits. It is interesting that Brindlerainbow says that this woman may have thought that the way she kept her horses was ok. In fact a well known stud near to me, run by someone who is very high up in one of the showing organisations has ponies which look nearly as bad as this. Their explanation is that they are just youngstock. Studs do keep ponies in a rougher condition than those of us with just a few beloved ones but if you go to a good stud - for example Colin Tibbey - the ponies are in wonderful condition out in the fields. There is no excuse for cruelty. She really is an absolute disgrace.

[amumwithapony]

to be honest messydesk i think she was trying to emulate some of the big studs that she may have visited. having being to couple myself i have been shocked at the condition of some of the ponies, and as you say you either get told they have gone through a growing spurt, or they are in maintance condition and its natrual for them to drop condition off in the winter, never heard a plausable excuse yet! anybody that cares for there ponies in a proper manner knows how much it costs to keep them, unless you have acres and acres of grazing, which most dont. the problem is when someone like dawn comes on the scene and is shown and purchases stock in this condition, she then thinks its acceptable to do the same, but there is a very fine line between maintance and starvation, which she will have been unable to distinguish between. then you end up with this problem, and the ponies are the ones that have to suffer. fair play to the people who hung on to the ponies until the end and ended up losing financially, but shame on those who should have advised her not to buy so many in the first place, I know for a fact that she was given several name and telephone numbers by well known breeders for people whose stock she was advised to buy, as it was quality. im not saying that the stock wasnt good that she purchased, but at the end of the day, someone, somewhere should have put 2 and 2 together sooner and put word about that she was buying ponies at a rate of knots. the welsh pony world is not that big and whether she was buying ponies in yorkshire or timbuktoo im sure that if everybody had been as decent as colin and the others who refused to let them go, then it may have been 49 ponies that were suffering, or 29. or it may have been avoided altogther. even 1 less pony would have been better. i personally think people have seen money, and sold ponies regardless of the consequences. like someone else said, anyone genuine wouldnt mind any kind of home/background checks carried out.

[diane]

Please don't let us think for even a minute that a field of Yearlings at a stud in natural condition is ANYTHING close to what DR did to her ponies. If she can not be held responsible for her appalling act of neglect then I think it is wrong to assume that somebody else should have seen through her and stopped her..and NO before you ask..I do not have fields full of yearlings or have sold, thankfully to this excuse for a woman..but let us not try to shift the real blame for this sad and sorry disaster...it is truly at her feet.

[amumwithapony]

im not saying that dawn rose shouldnt be hung drawn and quatered for what she did, it was truely horrendous, and to let ponies get to that state whether through ignorance or neglect is pure evil. the point im trying to make is that some studs do keep too many ponies to be able to care for them properly. think about what she could have bought from the dove stud had she been a year earlier, and what she would have though was normal. any decent human being, horse lover or not could see that both DR's ponies and the dove ponies were in a horrendous state. what you or me may call natrual for youngsters is a thousand miles away from what DR's ponies were like, BUT my point is that DR's ponies probably werent that far away from what shes seen at some studs. Im speculating as to what studs she went to, but ive been to a couple over the years, and while some were good, some were definatley not good. if shes been buying stock from one of the not good ones, like i say its a fine line, and with that many ponies it would be easy to fall down a few notches and go from thin yearling, or brood mare thats done her foal well and left nothing for herself, to the ponies we saw on the video.

i dont know what the solution is, or how we could stop things like this happening again and again. one thing is clear to me though and that its very difficult to intervene in cases like this and maybe prevention is better than cure. and maybe if as a nation we cant regulate ourselves, and decide sensibily and fairly who we sell too, then maybe its time for some sort of external body to intervene. Like i said before, maybe the socities should get involved to limit breeding, which would reduce the number of people that could breed and reduce the number of foals produced. maybe we should just be more monitered, maybe you should have to sit a test before you keep horses, maybe increase the proposed horse tax to discourage people buying and keeping more than a couple of animals, maybe we should have to have a license to breed from a mare, the same as we do stallions, maybe only a selected few should be able to keep stallions (think they do this in Holland, but dont quote me on that). i dont know the solution, i just know that 69 ponies suffered because she was allowed, in fact encouraged, to go out and buy 69 animals in the space of 12 months and keep them unsupervised. thats whats wrong about it, you need a license to drive a car, and have to tax it and insure it, and yet we can keep an infinite number of animals in appalling conditions without any qualifications at all. if any of the welsh cobs got on the moterway im sure they could do as much damage as a fiesta, and are much more unpredicatable to handle. and on that note im going to bed.

[drenrowstud]

well the mare we sold to dr used to get to fat with us and we had to watch her weight to end up in the condition she was in just before she was seized (i didnt know anything was wrong till the ponies were taken ) the mare would have had to have been systamatically starved she used to live on next to nothing when she was with us and was always on the tubby side .

we have several tubby mares that graze a fairly bear paddock they get a flap of old hay each morning and night and some topspec light ,double handful of happy hoof and juice from the sugar beet and thats it they are both regarded by my vet as being fat .
most welsh ponies once they reach maturity can maintain condition on very little food , these animals must have been completey starved for months to get as thin as in the pictures .

as for saying that buying all the ponies should have rung alarm bells she did go round telling people she had had a very large divorce settlement , by the time anyone knew what was going on she had already purchased over 40 ponies from what i have heard .

the woman was very convincing and a lot of people were taken in me included . seams like her sob storry worked on the judge too

[poop]

Dont forget she bought some very good ponies at Fayre Oaks 2007 too spending well over 10000, no one can police who does the buying there

I doubt she saw many ponies in poor condition at the studs she visited, she went to very reputable studs, all over the country small and large, Sec A's B's and Cob breeders. She also was at the shows so could see how a pony should look. I personally felt very uneasy about her and what they were doing by last spring, but by then they had bought most of the ponies and were having foals born which was worrying me. We had discussed the fact she moved to a 30 odd acre farm with 70 ponies being inadequate, i'm glad i didnt have any og the bloodlines she was obsessed with buying.

Having seen her and daughter at Royal Norfolk 2007 when they literally had 3 ponies and she was showing a yearling filly that looked ok, bit underweight and not in show condition i described them as 'all the gear and no idea.' They came across as not really knowing anything about welsh ponies.
However as others have said she wa very convincing - i believe she lives in a total fantasy land.
It is wrong to lay blame at those who sold her ponies, some very high up people in WPCS were taken in by her sadly. She is entirely to blame herself for this mess, dont be like her and blame everybody else!!
I have never visited a prospective purchasers place but i do like to do some digging about where my ponies are going.

[pattendown]

the thing is you cant condeme all breeders and not all of us can afford to pay this silly tax and my yearlings and foals are definatly not in maintanace condition i was actually asked 2 years on the trot why my foals are so fat and that is just on mums milk ,but i only have 4 a year and at the most 6 ,but from what ive gathered about this woman is she got alot from the sales and noone can say who buys the ponies and who dont ,this is why i dont selll any of mine at sales ,with the best willin the world at sales this cannot be avoided

[brindlerainbow]

Well said pattendown!! I dont think anyone wants to condemn all breeders just those that are neglectful to the welfare of their ponies and those that just see £ signs regardless as to the fate of the animals they have bred. And as pattendown so rightly says if you sell at a sale you don't have a say on what happens to your pony once the hammer falls. It could be a perfect long term owner that bids, it could be the meat man or it could be Dawn Rose or James Gray. I would never sell at an auction for that reason.

[diane]

If it was only so easy to avoid the pitfalls of life. Things can still go badly wrong in private sales. I sold a young colt privately to Scotland to a well known stud..picked up by Gillies transport ...owner kept in touch with regular calls as to his progress. Then all went quiet and several months later to my horror I found my little lad was caught up in a horrific welfare problem with same owner who went to Court and got a similar slap on the wrist as DR. Similarly I have sold at Auction to wonderful owners, many of whom stay in touch. We all take risks every day to some extent. Do you not get in your car in case it crashes? Not load your horses onto trailer or lorry in case something terrible is going to happen?
Sadly, for as long as there are evil people in this world evil things will happen out there.

[sallyw]

It does seem that studs are either one thing or the other. There are the good ones where the ponies on the field may have scruffy manes and tails or muddy coats but they are bright eyed, lively and covered with enough flesh to see them through a cold night or whatever nature throws at them or they seem to be the other extreme where the ponies are starving thin and miserable, because they are seen as almost a 'cash crop'. There will always be people like Dawn Rose who are quite frankly completely nuts and who no normal person could truly understand. Those kind of people can be extremely plausible becasue they truly belive the fantasy that they are living out. Those of us with muck permanently under our fingernails cant really grasp how these people work. Twinkle came from a house which later sold for 4 million pounds. She was starving; her feet long; riddled with lice etc etc but the owner had bought this poor pony for the children to ride and had absolutely no idea how to look after it. It was just 'the done thing' to have ponies in the field for your children. The husband is a well known TV presenter! They escaped prosecution and Twinkle has a permanent home with us but for all the Dawn Rose's that appear in the press I wonder how many other people buy horses because they think it looks good or some other deluded idea and have no idea how to care for them properly? Maybe its time we had licences to keep horses?

[amumwithapony]

I know that unfortunatley once a pony is sold, its sold and with the best will in the world, the only time we can guarantee a ponies future is when its stood in our fields at our home. You can sell to the most genuine family in the world and something awful happen, or you could sell at a sale and the pony end up in a fab home.

I'm not going to condemn all breeders out there, as everyone has said there are plenty that have ponies as fat as butter 24/7/365, even if they never go further than the yard and the field and no one but the owner claps eyes on them from month to month. what im talking about is the breeders who have 60/70/80 plus animals, and breed foals year in year out that end up through the sales time and time again. They seem to have dispersal sales every year, and whilst im not saying that the quality of the foals is poor, there seems to be so many with the same bloodlines that the market inevitably gets flooded, and the prices drop. I'm sure that if DR had been allowed to continue with the plan that she had, this would have happened with her ponies too. i would question how a lot of the big studs cope just with the day to day care of the ponies. unless they have a private income, or make enough profit from the sale of ponies, or take in ponies for production, and can afford to pay for staff i dont see how 1 or 2 or even 3 people can manage with that amount of ponies. they may just be left to get on with it up on the hills, but this is probably reflected in the price they get for there foals, when someone can pay maybe a couple of hundred quid for a well handled/wormed/vaccinated/farriered pony or one thats just been dragged of its mum and shoved in a barn with another 30 or so foals before being shipped of to the sales. imo these are the sort of studs who need monitoring the most, and there culture needs to change.

there are enough ponies and horses out there without homes, and whilst a portion of people want 'blueblooded' stock to breed from (which i applaud, rather than keep churning out average ponies with average bloodline) i would say a good portion of the market, especially the ridden market, want something that can meet their requirements physically and mentally, whether it be a l/r pony, a family hack or even a bit of showing r/c type activies, and for this sort of animal it doesnt really matter what its prefix is. im all for the 'hobby breeder' the one with half a dozen mares, a couple of youngstock knocking around and a decent stallion. in my experiance because they only have at most 10-12 ponies, they recieve the care and attention they need, the breeder is concious of how many they can keep and may only cover 1 or 2 each year, and they tend to just breed from the best of there own stock, and think very carefully about the stamp of animal they want, as there biggest dream is to win something big, with something theyve bred themselves. theyre not in it for the money, they are in it because they love there ponies and thats there passion.

Im not knocking all big breeders, because there are probably some very good ones out there, who think exactly like a smaller breeder but on a bigger scale if that makes sense. I just think that if they are going to have a 'cash crop' of foals each year, they should be as tightly regulated as farmers are, and held to account for the state of there animals, and to have to account for them each year to someone somewhere how many they have, and where they all are. this would hopefully stop someone like DR coming around again and having 70 animals on 30 acres of land, with just her and a 15 year old girl responsible for them. that scenario is never going to work, and although hindsight is a wonderful thing, should never have been allowed to happen in the first place.

Im not condemning anyone who sold DR a pony, or 2 or 3, as everyone has said, she was very convincing. But what i do condemn is the system that allowed it to get so far, to buy so many ponies in such a short space of time, and not have to justify to anyone how she was going to keep all these ponies and manage with them, both physically and financially. regardless of what lump sum she had to start with and what her plans for the future were, she obviously took on far too much, and ran out of money before she had more coming in to replace what she had spent on ponies. and the result was that she had 69 starving ponies confiscated. there are no excuses for what DR did, but it should never have got to that stage in the first place. no one person or stud (other than DR herself) could be blamed for the mess that she got herself into, but my feelings on this are that a some people (not all of them) made money out of selling stuff to DR, and whilst no one could have predicted what would happen, if everyone had done a background check on her, or dropped the ponies off themselves, or paid her a visit unannounced, or asked for referrences, or to see her other ponies, then some of this could have been avoided. its not always possible, especially if you have to sell your stuff through a sale to guarantee what type of home a pony goes to, but as someone else said, DR should have been ringing alarm bells all the way. most big breeders know you dont set a stud up in a matter of months, it takes years and years and very often generations and generations for the knowledge, bloodlines, ponies and sometimes just chance for people to want to buy from you. i know the ponies she bought were of very high quality but did anyone really believe that she would be succesful? that she could study the pedigrees of the ponies she had bought, then go and study the mares and fillies for there confirmation, then study the stalions that she had and decide the best match for each mare? confirmationally and personality wise? or was she setting herself up for a fall from the start? how many of the people she bought from would have wanted to buy her resultant foals? or would they all have ended up at the sales. like i say hindsight's a wonderful thing but i do think in this case the whole tragedy could have been avoided had more people refused to sell stuff to her, or send her to other people to keep buying, i know its every studs dream for someone to turn up on there doorstep waving the cash, and wanting to buy ponies, regardless of cost, but it also turned into a nightmare at the end, mainly for the ponies. I know there are a lot of very distressed previous owners out there who would give anything not to have sold her ponies in the first place, but at the end of the day people did, and it turned out horrendously. i dont mean to be harsh but that as i see it is the reality of the situation. however, my heart does go out to everyone who was conned by her, at least now the majority of the ponies are safe.

It seems to me that now is the time to start introducing more legislation into keeping horses and ponies, as i said on a previous post, if we cant regulate ourselves and keep numbers realistic and quality high, than its time some sort of laws or rules did.

ETA sorry didnt realise that was so long, going to get off my soapbox now and do some tea!

[diane]

amumwithapony....very eloquently put..your thoughts make a lot of sense. Well said..enjoy your tea ;D

[pattendown]

this silly woman thaught she was goin to be on a big earner i think she wasnt as she found out it takes alot of time and money with only a couple of mares so how much would it have cost to feed that lot ,i have 11 alltogether and it gets over whelming sometimes i have to do it in the lashing rain and blizzards allmine a rugged as well even the foals ,in my wildest dreams i wouldnt have wanted that many

[josie1234]

10 years is ridiculous! She should be banned from keeping horses for life! Ahh makes me so angry!

[cheekychops]

breeding horses for profit really is a false economy. Foals arnt worth much, vets bills are huge, youve got to keep youngsters for years to break to sell as ridden. By the time they are fed etc there simply is no profit.
I had a litter of pups recently and sold them for 750 eash. C Section was 800.00, vets bill for wormers and pup health checks, kennel club registration and 700.00 stud fee another 1200.00. Weaned on best lean steak mince and baby milk........feed about 400.00. I kept two pups.................................profit -never seen it!!! What is wrong with people that they believe it is the fastest way to quitting your day job and leading life of luxury.

[martinetaylor02]

brought tears to my eyes!
I know this is random but i always look at it this way.....i wonder what shed of got if shed done this to children?
The is no excuse i think zero tollerance with all wrong doings!!!! think the sentance is pathetic!
but they say you reap what you sow and in the future you never know god will now probably have a grudge!

[smokeycott]

such a shame it had to get to that level before something was done,
i have 7 ponies, and theyre hard work,especially as i have to go to work too, so dont know how people with more than that manage to care for them day to day never mind some of these studs with over 50 ponies , or over 100 ponies??? well i dont know how a team of people could do them??
perhaps the micro chipping will put people off over breeding......
imagine the cost of microchipping 60 or more foals.
it has put me off covering all my mares every year so will cover only a couple and the do another couple the follow year.
breeding isnt cheap if you have to pay stud fees, vets bills, wormers, passports microchips, passports etc etc etc etc so lets HOPE it makes breeders more selective.
wpcs should have welfare officers that could check on breeders who register/sell tons of foals , afterall i bet that most of the wpcs go to these sales and see these ponies that go through the rings .

[newshound]

Sept 3, 2009 16:16:22 GMT talponciau said:

this is from wales on line
Suspended sentence and 10 year ban for horse breeder
Sep 3 2009 by Elwyn Roberts
Add a commentRecommend A WOMAN who “unrealistically” tried to found a horse breeding farm to fulfil her teenage daughter’s dream left one of her horses resembling “a skeleton with skin stretched over it”, it has emerged.

The RSPCA recovered 69 horses from Dawn Elizabeth Rose’s farm, one of which was in such a wretched condition that vets were amazed it was still alive.

Flintshire Magistrates’ Court heard Rose, 49, who had been involved with horses for 40 years and has no previous convictions, had been involved in two abusive relationships and was suffering from depression and anxiety.

She separated from her common law husband, received a £300,000 settlement, and used that to set up her teenage daughter’s dream of breeding Welsh ponies. She initially bought 30 ponies and then moved to North Wales from Norfolk.

Her solicitor, James Bagby, told the court she later lost all the money and had found herself considerably in debt, having taken out loans. She also begged and borrowed from friends to buy feed for the horses, he said.

Rose was given a suspended three-year prison sentence, 100 hours of unpaid work, and was banned from keeping horses for 10 years.

One of her horses, Mist, was described by RSPCA inspector Chris Dunbar after the hearing as “a skeleton with skin stretched over it”.

Previously, Glen Murphy, prosecuting, had said the mare was the thinnest horse a vet had ever seen in 11 years of practise and was amazed she managed to stay on her feet.

A grey stallion named Owen was emaciated and had to be destroyed and two other horses later died while in RSPCA care.

Following round-the-clock care which included tiny hourly meals, Mist is now a healthy horse which has been rehoused.

“She did not stop eating for the first few weeks after she was taken into RSPCA care,” said Mr Dunbar after the hearing.

Mr Murphy told the court Rose set out to run a stud farm at Penygelli Farm at Pontfadog, near Chirk, but took on so many horses she was physically and financially incapable of meeting their needs.

“She failed to protect the animals from suffering and injury and she blamed a lack of finance, which was no excuse,” he said, claiming a lack of planning, forethought or financial backing.

District Judge Andrew Shaw told Rose that for a five or six week period in the autumn of 2008 she owned and controlled a large number of horses as part of her livelihood but she had “neglected them in an obvious and shameful way”.

He said: “The condition of the horses was obvious to anyone, even a person knowing nothing about horses.

“You allowed your personal problems to overwhelm you and you failed to act as a responsible owner.

“Indeed the plight of the animals was so obvious that your failure to alleviate it was cruel.”

Mr Bagby, defending, said Rose had not carried out malicious acts.

“She did not set out to deliberately harm them,” he said.

“This is a business venture which went horribly wrong. Ultimately she could not look after the horses in the way she should have.”

He said Rose had planned to receive sponsorship for the horses as an income and sell them but had become the subject of an internet hate campaign. He said he had print-outs of some of the very unpleasant things that had been said about her.

He said a web designer would not release Rose’ website unless he had a partnership in the business, which affected her ability to sell horses and generate income.

“She set out with good intentions,” said Mr Bagby.

Rose has since signed over all the horses to the RSPCA and all but 20 have been found new homes.

Without the intervention of the RSPCA, it was the vet’s conclusion that many of the horses would have died as a result of malnutrition and parasite infection.

The costs involved – including stabling costs of all the horses seized – amounted to £128,500. Rose, now living on benefits at Starling Close in Farndon, Cheshire, was ordered to make a contribution of £250.

Rose admitted six horse cruelty charges relating to all 69 horses, failing to ensure their needs were met, that they had a nutritious diet, and had proper veterinary care. She is now considering bankruptcy.

[newshound]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but I have personal experience of this lady....I now understand she is using the cover of her daughter to acquire more horses in the Leicester (Oadby) area, where they now live. She has no means of financial support except Govt handouts and her daughter is a Uni Student.....I have notified the RSPCA.....she still has 2 years left on her ban.....PLEASE BE AWARE.

Sept 3, 2009 16:16:22 GMT talponciau said:

this is from wales on line
Suspended sentence and 10 year ban for horse breeder
Sep 3 2009 by Elwyn Roberts
Add a commentRecommend A WOMAN who “unrealistically” tried to found a horse breeding farm to fulfil her teenage daughter’s dream left one of her horses resembling “a skeleton with skin stretched over it”, it has emerged.

The RSPCA recovered 69 horses from Dawn Elizabeth Rose’s farm, one of which was in such a wretched condition that vets were amazed it was still alive.

Flintshire Magistrates’ Court heard Rose, 49, who had been involved with horses for 40 years and has no previous convictions, had been involved in two abusive relationships and was suffering from depression and anxiety.

She separated from her common law husband, received a £300,000 settlement, and used that to set up her teenage daughter’s dream of breeding Welsh ponies. She initially bought 30 ponies and then moved to North Wales from Norfolk.

Her solicitor, James Bagby, told the court she later lost all the money and had found herself considerably in debt, having taken out loans. She also begged and borrowed from friends to buy feed for the horses, he said.

Rose was given a suspended three-year prison sentence, 100 hours of unpaid work, and was banned from keeping horses for 10 years.

One of her horses, Mist, was described by RSPCA inspector Chris Dunbar after the hearing as “a skeleton with skin stretched over it”.

Previously, Glen Murphy, prosecuting, had said the mare was the thinnest horse a vet had ever seen in 11 years of practise and was amazed she managed to stay on her feet.

A grey stallion named Owen was emaciated and had to be destroyed and two other horses later died while in RSPCA care.

Following round-the-clock care which included tiny hourly meals, Mist is now a healthy horse which has been rehoused.

“She did not stop eating for the first few weeks after she was taken into RSPCA care,” said Mr Dunbar after the hearing.

Mr Murphy told the court Rose set out to run a stud farm at Penygelli Farm at Pontfadog, near Chirk, but took on so many horses she was physically and financially incapable of meeting their needs.

“She failed to protect the animals from suffering and injury and she blamed a lack of finance, which was no excuse,” he said, claiming a lack of planning, forethought or financial backing.

District Judge Andrew Shaw told Rose that for a five or six week period in the autumn of 2008 she owned and controlled a large number of horses as part of her livelihood but she had “neglected them in an obvious and shameful way”.

He said: “The condition of the horses was obvious to anyone, even a person knowing nothing about horses.

“You allowed your personal problems to overwhelm you and you failed to act as a responsible owner.

“Indeed the plight of the animals was so obvious that your failure to alleviate it was cruel.”

Mr Bagby, defending, said Rose had not carried out malicious acts.

“She did not set out to deliberately harm them,” he said.

“This is a business venture which went horribly wrong. Ultimately she could not look after the horses in the way she should have.”

He said Rose had planned to receive sponsorship for the horses as an income and sell them but had become the subject of an internet hate campaign. He said he had print-outs of some of the very unpleasant things that had been said about her.

He said a web designer would not release Rose’ website unless he had a partnership in the business, which affected her ability to sell horses and generate income.

“She set out with good intentions,” said Mr Bagby.

Rose has since signed over all the horses to the RSPCA and all but 20 have been found new homes.

Without the intervention of the RSPCA, it was the vet’s conclusion that many of the horses would have died as a result of malnutrition and parasite infection.

The costs involved – including stabling costs of all the horses seized – amounted to £128,500. Rose, now living on benefits at Starling Close in Farndon, Cheshire, was ordered to make a contribution of £250.

Rose admitted six horse cruelty charges relating to all 69 horses, failing to ensure their needs were met, that they had a nutritious diet, and had proper veterinary care. She is now considering bankruptcy.

[poop]

2 of the most deluded nutters ive ever come accross. This is bad news 😡
Newshound ive pm'd you ;-)

[hayleyblake]

Does anyone know what happened to any of these ponies. Dawn bought a pony from us supposedly to produce and then breed from. Her name was Bi-bridge Party Girl and I have been trying to find her to see if she is OK. For years I've got nowhere but feel like I may be getting closer now. I spoke with Sarah from the Lacy stud and they don't remember her so I don't think she was one of the ponies Colin was producing. I have however searched her on the equine database through her chip number and she's still registered with her green passport. I know a lot of the ponies removed by the RSPCA were given pet ID passports so I'm holding out hope that somone knows where she is.
She is a full up 12 sec a, white grey. At the time she would have been 8 with darker legs, mane and tail. She would be 19 now and probably will have lost her darker markings.
If anyone has any ideas please let me know. I would love to know that she is OK.