A KIDDERMINSTER woman who rode a badly emaciated horse at an equestrian event has been banned from keeping them for 10 years.

Birmingham Magistrates Court heard how 22-year-old Charlotte McPherson, of Park Lane, Kidderminster, had failed to investigate and treat why a former racehorse got so thin that almost every bone was visible.

The RSPCA were only made aware of the condition of the 10-year-old thoroughbred, whose racing name was Hoare Abbey but was known by stable name of Thor, after images of him looking underweight were posted on social media.

Rafe Turner, prosecuting on behalf of the RSPCA, told the court the horse was “almost like a walking skeleton”.

On Tuesday, magistrates slapped a 10-year disqualification order on her, imposed a 12-month community order, ordered her to do 160 hours of unpaid work and told her to pay £300 costs and a £60 victim surcharge.

At a hearing in August, McPherson had pleaded guilty to a charge of causing unnecessary suffering to the horse by failing to investigate and treat the cause of his poor body condition.

She also admitted a second charge of failing to take steps to ensure that the needs of the animal were met, by failing to protect him from pain, suffering, injury and disease by riding him when he was not in a fit state to be ridden.

In mitigation, Charles Hobbs said the mother-of-one was not the owner of Thor. She agreed the horse was underweight at the fun ride and accepts she shouldn’t have ridden him on that particular day.

He added she had fully co-operated with the RSPCA and had been “vilified” on social media. He said: “She’s found it extremely stressful. She’s suffered anxiety attacks – she hasn’t taken this lightly at all.”

RSPCA inspector Suzi Smith, who investigated, said: “Thor looked incredibly thin and you could see pretty much every bone in his body.

“It was obvious to anyone who saw him that he was not well. A vet examined Thor and gave him a body condition of zero out of five - he was that thin.

“While in this body condition, McPherson rode him twice a week, including at a fun ride in Bissell Wood, Blakedown, in March, where his condition was noticed by people at the event.

“Not only was he thin, but he had a sore on his spine which was directly underneath the saddle. Thor would have been in a lot of pain while he was being ridden.”

She added that Thor has since recovered and rehomed.