Rescued ponies’ lucky escape from owners now banned from keeping animals

A mare and foal who came into our care as part of a distressing case in which two other equines lost their lives, have found new homes where they are now thriving.

Moon and Champs were kept in a field next to a horse and a pony owned by the same people. The couple responsible for their care have since been banned from keeping animals for ten years following prosecution by the RSPCA.

Katrina Sullivan (42) and Jamie Middleton (36), of Bognor Regis, both pleaded guilty to two offences under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 and appeared for sentencing at Worthing Magistrates’ Court on October 14, 2024.

As well as the disqualification, Sullivan was sentenced to 12 weeks in prison, which was suspended for two years. Middleton was handed a 14-week prison sentence, suspended for two years.

When the RSPCA inspector and our field officer attended the incident back in October last year, they were confronted by a collapsed horse called Sassy and another, which was extremely thin, called Apollo.

Sassy’s owner told the inspector she found the pony lying down in a field four days previously, but was unable to get medical help as her regular vet was away on holiday and other equine vets wouldn’t come out because she had ‘”no money to pay up front and had failed credit checks”.

Sadly, during the time the officers were at the paddocks, Sassy passed away. Apollo was in such poor health that despite receiving intensive treatment he passed away three weeks later at a veterinary hospital.

A post-mortem showed Sassy was emaciated, weighing only 83kg, and had a heavy parasite infection in her gastrointestinal tract, which could have led to the weight loss, although a lack of food could have been a factor too.

In mitigation, the court heard Sullivan was remorseful. She had left the equines in the care of her partner, Middleton, who suffered from mental health problems and it was said he had “tried his best, but his care for the animals was incompetent”.

The magistrates told the defendants they had “dreadfully mistreated” the equines but agreed to suspend their custodial sentences. Both defendants were told to pay court costs of £350 and a victim surcharge of £154 each.