After video footage of her punching the horse and kicking it, a former primary school teacher was cleared.
Sarah Moulds “chastised”, the gray pony named Bruce Almighty, after it ran onto a Lincolnshire road in November 2021.
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The footage that was shown to jurors showed her yanking on the animal’s reins and using an open hand before she kicked it with riding. Boots on.
Moulds then pulled 11-year old horse in its box after the attack, while the Cottesmore Hunt was taking place at an area called The Drift.
The woman was found not guilty of inflicting unnecessary pain on a protected creature and failing to take reasonable precautions. Take a look at the steps below Protect the animal against pain, suffering, disease or injury.
The Lincoln Crown Court heard that Bruce “suffered both physically and psychologically” as a result of Moulds’ “unnecessary” and “counter-productive” reaction.
According to the equine veterinarian Dr Suzanne Green, “the rider’s action was not proportionate, appropriate or in response” to anything.
Moulds claims that her intention was to “briefly shock the horse”.
The mum denied that she had lost her temper but said Bruce took off unexpectedly while the child still held onto Bruce’s lead rope.
She replied: [Bruce] In that moment I felt it was the best thing to discipline him immediately.
In reality, the time was only four seconds.
“My intent was and has always been, in that moment, to punish Bruce so he would not repeat the mistake.
There was little contact, and it happened so quickly and in such a short time.
Moulds wept when she spoke of her family receiving death threats after the incident, and how she was forced to “go into hiding”.
Her job at Mowbray Education Trust was terminated after anti-hunters shared her video.
Bruce, the horse she owns today, also has an “idyllic” existence, according to this experienced rider.
She continued: “I’ll never hit a pony, discipline a mare, that way, as my life was torn apart by that decision in four seconds.”
A veterinary doctor, Dr Clive Madeiros told the court that it is likely the horse only felt “transient pain” and “there was no hard evidence” to suggest he had been in distress.
Moulds has denied the allegations. He was not charged by police, but rather the RSPCA.
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