ANIMAL welfare officers found a horse up to its knees in its own excrement when they visited a stables.

Inspectors from Durham County Council also found a building used to house two pigs was six-inches deep in excrement when they carried out an inspection at Fulforth Stables in Sacriston, near Chester-le-Street.

Owner Angela Edmundson pleaded guilty at a hearing at Peterlee Magistrates Court on Monday to two charges, under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, of failure to take all reasonable steps to ensure that animals, namely pigs and a black stallion, were provided with a dry lying area.

Following anonymous complaints about animal welfare at the small holding, officers from the council’s Community and Animal Health Team, visited the premises to advise the defendant of her responsibilities and issued an improvement notice.

But when officers revisited the premises in September 2013, they found a black stallion and two pigs standing in faeces.

Mrs Edmundson, 53, of Sacriston, was given a conditional discharge for eighteen months by magistrates.

The court heard that family illness had prevented her from properly managing her animals at the time.

She was additionally ordered to pay £500 court costs and a £15 victim surcharge.