TWO women have gone on trial for alleged animal welfare offences after horses in their care were found suffering from rain scold and lice.

Pamela Brown, 60 has denied four offences of failing to ensure an animal’s welfare and two charges of causing unnecessary suffering to a horse which she kept in a field in Langley Moor, Durham.

Louise Nicholson, 26, denied five charges of failing to ensure an animal’s welfare, including failing to treat a horse’s chronic skin disease and lice infestation.

Darlington Magistrates’ Court heard today (Monday, January 26) that an RSPCA inspector visited the horses’ field in Langley Moor on February 22 last year to check on their condition.

There were about ten horses in the field and RSPCA inspector Ruth Coxon said that as she approached two near the fence, she saw a third was collapsed on the floor.

At first she thought it was dead, but although it was still breathing it was in such a poor condition that it had to be put down by a vet contacted by the RSPCA.

Ms Coxon also noted that one of the horses was underweight and had an overgrown and deformed hoof.

Others had skin disease and lice infestations.

Photographs of the animals’ ailments were shown to magistrates in court, alongside images of the field they were kept in which was deemed unsuitable by the RSPCA.

All the horses were seized by the RSPCA.

The women, who both live on Browney Lane, Durham, have pleaded not guilty to all charges and their trial is expected to last three days.