A WOMAN has been banned from keeping horses for five years after she was found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering to an underweight horse with a deformed hoof.

Pamela Brown, of Browney Lane, Durham, denied four charges of failing to ensure its welfare and two of causing unnecessary suffering to the horse she kept in a field with twelve others in Langley Moor, Durham.

But the 60-year-old was found guilty following a three-day trial at Darlington Magistrates’ Court.

The court heard that when an RSPCA inspector visited the 24-acre field last February, she found a horse in such poor condition it had to be immediately destroyed.

One of the horses was also underweight and had an overgrown and deformed hoof, while others had skin diseases and lice.

Kevin Campbell, for the RSPCA, said: “It has poor body condition, it has poor feet, a poor diet, poor living environment and effectively it is difficult to see anything worse that could have been done to the horse.”

Her co-accused, Louise Nicholson, 26, was cleared of five charges of failing to ensure an animal’s welfare, relating to one horse and a pony called Tiny.

In mitigation, Brown's solicitor David Ward said: “She is a very robust lady who is the matriarch who does have a number of family responsibilities - one of these people is her daughter.

“She has some difficulty in reading and writing as they all seem to do, but it is unlikely that this lady will be involved in any further offending.”

Brown was handed an 18-month community order, with 18 months of supervision, and was banned from keeping horses for five years.

She was also ordered to pay £1,000 costs and a £60 victim surcharge.