Ashburton man banned from owning horses after neglect case

Animal welfare inspectors inspected the property the horses were on and found them living in hazardous conditions.

Hill had 12 horses on a 1.2ha property, but only had the capacity to hold two.

MPI also said there wasn’t any grass cover for the horses to graze, a lack of supplementary feed and water and horses living in their own faeces.

“Not only did Mr Hill fail to address any of the animal welfare concerns we identified but he ignored a Temporary Enforcement Order issued by the court that required him to remove all horses from the property within seven days.”

MPI rehomed seven horses that were still on the property at another intervention and said “the horses’ suffering could have been avoided if Mr Hill had taken the action we earlier directed”.