Horses are being ‘fly-tipped and left to die on the side of the road’, says RSPCA

Horses are being “fly-tipped” and left to die on the side of the road by irresponsible owners, the RSPCA has said.

The charity told the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme that one mare had been dumped on a roadside while it was trying to give birth, leading to the death of both the mother and the foal.

In another case, a pony was kept in a 19th floor flat.

The RSPCA said horses are being dumped because they are cheap to buy but expensive to maintain.

It told the BBC that prosecution cases involving horses had increased by 25% since 2015, up to 225 in 2017.

RSPCA chief inspector Sam Garvey said it had looked after horses that had been “literally dumped down dirt tracks along with the rubbish”.

She said the owners had “taken their rubbish out to fly-tip and at the same time taken a sick and injured horse along with it”.

She added: “And we’ve gone out to calls and not been able to see the horse until we’ve literally rifled through the rubbish.”

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The RSPCA rescued nearly 1,000 horses in England and Wales last year, the highest number for four years.

It said some owners believe it isn’t worth paying a vet to treat a sick horse, or paying to have the animal put to sleep and disposed of.

The charity is currently looking after more than 850 rescued horses at its private stables.

One horse being treated is Adie, who was found collapsed and covered in mud on a footpath on New Year’s Eve.

His owner had left him there after he became ill.

Ms Garvey said: “It took five people to try and get him up.

“It was very touch and go – often when a horse goes down it’s the end, so you have to put a lot of hard work and time and effort to get them back on their feet.”

She said there were cases where horses are being sold online “cheaper than a kitten”.

She said: “There were horses for as cheap as £25, horses for free, ‘buy the mare, get the foal for free’.”

The RSPCA advised owners to seek professional advice from local instructors or charities if they find it too expensive to treat their horses.