Flipper's fantastic future
Friendly Flipper, a 11.2hh grey gelding in his early 20s, who has been in sanctuary at The Horse Trust since June now has an assured future.
Earlier this month, his owners Mr John Edward King (51) and Mrs Amy Pearl King (60) of Littlecote, Dunton, Bucks were found guilty at Aylesbury Magistrates Court on two counts of causing unnecessary suffering and failing under a duty of care because they had done nothing about Flipper’s acute weight loss and breathing problems.
“He had been found in a front garden, emaciated, dull, lethargic, filthy and having real problems breathing,” says Susan Lewis of The Horse Trust. “Rather like a human asthma sufferer, Flipper has to have regular medication administered by an equine ‘puffer’. “
The poor pony was so ill that he had to spend a long time in intensive veterinary care before he could even be transported to The Horse Trust’s nearby Home of Rest for Horses, where he has been recuperating for the past six months.
Now, thanks to the work of the RSPCA, who brought the prosecution, and of The Horse Trust, Flipper faces a secure future. He has been signed over into the Trust’s care and will spend the rest of his days enjoying TLC and equine companionship in the rolling green pastures of the Chiltern Hills.
His owners have been bailed to return to the Court for sentencing on 27 January.
