A MOTHER and daughter from North Yorkshire have been banned from keeping horses after neglecting animals in their care.

Lorraine Potter, 62, and her daughter Toyah Potter, 20, both of Regents Close, Easingwold, each pleaded guilty before York magistrates last month to causing unnecessary suffering to the animals.

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They each admitted to four charges under the Animal Welfare Act following a prosecution brought by the RSPCA.

The offences related to four horses kept at Sands Lane in Huby and included leaving them without sufficient food and water and failing to provide them with adequate dental and veterinary care.

The offences were committed between January 11, 2020, and March 11, 2020.

The pair were sentenced at York Magistrates' Court on Friday, October 8 and Lorraine Potter was disqualified from keeping equines, mules, donkeys or their hybrids for life.

Magistrates said this was due to the serious neglect to the horses in this case.

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She cannot apply to the court to have the ban lifted for at least ten years.

She was also given a 16-week electronically tagged curfew with the condition that she must stay at her Easingwold home overnight between the hours of 7pm and 7am.

A 20-day community order with a requirement to complete a rehabilitation activity was also imposed, along with court costs and charges of £795.

Toyah Potter was banned from keeping equines for five years and cannot appeal the ban for two years.

She was given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £722 in court costs and charges.

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At the initial court hearing in September, Phil Brown, prosecuting for the RSPCA, said the horses were kept in a field that was unsuitable for any animal.

The court heard that a lack of farrier care had led to hoof problems, one of the horses voided a ringworm and another had teeth problems.

Defence solicitor Kevin Blount said there was 'considerable personal mitigation' which included how the horses had come into the care of the pair.

He added: “Two of the horses had been well cared for until it reached the point where the offending starts because things had got out of control.”

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