A man has lost his appeal against multiple animal welfare convictions, which involved 13 horses and ponies, including a collapsed foal (pictured above).
Henry Brewer, 57, of Esholt Lane, Shipley, was originally convicted on 26 March 2025 following a trial, after which he lodged an appeal against both his conviction and sentence.
The appeal hearing took place between 1 and 3 September at Bradford Crown Court, but a District Judge and bench ultimately dismissed the appeal.
In the prosecution brought by the RSPCA, Brewer was found guilty of seven animal welfare offences — four counts of causing unnecessary suffering to five horses and three counts of failing to meet the needs of 13 horses.
The animals were kept across three locations: Old Hollins Hill and Park Lane in Baildon, and a third site in Esholt.
Brewer received a 14-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, and a 10-year disqualification from owning equines.
Additionally, he was ordered to complete 100 hours of unpaid work, a 10-day Rehabilitation Activity Requirement, and pay court costs — but he went onto appeal the conviction.
Removal of horses
The court heard that the investigation began in January 2023 when the RSPCA was contacted with concerns about horses kept by Brewer.
Several visits from the charity’s welfare officers followed, observing the horses to have limited water and hay, and officers were concerned about the body condition of some of the horses, leaving a notice for improvement.
After attending the two sites in Baildon on 18 January 2023 with police and a vet, three horses including one young foal, were removed from Old Hollins Hill due to concerns for being underweight.
Regular follow-up visits revealed continuing welfare issues and a lack of hay. Attempts to work with Brewer were not successful, leading to the RSPCA issuing warning notices for a number of the remaining horses.
Later on 6 March 2023, RSPCA officers along with police and local authority workers attended the site in Esholt, where a nine month old skewbald colt was discovered collapsed in a stable.
The colt had a body condition score of just one out of a possible five (with zero being emaciated and five being obese, and three being ideal). There was no bedding on the floor, which was uneven and made of bricks and concrete.
Police removed the colt from Esholt, along with further horses from Old Hollins Hill due to welfare concerns, and placed the animals into the care of the RSPCA.
Charges upheld
“The poor body conditions of some of the horses in this case were very obvious to see,” said a specialist equine vet who examined the horses, in their witness statement.
“They were visually in varying degrees of very poor condition. The owner had been previously warned by the RSPCA Inspector about providing supplementary forage at all times for the horses and to improve body conditions.”
They added that in their opinion, if the horses had been left in the field and not removed by the RSPCA, it is likely that their conditions would have worsened, and that Brewer had stated to them that he believed the condition of the horses to be ‘fine’.
Following deliberation, the bench concluded there was substantial evidence to uphold all seven charges against Brewer.
“This was a very upsetting case for our rescuers to investigate,” said an RSPCA spokesperson after the conclusion of the appeal hearing.
“Seeing this number of horses, including a foal, being let down by their owner, who continued to fail to provide them with suitable care despite advice and notices from us, was frustrating and very sad.”
The horses made good progress under the care of the RSPCA specialist equine facilities, and in addition three foals were born to already in foal mares.
Sadly four of the ponies were put to sleep by a vet due to poor health, but others have gone on to make good recoveries, and some have already found loving new homes.
Images by the RSPCA
