A horse breeder who was banned from owning or being in charge of horses for three years in September after he pleaded guilty to animal cruelty charges was back in court in February over the fate of some of his horses.
In September, Gavan James Pratt, of Girgarre, pleaded guilty in Shepparton Magistrates’ Court to unreasonably failing to provide treatment for an injured animal and committing an act of cruelty on a group of 11 horses by failing to provide them with proper and sufficient food.
The charges came after authorities inspected Pratt’s two properties on March 4, 2022.
The charges related to 40 of the horses being in paddocks that did not have any natural pasture, and there was no supplementary feed.
One of the horses also had a severe wound on her leg that she had not received vet treatment or pain management for, while another horse had a large mass on her lower muzzle suspected of being cancer, affecting her eating and leading to a decline in her body condition.
That horse’s colt was also in poor body condition and had a months-old wound on his fetlock that was affecting his ability to walk.
When 40 more horses were inspected at Pratt’s second property, one was found to be lame with a suspected abscess and others significantly underweight.
In September, Pratt, who was aged 59 at the time, was fined $5000 and disqualified from owning or being in charge of a horse for three years.
He was given three months to comply with the disqualification order, before RSPCA inspectors seized 109 horses from the properties in December.
Pratt was back in court on Friday, February 2 for the hearing of an application into the ownership of 38 of the seized horses he claims to have sold to another person.
The RSPCA has applied to have the ownership of 38 horses transferred to the RSPCA.
In mid-January, Pratt had told the court a friend had purchased the horses for $6000, but magistrate Ian Watkins questioned the legality of the sale.
Mr Watkins asked Pratt to get the purchaser to go to court to give evidence that he had bought the horses.
However, on Friday, the man was not in court, with Pratt saying the man had “had major back surgery” and was unable to come to court.
However, RSPCA prosecutor Graham Hambridge said he would expect a medical certificate to be produced for the court in the case, and there had not been one.
Pratt then said he would be “willing to hand over most of the horses except for a handful”.
Mr Hambridge said the man Pratt said he had sold the horses to could contact the RSPCA directly if he wanted to have some of the horses and could have discussions about them.
Mr Watkins ruled that the RSPCA take over ownership of the horses to “dispose” of them. This includes the rehoming of the horses.
The rest of the 109 horses seized have already had ownership transferred to the RSPCA, with some adopted and others rehomed through one of Racing Victoria’s post-racing programs.