THE owner of a young pony which died after a traumatic journey was banned yesterday from keeping horses for five years.

Anthony Foster, of Japonica Way, Norton, Stockton, pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to the animal during the journey in November last year.

The small black and white piebald pony had to be destroyed by a veterinary surgeon after it suffered a fractured hind leg while travelling in an unfit trailer.

Foster had been carrying it in an old trailer along the A66 from Piercebridge, where he had just bought it, to his home.

Magistrates at Bishop Auckland heard that the pony had jumped from the vehicle when Foster pulled into a lay-by to check on it.

The court was told that police and RSPCA inspectors were called to the A66 outside Darlington, after reports of a distressed horse tied to a roadside fence.

They discovered the animal was bleeding heavily from its mouth and back leg.

Veterinary surgeon Richard Philips, who attended the incident, took the horse to a nearby farm for examination but felt it necessary to end its suffering.

Foster admitted that the pony had not been securely held in the trailer.

Only a piece of string had been used to tether it, and no bedding or feed had been provided.

Magistrates banned Foster from keeping horses for five years, fined him £500 and ordered him to pay costs of £117.50.