A horse had to be destroyed after being left to live in constant pain.

Jane Sandys was banned from keeping horses for ten years after six-year-old black mare Florence was found barely able to walk.

Haywards Heath Magistrates’ Court was told how the horse had a deformity of her back leg which should have been corrected at birth.

The condition meant her rear foot bent back on itself forcing her to walk on the front wall of her hoof.

The bone in her back leg had regrown deformed, meaning there was no way of saving her after her plight was discovered.

The hooves on all four feet had not been trimmed and had been allowed to become overgrown making the condition worse, a court was told.

Sandys, 61, pleaded guilty to three charges of causing suffering or action likely to cause suffering.

In addition to the ban they ordered that six more horses kept by Sandys should be removed.

Sandys, of East View Fields, Plumpton Green, near Lewes, was also fined £3,895 and ordered to pay £6,070 costs.

The joint prosecution by the RSPCA and WHW was brought under the 2006 Animal Welfare Act.