RSPCA officers in Dorset are facing an ‘equine crisis’, according to new figures released by the animal welfare charity today.

The charity’s new cruelty statistics reveal that RSPCA officers received 228 complaints about 189 horses in the county in 2017.

The national horse crisis, which was first highlighted in 2012, has seen nearly 1,000 horses rescued by the charity from cruelty, suffering and neglect last year, and a staggering 928 horses are still in the charity’s care.

Despite the efforts of the RSPCA and other equine welfare organisations, the crisis shows no sign of easing, with huge pressures on the charity to find stables and funding to keep the large number of horses it has had to take in.

The number of convictions the RSPCA secured after investigating cruelty and neglect to horses in England has risen by 25 per cent in two years, with convictions relating to horses accounting for 15 per cent of the total number secured by the charity in 2017.

Among these was the case of Skye who was one of four horses helped by the RSPCA after a Bournemouth man was disqualified from keeping horses for life. He neglected them over a number of months leaving them emaciated, riddled with parasites and without adequate hoof care.

RSPCA chief inspector Paul Williams said: “We called a vet who examined the horses and certified that they were suffering ‘prolonged neglect’ caused by months of malnutrition. Police then seized the four horses, placing them into our care where our team got to work straight away to rehabilitate them.

“These horses would have been extremely uncomfortable from the excessive lice and worm burdens they were suffering with. Their feet were overgrown which would have made walking really painful, and their body conditions were just completely unacceptable.

“It is appalling that their previous owner thought it was appropriate to keep horses in this way. He told our inspector that because he was working, he only ever attended the horses in the dark in the winter, implying that he could not see if any were in poor condition or had injuries, but that he had given them food so in his opinion, this was acceptable care.”

Two of the horses, Cookie and Oreo, have already been found loving new homes through the RSPCA, but Skye is still in need of a home.

The RSPCA’s 24-hour emergency line received more than 80 calls a day about horses in 2017, and the charity took in the highest number of horses into its care for four years.

Inspectorate national equine co-ordinator Christine McNeil said the charity was “stretched to the limits”.

“We’ve been talking about the horse crisis for several years now, but the truth is the situation is just as severe today as when it started.

“Up and down England and Wales, horses are being found sick, dying or sometimes dead and it’s frequently the case that they have been abandoned and left for dead.”