THE boss of an upmarket horse-drawn carriage company has been ordered to pay £11,000 after admitting animal cruelty.

John Wilmot, 68, failed to call a vet after a 10-week-old foal broke its leg. The horse, which had injured itself on a gate, hobbled around its paddock for two weeks before the RSPCA intervened.

Wilmot runs family company Dalmatian Carriages which rents horse-drawn carriages for weddings and special occasions in Prestbury.

He pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to the animal, named Marleen, by not providing veterinary care. Wilmot, of Withinlee Road, Prestbury, was ordered to pay £11,125 in fees and legal costs. He was also sentenced to 120 hours of community punishment.

The public gallery was full of his friends and clients who handed in references on his behalf.

One friend said ‘ridiculous’ as the defendant was ordered to pay the costs by Macclesfield magistrates.

RSPCA inspectors visited the stables in August last year – following a call from a member of the public – and found the foal with her mother, Cruella.

Andrew Meachin, RSPCA prosecutor, told the court the young horse had an infected 10cm by 5cm wound and a 12cm length of ‘detached bone’ on her left hind leg.

Wilmot told RSPCA inspectors that a vet had visited twice in a fortnight to treat the broken and infected leg. In fact, no vet had actually attended.

The foal and its mother were taken into care by the RSPCA and Wilmot was arrested.

Oliver King, defending, said: "He genuinely believed the horse was getting better but of course it wasn't because there was a break."

Wilmot, who has tended horses for 50 years, was actually treating the wound himself.

He was also ‘highly regarded in the community’ as a horse trainer, Mr King said.

Chairman of the bench Denise Rankin told the defendant: "There was a reluctance to call the vet because of the possible costs. We think you chose not to go to the vet for those reasons.

She added: "We note that the foal was only 10 weeks old and (the suffering) was a considerable period of its life. You do have a history of good care to animals that extends not just over years but over decades."

Magistrates decided not to ban the defendant from keeping horses.