Former horse trainer banned from owning animals after cruelty offences (2024)

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A former horse trainer has been banned from owning animals after sick and emaciated dogs, horses, cows and a goat were seized from his Cape Bridgewater property.

Glenelg Shire Council local laws officers went to the 12-acre property on a number of occasions between November 2023 and January 2024.

The animals, which included a cow and its calf, were found in poor body condition with inadequate food, shelter and medical treatment.

Some of the animals were suffering from open wounds, including a bay gelding horse which had maggots in its left shoulder.

Three colts were found in a bare paddock with clearly visible ribs, spine and hips, while a white female goat was so entangled in its tether it could not access food or water.

Two dogs, a kelpie and a kelpie cross, were also found to be incredibly thin with pus seeping from one of the dogs' eyes.

Property owner and former horse trainer Wayne Hill, 69, pleaded guilty in Portland Magistrates Court on May 28, 2024, to animal cruelty offences.

The charges included the unreasonable failure to provide treatment to sick or injured animals and the failure to provide food, drink or shelter.

He was disqualified from owning or being in charge of any animal for five years.

Glenelg Shire Council ranger and prosecutor John Fraser said it cost the council more than $12,500 to maintain the animals' health.

He said the council attempted to work with Hill over several weeks, offering help to get veterinary assistance and sufficient food and water before obtaining warrants to seize the animals.

Mr Fraser said one horse was euthanised due to its poor condition, which included a painful eye injury that was close to rupturing.

He said the condition of the horses and cattle had not improved between visits, with very little grass on the property, no evidence of supplementary feeding and near-dry troughs.

"(Hill) should be totally disqualified (from owning animals)," he told the court.

Portland lawyer Pat Howman, representing Hill, said animals were his client's life but an accident at the Warrnambool racecourse about 15 years ago had left him with an acquired brain injury.

He said Hill was qualified as a farrier and was once the Australian champion bareback bronc rider.

Mr Howman said Hill also had a close association with the rodeo industry and spent 25 years living in the Barling Racing stables attached to the Hamilton racecourse.

"Throughout those 25 years horses were his life," he said.

He said his client also had a stint in Orford, north of Port Fairy, where he offered training resources and broke in horses.

Mr Howman said in about 2012 Hill fell from a galloping horse at Warrnambool, where he was training to qualify for a barrier ticket.

"The horse he was riding fell heavily, throwing him over the front and (the horse) crashed on top of him," he said.

He said his client suffered serious injuries, including fractures to his spine and the brain injury that left him with memory recall issues and "great difficulty with the slings and arrows of life".

Mr Howman said Hill described dying "a couple of times but was revived".

He said it took some six months to recover and Hill had struggled to earn a proper income since the accident.

Mr Howman urged the court not to disqualify Hill from owning or working with animals, stating he was still often called on to help with the training of horses at Hamilton.

He said horses were beneficial to his client's mental health and well-being.

But magistrate Gerard Lethbridge said he was worried about the physical health of the animals.

He said even "blind Freddie" would have recognised the animals were emaciated, injured and distressed, with open wounds containing maggots.

"In the ordinary course offending such as this would call for an immediate jail term," the magistrate said.

But he said Hill fell into a "very difficult sentencing category" given his age, "very poor health" and intellectual functioning.

The magistrate said that meant the most important sentencing considerations involved the protection of animals.

He granted the five-year disqualification order and placed Hill on a two-year adjourned undertaking to be of good behaviour.

He also ordered Hill to pay the council costs of $12,730.30, and ordered the animals be disposed of to the council, which will attempt to re-home them.

A conviction was recorded.