‘Wholly irrelevant’: Top Court docket dismisses enchantment of farrier who punched and kicked pony 


  • A choice to take away a farrier who punched and kicked a horse from the pro check in has been upheld within the Top Court docket.

    Andrew Bagnall had appealed the verdict of the Farriers Registration Committee (FRC) disciplinary committee, that his behaviour had amounted to critical skilled misconduct and that he will have to be struck off, however Mr Justice Eyre pushed aside it on 17 July.



    The disciplinary committee had heard a criticism towards Mr Bagnall remaining October, in regards to the incident in October 2022. Mr Bagnall have been on the house of Mr and Mrs Davies, trimming the toes in their 13-year-old daughter Sophie’s pony Shakira.

    Sophie and her mom had been there when Shakira bit Mr Bagnall’s head. It used to be alleged that Mr Bagnall punched the horse, then “adopted that with an extra assault through which he kicked the horse a number of instances and punched her once more”. The farrier denied punching or kicking the horse, announcing that apart from the trimming, his handiest bodily touch with Shakira have been as he lifted his elbow to give protection to himself when she bit him.

    The FRC committee discovered the primary allegation of punching used to be no longer established however the second one, the kicking and punching, had came about, and that this used to be critical misconduct for which the fitting sanction used to be elimination from the check in. Mr Bagnall appealed the discovering of misconduct and the sanction, however Justice Eyre discovered that “there’s no substance within the grounds whether or not thought to be one after the other or cumulatively and the enchantment is to be pushed aside”.

    Mr Bagnall had advised the FRC committee that the ache when he used to be bitten used to be “excruciating”, and that he had “instinctively replied” by means of elevating his arm, which stuck the horse at the jaw. He denied punching or kicking Shakira.

    However the committee concept it “extremely implausible” that Mrs Davies and her daughter would “collude to provide a completely false account of the respondent kicking the horse a number of instances after which punching the horse”.

    The panel additionally famous that Mrs Davies referred to as a vet “nearly right away” after the incident, to mention the horse have been punched and kicked, and a vet mentioned that the landlord used to be curious about conceivable trauma to the horse’s stomach. It used to be additionally agreed that Mr Bagnall had left the backyard with out in search of cost for any of the paintings he had carried out, which the committee discovered “signifies acceptance on his phase that issues had long past unsuitable all the way through this appointment”.

    The committee took under consideration the reality the incident got here after Mr Bagnall have been bitten, which “brought about an entirely unjustifiable however impulsive response”, and permitted that he had proven perception in accepting the discovering of significant misconduct “with out additional argument”. They famous he used to be “obviously a extremely professional farrier”, revered by means of shoppers and different execs. However they discovered the annoying components outweighed the mitigation.

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