A WOMAN has gone on trial accused of causing unnecessary suffering to three horses, two of which were subsequently destroyed.

Appearing in the dock at Dunfermline Sheriff Court was Jackie Kemp, 53, of Balmule Steading, near Bowershall to the north of Dunfermline.

The allegations involve incidents at Balmule and another location near Dunfermline.

Kemp is accused of causing unnecessary suffering to a mare named Brogan and a gelding called Beano at Wester Denhead, Roscobie, between November 20, 2015 and February 20, 2016.

She is also accused causing unnecessary suffering to a mare named Molly at Balmule Farm between November 21, 2015 and February 21, 2016.

The horses were taken into the care of Scottish SPCA and the two mares were later destroyed.

Vet Chris Calder, 35, a lecturer in equine practice at Edinburgh University, told the court he had carried out examinations of the horses.

He said Beano was “incredibly underweight” and had a number of ailments, as did the other two.

Brogan had bacterial infection on the skin of her back, rump and hind quarters.

The horse also had cracks in her hooves and the vet marked her overall body condition as 1 out of 5.

The witness said he was called back to treat Brogan in February 2016.

“She was lying flat on the ground, groaning, thrashing around on the floor and her eyes were rolling. She was showing signs of extreme pain,” he said.

The horse was unable to get up and despite various drugs being given continued to be in distress. After three hours, the vet decided with the agreement of the SSPCA that the horse should be euthanised.

The decision was taken for “welfare reasons, for her own sake on humane grounds” he told the court.

The same sad fate befell Molly, whose body condition had been put at 0.5 out of 5 by the vet.

In his report on this horse, Mr Calder said she was “extremely underweight” apparently because of “a severe lack of feeding” and had a “horrendously thin body condition”.

Questioned by depute fiscal Dev Kapadia about how long it would take for an underfed horse to reach that condition, Mr Calder replied: “It’s very hard to say but perhaps two to three months."

There were also large clumps of dried mud on the horse’s legs and abdomen.

On February 21, 2016, the vet was called out after Molly’s condition worsened and she was unable to stand up.

“She was quite relaxed at first but started to get more distressed as she couldn’t get up. It seemed like her hind legs weren’t working,” said the witness.

The vet admitted the reason the horse could not get up could possibly be because of old age but another cause could have been weakness resulting from not receiving enough food.

Kemp denies the allegations of neglect and the trial before Sheriff Chris Shead will continue on Friday.