Professional rider kicked, beat horse at North Otago A&P show

Warning: Video contains scenes some people may find disturbing

A rider who kicked and slapped a horse at a North Otago event has failed to have her criminal conviction quashed.

Rebecca Smithey can now be named as the woman involved in the violent two-minute incident which was captured on video by shocked members of the public at the North Otago A&P show last year.

In the High Court at Christchurch last month, Justice Rachel Dunningham declined Smithey’s appeal, refusing to permanently suppress Smithey’s name or to discharge her without conviction.

The professional rider had been fined $1650 and ordered to pay court costs of $130 in the District Court in March after she pleaded guilty to a charge of ill-treating an animal.

On February 25 last year, Smithey was riding Nobel Soul, a horse known as “Solly”.

After the horse showed signs of disobedience, she dismounted and repeatedly kicked him in the knees, slapped him around the neck and chest with the reins, struck him in the head and jabbed him in the mouth using the bit and reins.

Smithey waved her hands in the horse’s face and shouted at him, forcing the animal backwards as she advanced on him.

The court at sentencing heard Solly received no lasting injuries but displayed behaviours consistent with him experiencing pain and distress from the manner in which he was handled and berated.

Smithey said her actions were in response to the horse’s dangerous behaviour – known as “spinning” - as she tried to gain control.

She was supported by an affidavit from someone also involved in equestrian circles, who described it as among the most dangerous and uncontrollable acts a horse can exhibit.

Smithey claimed she had been driven by fear because of a previous incident in which she was thrown to the ground and kicked by a horse that had been behaving in a similar manner.

Justice Dunningham said that could not be considered a mitigating factor in the attack, given the defendant was “a professional rider, who could be expected to deal with misbehaving horses in a measured way”.

“It occurred after she had dismounted and when there was no risk of her being dumped and hurt while on the ground,” said the judge.

Statements from people within equestrian circles said they would still employ her and it was noted Smithey’s identity was widely known following the publication of the video of her offending.

As such, name suppression would have little significance, the court heard.

The sentencing judge accepted Smithey’s name being widely known would cause her distress but that was the normal consequence of such offending and did not amount to extreme hardship, as suppression laws required.

Justice Dunningham agreed.

“The hardship she has experienced, including of being the subject of adverse comments on social media . . . has occurred because of her treatment of the horse, not because of her conviction,” she said.