Woman jailed for 'dangerous' pony

Natalie Whittington-Davies was jailed at Inverness Sheriff Court

A horse breeder who sold a "dangerous" pony for a girl to learn to ride on has been jailed for a year.

Natalie Whittington-Davies - whose family run a stud in Drumnadrochit, near Inverness - had told the buyer the animal was appropriate to their needs.

Inverness Sheriff Court heard she had then lodged forged documents in a civil court case which followed.

She was jailed for committing two serious offences - the first also related to the sale of a pony.

Early on she came to the conclusion the horse was much too excitable to be safe for her daughter to ride Ron Phillips Depute fiscal

The court was told in the latest case, she had sold a schoolmaster pony called Pepsi for £2,000 to Sally Murray, from Perthshire, to be used by her 12-year-old daughter to train on.

Depute fiscal Ron Phillips said the term schoolmaster was used for a horse deemed safe for teaching children and novice riders on.

Mr Phillips said: "The purchaser took it home and soon discovered the horse was not as presented and described.

"Early on she came to the conclusion the horse was much too excitable to be safe for her daughter to ride.

"Since she felt it would be dangerous she contacted the accused and told her she would be returning the horse."

'Eating horses'

However, despite returning it, she was not reimbursed and began civil court proceedings to get her money back.

Mr Phillips said Whittington-Davies lodged with the court several forged documents.

They included a letter purporting to be from Mrs Murray herself, in which she allegedly stated everything was "going well" with her daughter.

Another was a horse passport, with the forged signature of a vet from Moray Coast Veterinary Practice in Nairn.

However, defence lawyer David Hingston claimed the passport was simply an identification card, brought in because "of the French eating horses".

He said it had nothing to do with safety.

But Mr Hingston said his client admitted fraudulently obtaining the documents using forged signatures and also attempting to pervert the course of justice.

He said Whittington-Davie did so for financial gain.

The first case involved the sale of another pony for an 11-year-old girl to train on, but the girl's mother returned the animal and asked for her money back after claiming it bucked wildly.

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