RSPCA: pony beaten with plastic pole in supermarket car park now helps young people in her new home

Warning: some of the content in this story might be upsetting for some readers.

Concerned onlookers once filmed Bramble being struck by her owner with a plastic pole more than a dozen times in a supermarket car park, to purportedly "teach her a lesson".

But the sweet-natured pony has landed on her feet, with the RSPCA helping her find a loving forever home helping young people develop important life skills.

The animal welfare charity rescued the Lancashire pony after investigating the footage. But they say that roughly one animal in the UK will be beaten every hour, and there are many others that still need help.

RSPCA inspector Will Lamping looked into the videos of Bramble - who was just a year old at the time. The filly was underweight, he said, with prominent shoulders, backbones and ribs all clearly visible - and was being kept in a stable covered in horse faeces and plastic bags.

There was ivy - which is poisonous to horses - growing in the back, and she had no clean bedding to stand on or feed available to her, he added.

She was also seen chewing wood, "which horses often do when they are not receiving adequate nutrition".

Bramble was rescued and rehabilitated by the RSPCA after the investigation, then rehomed through the British Horse Society’s Second Chance scheme.

The scheme gives a rescue horses a second chance by finding them new homes at approved centres which run the society's Changing Lives through Horses programme - targeted at helping young people develop life skills through working with horses.

The young pony now lives at Queen Mary's School in North Yorkshire. The school's equestrian centre manager, Alice Clennan, said she is settling into her new home well.

"She is thriving in her new setting and is loved by all the pupils at Queen Mary's Equestrian Centre. It is wonderful to be able to provide this opportunity," she said.

The RSPCA is currently running a Cancel Out Cruelty campaign - aiming to raise enough funds to help its frontline rescue teams continue to save animals from cruelty and abuse.

The charity said it has seen a rise in reports of beatings, and with recent increases in pet ownership and financial pressures growing on both owners and the charity, "we are sadly braced for a summer of suffering".