A man has been banned from owning horses for three years after his 12 horses were found to be underfed and living in poor conditions.

Barry Alexander Hill, from Ashburton, has also been ordered to do 300 hours of community work.

The 55-year-old was sentenced in the Ashburton District Court on eight charges under the Animal Welfare Act.

Hill was also ordered to pay $5314.80 in reparations to the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) in reparations for veterinarian costs and placed on nine months’ supervision by the court.

“Animal welfare inspectors visited this property numerous times and tried to get Mr Hill to take responsibility for his horses. He was directed to euthanise two horses to end their pain and suffering,” MPI district manager animal welfare and NAIT compliance Canterbury, Richard Notley said.

Animal welfare inspectors inspected the property the horses were on and found them living in hazardous conditions.

Hill had 12 horses on a 1.2ha property, but only had the capacity to hold two.

MPI also said there wasn’t any grass cover for the horses to graze, a lack of supplementary feed and water and horses living in their own faeces.

“Not only did Mr Hill fail to address any of the animal welfare concerns we identified but he ignored a Temporary Enforcement Order issued by the court that required him to remove all horses from the property within seven days.”

MPI rehomed seven horses that were still on the property at another intervention and said “the horses’ suffering could have been avoided if Mr Hill had taken the action we earlier directed”.