Peter Evans in Orange Local Court for animal cruelty to thoroughbred stallion

The horse's owner, 66-year-old owner Peter William Evans, was convicted of aggravated animal cruelty in Orange Local Court on Monday and police are now set to seize another 60 horses he owns.

Evans pleaded guilty to the animal cruelty charge and two weapons offences after the thoroughbred was found lying in a cattle yard with protruding hip, rib and cheek bones. The horse was too weak to stand.

His solicitor Dannielle Ford said Evans had left the property to help members of the Molong community on the day of the flood and the horse was standing the last time he saw it.

The horse was found during a post-flood welfare check.

According to court documents, SES members were conducting welfare checks on residents of all low-lying properties in the Molong area on November 15 and went to Evan's address due to a natural watercourse that ran near his house and flooded parts of the property.

The SES members attempted to find Evans without success and after detecting a strong odour coming from the residence requested police assistance.

Concerned for his welfare, police and SES conducted a search of the dwelling, surrounding sheds and nearby paddocks and found a horse lying on the ground in cattle yards next to the house.

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The horse appeared to be dead but when it was approached it raised its head and grunted.

It was extremely malnourished with protruding hip, rib and cheek bones and was unable to stand. Water and lucerne were located nearby and placed at the head of the horse which immediately took to it.

The Cabonne ranger was contacted and arrived a short time later and contacted a vet in Orange who assessed the horse.

Evans returned to the property during the search. He said he knew the horse was unwell and had intentions of calling a vet but had not arranged one yet.

The vet who assessed the horse said it had been a matter of months since the horse was fed correctly and an immediate decision was made to humanely euthanise the stallion as it had no chance of recovering and was in obvious and significant discomfort.

Ms Ford said Evans told her the horse had been sick for two weeks and had been walking night and day in the days prior.

"My understanding was the horse was prone to colic," Ms Ford said. The court was also told the feed was musty.

"Mr Evans knew the horse was unwell and had intentions of having it euthanised.

"The horse had been up and it had been walking night and day for two weeks and it had lost a significant amount of weight."

However, she said Evans had put on hold excavation work to bury the horse due to the wet weather and floods so the decision to euthanise was postponed.

Magistrate David Day said he had experience with horses and what is involved in burying horses having run a small stud in the 1990s when he had "two good mares die".

"I know what older horses look like and I know what skinny horses look like," he said, adding among the current horses on his property is a 32-year-old mare that has lost weight and probably won't survive another winter, although she's recently gained some weight.

"She's 32, this is a five-year-old, this is a matter of months, not weeks," Mr Day said.

"This appears to be lack of food."

He said a decision whether or not to euthanise the horse should have been made two weeks earlier when the horse could have been put on a float and taken to higher ground where a hole could have been excavated.

While at the property, police also conducted a safe storage inspection of Evans' firearms and, of the seven, two were not in the gun safe. One rifle was found in a roll of carpet and another rifle was found in the bathroom. Evans told the police that gun was easily accessible for protection.

Police seized all firearms and ammunition and Evans' firearms licence was suspended and the physical card seized.

Ms Ford said Evans had extensive experience with horses and had another 60 horses on a separate property, which were assessed by the RSPCA and a vet with no problems found.

She said he has since tried to sell those horses but the market wasn't good and he had trouble finding suitable homes.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Beau Riley backed up the vet's assessment and said the custody threshold was crossed.

"It would have been a slow decline over the ongoing months, he should have realised it's either vet or 'I might need to euthanise the animal'," Sergeant Riley said.

However, he also noted Evans age, said he's never been in trouble before and would not commit further offences.

Mr Day decided the offence did not cross the custody threshold but was serious.

"The reason we have a Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act is because animals cannot advocate for themselves," he said.

Mr Day convicted Evans and placed him on a two-year community correction order, fined him $1100 and ordered him to complete 20 hours of community service for the animal cruelty charge.

"I'm not persuaded that the [other] horses should be exempt, there needs to be general and specific deterrence," Mr Day said.

He made two orders under part two of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act that will ban Evans from having horses for 10 years and police will seize the other 60 horses.

Mr Day also gave Evans two $550 fines and two 12-month CCOs for not keeping his firearms safely.

He said Evans did not have a reasonable excuse not to have the firearms stored correctly and protection of property is not a defence in Australia. He said unsecured firearms get stolen for illegal use and a firearm stolen from a rural property was used to shoot a man in the knee in Orange a few years ago.

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