A Leicestershire primary school teacher has been fired after an ‘upsetting’ video of a woman punching and kicking a horse went viral.
Sarah Moulds, 37, has been sacked from her position at the Mowbray Education Trust in Melton Mowbray after the footage emerge showing a woman repeatedly slapping the animal, which had run into the road.
The RSPCA is investigating the video, apparently of the Cottesmore Hunt, which was posted on Twitter by Hertfordshire Hunt Saboteurs and viewed by millions.
Mowbray Education Trust suspended Moulds in November, and its chief operating officer Paul Maddox has now confirmed she has since been sacked.
He said in a statement: ‘I can confirm that Sarah Moulds’ employment with the Trust has been terminated.
‘As a Trust we are committed to ensuring the best standard of education for all of our young people and we look forward to continuing this throughout the 2021/22 academic year and beyond.’
Moulds had already been removed from her voluntary position at a local branch of the Pony Club.
The Cottesmore Hunt also said that after a ‘thorough internal investigation’ a ‘follower will not participate in trail hunting’ with them anymore.
It previously said the group ‘strongly disapproved’ of the video, which it said showed ‘one of our followers mistreating a pony’.
But Moulds’ uncle, David Kirkham, branded his niece a ‘fantastic person who absolutely loves her horses’.
He said: ‘I’ve seen the video but we don’t know what the horse had been doing and if it was out of control. But we know it ran out on to the road and she told it off. There was no malice intended.’
A spokeswoman for the RSPCA described the footage as ‘really upsetting’ and urged anyone with information about the incident to contact the charity on 0300 123 4999.
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