A former farrier has been fined by Bolton Magistrates Court for shoeing horses despite having been struck off by the Farriers Registration Council (FRC).
Joseph Cannon of Heywood, Lancashire, was removed from the FRC register of farriers in January 2004, having been found guilty by a disciplinary committee of serious professional misconduct.
However, magistrates heard how an investigator employed by the FRC saw Cannon shoeing a horse at a livery yard in Oswaldtwistle on 4 July this year and at a property in Westhoughton, Bolton, the following day.
Cannon has also been prosecuted for illegal farriery by the FRC on three previous occasions.
He failed to attend the court hearing on 15 November but was found guilty of illegal farriery in his absence, fined £500 and ordered to pay a contribution towards costs.
FRC solicitor Peter Marsh said: “Mr Cannon has been found guilty of illegal farriery before and the FRC will keep prosecuting him.”
Under the Farriers Registration Act 1975 it is a criminal offence for a person to shoe a horse or carry out farriery unless they are registered with the FRC.
Cannon was removed from the register after being prosecuted for two offences. He was found guilty of abandoning a horse without regard for its welfare or safety in April 2001 and the theft of a horse and damage of property in January 2002.
His son, also called Joseph Cannon, of Devon, who has no farriery training, was found guilty of illegal farriery in July.
This news story was first published in Horse & Hound (29 November, ’07)
