TWO travellers have been banned from owning horses for five years after the death of two animals.

The RSPCA repeatedly warned Frankie and Iris Smith over a three-year period about the way they tied their animals.

On one occasion, firefighters had to rescue one of their horses which had been tethered near a ditch by the A64 near York and fallen in. The animal was so badly injured it had to be put down after its rescue.

Despite the warnings, the couple continued to tether their animals wrongly and on March 17 last year Iris Smith's piebald mare, Lucky, suffered for four to six hours because it was tethered too close to a fence. It died at the scene off New Lane, Huntington.

"Please don't deprive her of the animals she loves," her solicitor Neal Kutte urged York magistrates, adding that she had been very upset by Lucky's death.

Mr Kutte said the couple were unlikely to reoffend and that owning horses was part of traveller culture.

But magistrates banned both Smiths from keeping horses for five years, suspending the order for 21 days to allow Iris Smith to dispose of the horses she currently owns.

"It was the result we hoped for," said Inspector Gill Corder, of the RSPCA, who investigated the mare's death.

Chief inspector Justin Lemasurier said he was pleased, "especially as it fits in with our campaign about appropriate tethering".

He added that there were particular problems with bringing such cases to court which frustrated the RSPCA and the many members of the public that rang in to complain about tethered horses.

He added: "We are deeply annoyed that the horse has suffered and died after the previous years when the RSPCA was giving advice and warning."

Frankie Smith, 51, and Iris Smith, 52, who both live on benefits at Osbaldwick Travellers Site, denied a charge of failing to get Lucky medical treatment and Iris Smith denied tethering the mare in a way that caused it suffering.

Magistrates convicted both after a trial last month). The man was given a 12-month conditional discharge, the woman a two-year conditional discharge, and both were ordered to pay £500 prosecution costs each.

Philip Brown, prosecuting for the RSPCA, said the society gave the couple a formal warning on May 19, 2003, about a horse tethered by a hedge on the A166, near Murton.

He said the RSPCA then gave the pair a warning on January 14, 2004, about the tethering of the horse in the ditch near the A64, near Murton.

The couple were then given warnings on March 2, 2005, about eight horses tethered in waterlogged ground near Monks Cross Park&Ride and on April 21, 2005, about a Shetland pony whose movements were severely restricted by its tether near Monks Cross.