AN animal owner was devastated to find a dead horse dumped next to her stables.

Jodie Coombes, 26, of Old Church Hill, Langdon Hills, went to her stables, which are on the same road, to discover the corpse in a neighbouring locked field.

She believes people winched it there by lifting it over a locked gate.

She said: “I knew straight away it was a dead horse. It was horrible.

“They had blatantly lifted it with a grab lorry and dumped it in the field.

“We got something to cover it up with.”

Miss Coombes rang police, councils and finally environmental health, who all told her she had to dispose of the black and white cob herself.

Horses cannot be legally buried in the UK and instead have to be taken away and cremated – costing upwards of £600 and it is something she cannot afford.

Miss Coombes is worried as she does not know if the animal died of a disease, which could easily spread to her nearby horses.

She said: “I’m totally at a loss of what to do.

“This poor dead horse was dumped on Tuesday and nothing has been done.

“We get a lot of flytipping round here and the council come and pick it up then. But no one seems bothered about a dead animal.

“They just don’t seem interested because it’s not on council land. I’m at my wits’ end. It’s so upsetting.”

A spokeswoman for Thurrock Council said: “Where the law stands, it is for the landowner to remove the horse.

“We are sympathetic to the woman’s case and realise it is a stressful situation, but the law is the law. It is down to the landowner to remove it and we are in the process of tracking them down.”