A little Shetland pony belonging to a toddler was brutally beaten with a brick and left to bleed to death.

Taffee lived out in a field with four other horses and when 17-month-old Charlene Bishop turned up to feed him on Wednesday morning she called and called, but the loyal pony did not meet her at the gate as she always would.

Sometime between 11pm on Tuesday night and 9am on Wednesday morning Taffee was attacked with a breeze block in a field near The Harrow Inn on Lidsing Road near Gillingham.

Warning: graphic image below

The left hand side of her skull was completely caved in and her leg broken. Her left eye was completely out the socket and concrete was embedded in her brain tissue.

The pony was just 22 inches high and Charlene had her for three months. She visited her every day to groom and feed, and rode her at the weekends.

Her mother Danielle Flisher said: “I don’t understand how anybody could be so sick. Taffee was a tiny pony. The vet said she was hit over and over again and it looks like by was more than one person.

"I don’t understand how anybody could be so sick... The vet said she was hit over and over again...." - Danielle Flisher

“It seems they held her head collar while they beat her. Taffee was crying blood from the damage they did to her skull.

“We got Taffee for Charlene when she was diagnosed with epilepsy. She can’t do the same things as everyone else, but she loved spending time with me at the yard and had Taffee to keep her happy.

"They weren't together long but they were amazing. Charlene would climb all over her and Taffee wouldn't mind.

Charlene would even sometimes tell Taffee off and the pony would go and stand in the corner of the stable like a naughty child. She’s lost her best friend and she’s devastated.”

After five-year-old Taffee did not come running to Charlene’s voice on Wednesday Miss Flisher ran into the field and found her lying in a pool of blood.

She rang the vet but Taffee was convulsing and could not be saved. She was put down on site and it going to be buried in the grounds.

Taffee also leaves a foal, 10-month-old Biscuit, who the family are now in the process of finding a surrogate mother for.

The 19-year-old added: “I can’t believe there are people out there who was do this to a tiny defenceless pony. They would have seen she belonged to a child, she even had a Frozen rug on.

“Charlene doesn’t understand death. She saw that Taffee was bleeding but when she woke up this morning she just assumed she was better and asked to go and feed her. It’s heartbreaking, we don’t know what to do.”

Miss Flisher, of Shipwrights Avenue, Chatham, and dad George Bishop knew of another Shetland the same colouring as Taffee and were considering trying to replace her without Charlene realising – but on seeing the other pony Charlene immediately knew the difference.

Three of the other horses in the field were shaved in places in the overnight attack and another had a small wound to its head.

The family have put up a £1,000 reward for who anybody who can reveal those behind the attack.

An RSPCA spokeswoman said: “We are very concerned to hear about this poor horse, this sounds like an incredibly upsetting incident.

“We would urge anyone with any information to contact either the police or ourselves on 0300 123 8018.”

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