A horse rescued by an animal sanctuary was so emaciated it died within hours.

Polo, a 15hh chestnut thoroughbred-type mare, was in such a poor state she could not stand when she was found.

Volunteers from The Retreat Animal Sanctuary in High Halden winched her up and took her in, but she died a few hours later.

Billy Thompson, who runs the sanctuary in Cripple Hill, said: “She was in an appalling state, the poor thing.

“She was terribly emaciated, was lying down and could not get up. We winched her up and got her back to our place but she died in the night.

“She was still eating until she took her last breath, the poor thing.”

Polo and other horses had been dumped in a small field in High Halden, close to the sanctuary, and was discovered last Thursday.

Mr Thompson said: “The woman who owns the field does not keep animals, but occasionally she finds travellers horses put in there.

“We do not know when these were abandoned or dumped. We had a vet with us when we went to see Polo and he said it would be OK for us to try to get her home in our animal ambulance.

“We had some hope that she would survive and stayed with her all the time, but she died in the early hours of Friday.

“From her teeth, we think she was quite old. She had been microchipped so had probably started life as an expensive horse, but once they can’t be ridden, they sometimes end up like this.

“Abandoned horses are at an epidemic level at the moment. We have taken in four or five in the last month.”

Mr Thompson said the other horses in the field were in not such a bad state. The sanctuary had been supporting them with feed and rugs but they had been removed.

The RSPCA was also called to the field were Polo was being kept.

A spokesman said: “When our inspector got there, the rescue centre was already dealing with the situation.

“We are very concerned to find these horses in this way, one of them very poorly, and are very grateful to this local charity for the obvious care that they were taking of the horses.

“Sadly situations concerning fly-grazing horses are not uncommon.

“The country is currently in the grip of a horse crisis with the RSPCA and other horse welfare charities struggling to cope with the numbers of abandoned, neglected and abused horses.

“The RSPCA is stretched to breaking point with about 125 places at our equine centres but more than 500 horses in our care.

“We are also calling for better enforcement of legislation surrounding identification so that we can trace the owners of neglected or mistreated horses.”