The owner of a neglected Sinterklaas horse received thirty hours of community service on Friday for animal abuse. The horse was used during the Sinterklaas parade in Dordrecht in November 2022 but was too thin and not healthy enough.
During the parade, officers saw that the horse Montussa, owned by Matthijs B., was collapsing through its legs. The officers noticed that the horse had prominent hip bones and a very thin neck, flanks, and buttocks.
“The Sinterklaas celebration is an annual children’s festival with a healthy and strong horse. That is the image we expect in the Netherlands, but what the children in Dordrecht did not get. Parents and children literally saw the horse collapsing through its legs,” said the public prosecutor in the Rotterdam court. She demanded forty hours of community service against B.
B. himself was unable to attend the hearing for long because the accusations affected him too much. He gave his defense via a letter. According to the horse owner, the parade went to the full satisfaction of the organization. The horse allegedly walked somewhat crookedly due to the slow pace of the parade. He also stated that the horse would have slipped on gingerbread, causing it to fall.
The police judge did not consider the latter plausible. He imposed a community service of thirty hours on B.
Later that day in 2022, the police prevented the horse from walking another parade in Dordrecht that afternoon. The next day, B. used the same horse again at the parade in Roermond.