More than 100 horses have been seized from two Victorian properties after the neglectful owner failed to comply with a court order to offload them and instead purchased more.
RSPCA Victoria successfully prosecuted the owner in September over his failure to provide adequate food and veterinary treatment to the horses.
Magistrate Ian Watkins imposed a ban on the man owning or being in charge of horses for three years over the cruelty offences and gave him three months to offload the herd.
When inspectors arrived at the properties to check compliance, they discovered the man had instead purchased more horses.
The animal welfare group executed a warrant in a major operation on Friday and seized 110 horses from the Campaspe properties located in Victoria's north.
RSPCA Victoria's chief inspector Michael Stagg said the man was essentially thumbing his nose at the law by failing to comply with the court order.
"Owners of horses and any animals in Victoria have got responsibilities under legislation to provide appropriate care and attention to those animals," he said.
"The message that is sent to anybody who considers doing that is RSPCA will find you and hold you to account in those circumstances."
The horses will be assessed by RSPCA staff with the assistance of Racing Victoria, which will see if the herd can enter the racing group's rehabilitation and rehoming program.
"Horses seized by RSPCA tend to spend over 250 days in our care, and that could cost upwards of $18,000 per horse," Mr Stagg said.
Racing Victoria has also banned the man, who was not a licensed participant, from racing events.
The chief inspector is reminding horse owners to be more vigilant in caring for their horses, especially during summer, when food will have dried out.
The RSPCA received more than 1000 animal cruelty reports concerning more than 6300 horses in Victoria in 2022/23.
A majority of the reports involved underweight horses, neglectful living conditions and inadequate medical care for sick or injured horses.
