Staff from an animal rescue centre came across the distressing sight of three dead horses in a field.

Responding to calls from concerned members of the public, Frederick Durham was one of the first on the scene yesterday at a field near Ashford Designer Outlet.

Warning: distressing images below

Fred, of The Retreat Animal Rescue Centre at High Halden, said two of the horses were in an appalling state.

She said: “It looked like one of the horses had drowned in the stream as it was covered in ice and water and one had what looked like a bullet wound,” she said.

A shaken Fred said that she and colleagues rescued a horse and foal that had been reported abandoned on the site and both were in a shocking condition.

The mum has been named as Gracie and she is in her late teens. Her rib cage was showing, while her foal named Libby was “nothing but skin and bones” underneath her fluffy coat.

Fred said: “They were both absolutely freezing and had been standing among the dead horses.

“It’s beyond me how human beings can treat any animal in such a callous way.”

Both mother and foal are under the care of the sanctuary, where Fred says they will need a lot of building up both physically and psychologically to recover from their ordeal.