The bone was protruding and the hoof dangling - SPCA

Organisers of a rodeo in North West would be charged with animal  cruelty after failing to timeously put down an injured horse, the NSPCA said on Monday.

“They forced the horse with a broken leg to walk on its three legs... the bone was protruding and the hoof dangling,” said National Council of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA) spokeswoman Grace de Lange.

“They should have put it down immediately... there is no ways that its wounds would be fixable,” she said.

The horse was injured in a rodeo ring in Lichtenburg on Saturday.

The rider was apparently thrown off the horse, which had a bucking strap attached to it. “The strap did not release after the rider’s fall, the horse fell as it bucked around the ring in distress... and broke its leg,” Lange said.

“We intervened and humanely destroyed the horse. We are now trying to get evidence, which will take two weeks to compile,... to  lay charges in terms of the Animals Protection Act.”