HORSES are facing a 'slow and painful death' because dog owners are not properly throwing away their pet's poo.

Keely Pemberton recently took over the ownership of Chigwell Glebe on a long term basis.

After leaving the small field fallow for several months, she began using it to graze her three young horses.

At first her problem was fly tipping.

The 41 year-old said: "I first put the horses on there a few months back and then rubbish started being dumped.

"Someone left big metal panels so I hired a security firm who put up cameras to make sure my animals are safe and well."

Although the added security did stop the fly tipping, a more worrying substance began turning up in the field.

"A lot of people walk their dogs through and either don't pick its poo up, or put it in bags and then leave the bags," the former animal rescue worker said.

"It then either gets in my horses' hooves or they eat it which can cause a lot of intestinal problems.

"How long it takes depends on how big the horse is, but it is a slow a painful death."

Last spring two horses died in a field in Warlingham, Surrey after eating dog waste in a bag.

The RSPCA explained that it was likely not the faeces that killed the animals, but the bags, which can choke them or clog their insides.

Ms Pemberton added: "My field is a walkthrough and I know people want to walk their dogs there, but I am allowed to lock the gates when the animals are grazing.

"I don't want to, but we are having to pick up poo every day now. I don't think it is fair.

"People have no respect, not even for wild animals."