Horse Trainer Found Guilty of Animal Cruelty

A Malibu judge found a horse trainer guilty Friday on four counts of cruelty to animals.

Prosecutors charged that Vladmir Thomas Valter, a trainer at a Los Angeles horse club, used an electric cattle prod on his animals and that he had beaten them so hard that they developed welts and bled.

Judge Lawrence Mira called the case difficult because of the vagueness of animal cruelty laws and how they apply to trainers.

Nevertheless, Mira concluded that the core evidence--including testimony from at least one witness who worked for Valter--indicated the trainer’s guilt.

Sentencing is scheduled Aug. 8.

Anne Satchik, who polices shows for the American Horse Show Assn., was one of several of Valter’s friends in the courtroom who insisted that the trainer had done nothing wrong. “He’s a professional horseman, and you don’t hurt your horses. I absolutely don’t agree with the verdict.”