I hear Rebekah Brooks – erstwhile chief executive of News International and former editor of The Sun and the News of the World – was loaned a horse, Raisa, by the Metropolitan Police Service in 2008.

She (the horse, not Ms Brooks) remained in the ownership of the police, but Ms Brooks paid for food and vet bills and she (the horse, not Ms Brroks) seems to have spent her time trotting around the Chipping Norton environs with people (apparently, including David Cameron) on her back, despite the police website saying suitable homes for retired horses are ‘where the horse will not be ridden’.

This state of affairs lasted until 2010, when she (the horse, not Ms Brooks) was rehoused, or put out to pasture, with a police officer. Just to be clear, I don’t think this means both the horse and the policeman were living in the same house or paddock.

I could do with a change of scenery, and if she (Ms Brooks, not the horse) is feeling like a little animal companionship, I’d be happy to oblige. Advantages? Well, the fact I don’t eat like a horse (not being a horse) would be a plus.

And now I think of it, there may also be tax advantages.

Given the allegedly close links between News International and the Met – and as only about a dozen of these horse loans are arranged each year – I started to wonder if the horse loan arrangement related to Ms Brook’s employment.

Particularly since the police website says that, when looking for homes for retired horses, ‘anyone in the southeast of England offering such a home will be considered first’, and Chipping Norton looks more like the Midlands to me.

Presumably, the benefit-in-kind of the horse should presumably have been declared on a form P11D and she (Ms Brooks, not the horse) would have paid tax on 20% of its value. How much is a pony? £25!

No, I’m only joking. My showjumper friend Katie Palmer (hi, Katie!) says that, with its special training, even an old police horse could be worth several thousand pounds: 20% of, say, £3,000 is £600, and if this was taxable at, I’d guess, 40%, then there would be a charge of £240; £20 a month for a horse doesn’t seem bad.

I’ve just had a thought: what does ‘put out to pasture’ actually mean? Poor old Raisa is no longer with us; I hope that doesn’t mean she’s gone to the big pet food factory in the sky, otherwise there’s always the chance that I might have… oh, no!
 

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