Walter Jacob Stewart, 33, was stopped by police following up on reports of a vehicle pulling a horsebox swerving across a busy road.

Officers told the court they caught the driver after they saw the vehicle come around a corner on the wrong side of the road.

Mr Stewart had bought the horse that night after meeting the sellers for food and drinks in a restaurant.

His lawyer said he normally would have gotten a taxi “but for the fact he had a horse in a horsebox”, and decided he was fine to drive.

His alcohol/breath reading when apprehended was 91mg per 100ml of breath, above the legal limit of 35mg.

Deputy District Judge Sean O’Hare said: “It is a very, very high reading and a very bad piece of driving.”