A SHOW horse has been shot in the face with an airgun.

Pepper, a 29-year-old grey Arab cross Welsh horse, was found slumped in his stables in Sion Street, Radcliffe, yesterday morning.

He will now be left with a scar and owner Sophie Shepherd, landlord of the nearby Masons Arms, is devastated.

She said: "If Pepper had died, I would have been inconsolable.

"We have had him since he was seven so he is part of the family."

Mrs Shepherd's daughter, Stacy, aged 20, found Pepper and removed a pellet lodged in his face, before dialling 999.

She quickly alerted Mrs Shepherd who then called in the vet to treat the wound.

Mrs Shepherd said: "The vet said Pepper was lucky the pellet missed the eye and wasn't embedded in soft tissue.

"We expect him to make a full recovery and be fighting fit again soon."

Pepper is the latest victim in a string of airgun attacks on animals in Bolton.

Last June, three animals were injured and a cat in Kearsley died after a pellet ruptured its bladder.

And just last month, a shot cat was found in a garden in Halliwell.

Kathy Kay, of the RSPCA in Bolton, said: "It is a calculated attack to target a horse which cannot move away as fast as a cat. It is cowardly.

"Surely someone, somewhere knows something about this attack. They should be disgusted and come forward."

Mrs Shepherd is moving Pepper and her six other horses to new stables.