Two people have been arrested in Groningen in connection with the abuse of a Shetland pony after video of a woman squashing the animal by sitting on it went viral on internet.

The 57-year-old man and 58-year-old woman come from Lochem and reported to the police once the video hit the headlines, the Volkskrant said on Thursday.

A 57-year-old man from Alkmaar was arrested on Wednesday. He is said to be the owner of the video production company which made the film.

Eggs

His family have since gone into hiding, local broadcaster RTV Noord-Holland reports. Their home has been broken into and the building has been pelted with eggs, the broadcaster said. He denies all involvement with the production.

In the video, the overweight woman can be seen sitting on the pony wearing a lace top and carrying a whip. At one point, when it buckles under her weight, she continues to sit on it, smoking a cigarette.

The police have not ruled out other arrests and are looking at other, similar videos, the Volkskrant said.

Poses

One video, which has been placed on Facebook, shows a Shetland pony being badly treated by a blonde woman while the cameraman urges her to make erotic poses, the paper said.

MPs from the animal rights party PvdD have asked justice minister Ivo Opstelten to sharpen monitoring of animal abuse and to find out if the videos were produced in the Netherlands.