A German vet has been ordered to pay Euros 250,000 ($277,000) in damages for the loss of a grand prix dressage horse owned by a member of Austria’s famous Swarovski crystals family.

Donna Asana developed a “minor” cold in December 2010 and the vet, whose identity has not been disclosed, injected the 10-year-old mare with homeopathic substances. She died from anaphylactic shock.

The Munich Higher Regional Court in Germany dismissed the vet’s appeal against the decision, after years of legal proceedings. In a comment to the German paper Nord Bayern,  judge Thomas Steiner clarified there was nothing wrong with the choice of treatment, but that the vet had failed to properly inform owner-rider Evelyn Haim-Swarovski about the risks.

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