Horse trainer on cruelty charges in court

An Olympian-turned-horse trainer who allegedly asked police to shoot him when they arrested him amid piles of decomposing horses at his property is expected to face court.

Bruce Akers has been charged with 92 counts of animal cruelty and criminal damage offences.

He also allegedly threatened to kill the surviving horses on the property where police found more than 40 animals dying or in different stages of decay.

Akers was charged a year ago after police investigated a complaint of a foul smell on the Bulla property, about 35km north of Melbourne.

A prosecutor at the time told a court the surviving horses were so badly malnourished they had a body scale of zero, the lowest possible scale before a horse died.

The former Olympic wrestler is expected at Melbourne Magistrates' Court on Monday for a mention.