Some people weren't happy about this image, but is there more than meets the eye?

Benjamin Lloyd spends his free time brightening the spirits of sick kids by giving them extremely life-like airbrushed tattoos.

The grins on their faces as they inspect their new ink says everything, and while that work has only been met with praise and positive feedback (and rightfully so), the New Zealand artist found himself ruffling a few feathers when he did the same thing to a horse.

It was back in November last year, and Benjamin used his incredible skill to paint a skull on the neck, side and leg of a beautiful white horse.

From the photos he posted – which were captioned “I love boosting a horse’s confidence with a custom tattoo” - the animal itself looks pretty chilled and even appears to be sleepily closing its eyes.

However, some of the 3K people who commented started crying animal cruelty... READ MORE

While many people loved it, some were dubious.         Photo: Facebook