Can someone please help me save the horses... please...

[Chaos Ranch]

I have not been on here in a long time, and I hate it that I have to come on here with a situation like this. But I also hate it that I do not know where else to turn, or who can...or who will help.

I am going to try to make my very long story as short as I can. If you need me to explain more, please let me know and I'll do my best.

So, many of you know I switched from Miniature Horses to Peruvian Paso horses. I had a herd of 18 horses, which consisted of 2 stallions, 1 gelding, mares, fillies, and a few foals.

In April of 2011 my husband would not uphold his end of the rental agreement on the pasture we had been leasing for a few years. We were forced to move our horses. He took them to his mothers property, (with whom I do NOT get along with), and put all 18 horses on her approx. 12 acres of pasture with only one small shelter. However, he did not take one of the stallions as I had him at our property at home.

Due to many years of a situation I could no longer tolerate, I left him and moved into my parents empty home in the same area. Over the next 2 weeks, all of my breeding rabbits were dying as they were left at the home, and he refused to allow me to go get them which was the opposite of what he said I could do when I moved out.

My stallion, Altivo was left there also. Not that I did not try to get him, he refused to let me and he kept the vehicle and horse trailer so I had no way to get him. A couple of neighbors contacted me concerned because it was the middle/end of June, and for the past two weeks Altivo's water barrel had stayed knocked over, and the only water he could get was if it rained, and lucky for him it did rain. I got upset, paid a neighbor to take his trailer over and take the horse while husband was not home and bring him to me.

All I had was a large chicken pen to put him in, but he was NOTHING but bones. Having just moved out on my own, with no help from husband, and trying to take care of my two children, I knew I could not give him what he needed. So I donated him to the local 4-H group as a project/lesson horse to teach them how to help a horse recover from starvation, and to show, and work with and learn from in the future.

Sorry, long story is not as short as I hoped I could make it.

Okay, so my favorite mare was due to foal at the end of Aug. He refused to allow me access to the property they were on, and I was ordered to stay off of the property by his mother or the police would be called. She is the property owner, I could do nothing.

I warned him, begged him, and plead with him to put the mare up. Watch her. It was getting near 100 in the hottest of the day, and she needed to be watched. He agreed to give her to me, however he could not find her. I panicked. I knew she had foaled, or died trying. Finally after several hours he found her. Standing vigil over her weak filly, who had to have been born the day prior, had trouble getting out of the sack, and the mare must have somehow got her out, but she was deprived of oxygen, and colustrum. By the time he brought the mare and filly to me, the filly was too weak to even stand, and he had to carry her. I tried milking the mare, it was thick as butter. Eventually I got milk out. I tried nursing the foal, it could not even hold up it's head. It died within hours of getting to my home.

Three months later, (December) after hearing many reports of my horses being starved, and trying to find someone to help, I find out my daughters 8 year old gelding died. Starvation and worm over-load. Of course he told my daughter it was because she rode him too much.

Now, here we are in Feb. and I find out that last week, yet another of my horses died. A 20+ year old bred mare. She was starved so badly, she was almost a month over-due to foal. Again, I tried and tried to get himi to put her up. Feed her, take care of her, watch her. No. He did none of those things. She was so weak from lack of good nutrition that when she went into labor, she did not have the energy to deliver the foal, and both she and her foal died.

In July, he turned the remaining stallion (a 2 year old fully dropped, fully prepared stallion) into the pasture with all of the mares, and the weanling, yearling, and other mares. Two of the mares are his sister. I am sure that he bred many, if not all of them.

I did manage in September to get one of the broodmares and her colt away from him, and I also donated them to the same 4H group.

We are in a very bitter divorce. I am still denied access to the horses. Even forbidden to go check on them, feed them, and his relatives own the surrounding property and will not grant me permission to check on them from their land.

I have called the county police. I have contacted NAFA many times and received no replies. The police checked on the horses and claimed there was a bale of hay out there... so they were not going to do anything. Yes, there may have been hay, but it was from his sisters field, cattle hay, that even the cattle are reluctant to eat.

These horses have been fed horrible hay, if they get any at all. Fescue ... and I am sure many are heavy in foal. He has not trimmed their feet in over a year. I dewormed them in April when he took them to her land. Since then, no dewormings.

There is only around 10 of the horses left now. But they won't remain for long. They are dying, starving, cold, pregnant, and I am desperate, heartbroken, and at this point...totally powerless and unsure of any options that could possibly remain.

I have tried to find a rescue in Northeast Arkansas... can't find one. I have contacted the breed registry, they don't get involved. The court put a hold on the marital property, which includes the horses, and I have no idea, not even a shadow of an idea on what I can possibly do to help them.

Can someone please, please help me.. please tell me what I can try...what I can do..who I can contact. This is not fair to the horses, not at all.. and I would totally give up any and all ownership of the horses eagerly to someone who would rescue them, but not sure how to do that with them being held up in the courts.

Due to nothing less than 100% neglect,. and laziness my husband has been directly responsible for the death of 6 of the horses in the last 10 months. Please help me find a way to make sure no more of them have to suffer and die.

 

[Chaos Ranch]

I've tried. It took me 3 weeks of calling her office, leaving messages, sending emails just to even speak to her and she had no solution for me at all. I have begged her to make an emergency petition to the judge for the removal of the horses so that I can get ahold of some of the Peruvian horse fanciers and owners that I know and give them to them in an effort to save their lives. She does nothing. I have called her every day this week, no return call, always out of office. Called again this morning, already left for court. Will return my call. She doesn't though.

 

[Chaos Ranch]

Back on April 1st I had a 21 year old mare, amazing girl, due to foal. She impacted because he bought very bad hay. I got him to take her to a friends house and stall her so I could come back after going to town and buying what I needed to give her an enema, he took her there after 6 hours of me begging and crying...standing outside in the cold rain with her on a lead trying to keep her from laying down and rolling. But when we left after stalling her, instead of taking me to town to get what I needed to give her an enema, he went home and refused to take me the 2 and a half miles back down there. And by then, it had gotten dark, I am totally blind in the dark, I cannot drive, and he sat on the couch instead and would do nothing to help me. He merely said, if she's still alive in the morning, I'll pick the stuff up on my way home and run you down there. Well, it did no good, the next morning she was already gone and she had gone into labor from the stress of the colic, and the trailer ride, and the new surroundings, but she died before she could get the baby all the way out and since he would not take me down there to stay in the barn with her, I could not save either of them.

 

[Reble]

Sounds like you have someone contacting you on the horses dying?

So have to have them tell the authorities..

Or go in when no one is home and rescue the horses..

Not easy but have to do what you have to do.

Being 12 acres might have to do this at night and from another direction.

Sorry to hear this, but might have to do what Mary Lou suggested get in touch

with your lawyer.

So sad, and does not sound like his family is much better.

 

[Chaos Ranch]

I have no way to go get them, and without the judge's consent, cannot get them. He put a hold on marital property in his words "You keep what you have for now, and you keep what you have for now, and neither of you can sell or give away any of it, and I will divide it when we return for the final hearing." But there will be none left at this rate for the final hearing...and I am panicking ... I know I cannot give the horses to someone because they are in his mothers possession, and I know he cannot give them to someone because he was ordered not to dispose of them. But surely, there is some organization, whether it be police, ASPCA, or something that can go in there and over-rule the judge and get the horses help and get them into a place they can at least eat, and have shelter, and be taken care of. I just don't know who can.

 

[mini horse mania]

I went through,the same thing last year with my husband... I was not allowed to go on the property...i called animal control to check on them,some goats died giving birth,and my palomino died from a snake bite,they,siezed the animals left and were found to be healthy,,we got back together,but I stay home with the animals.the only thing you can do is call animal control to investigate..they will take,the animals,but,you may not get them unless your lawyer will stamd up for you...good luck,it is a horrifying experience looking at your hard work and your poor animals suffering...and you cant be there for them.if you dont do something,since you are married,they may get both of you for neglect...

 

[Reble]

So sad, and sorry not much help here..

Just do not understand your lawyer not getting back to you or coming up with a decision.

I guess you can only try to keep talking with your husband and tell him you will go in each day

to feed or water for the time being.

Sorry not much help but will send prayers your way.

 

[HGFarm]

I dont understand why authorities have not been called. Dont you have registration papers on these horses? Who do they belong to on the papers? It just sounds strange to me that these horses are dying right and left and starving, and no one is doing anything to have authority intervene.

Are you divorced? Who is to get the horses? If they are listed in the divorce papers to go to you, why is he buffaloing you into not getting them? Why dont YOU call law enforcement and turn him in and have someone with a trailer help you go get them, with law enforcement with you?

I hate seeing or hearing of horses abused, and for everyone to report they are dying and nobody doing anything, makes them just as guilty in my opinion. Just how I feel...........

 

[LAminiatures]

How about your local news station. Get pictures if you can and bring the facts only to the news people.

Please keep us updated this is so sad.

 

[Minimor]

Call animal control, the sheriff, the police again--get the neighbors to make complaints to any/all authorities about the dying horses.

Talk to the press--explain the situation, and ask the reporter to go and talk to the neighbors. Good media coverage could get the abuse made public knowledge and then perhaps someone will have to do something.

 

[KanoasDestiny]

I was going to suggest the same thing as a couple of the other posters. Call the media and have them investigate the local law enforcement and animal control who won't do something. Have the media contact your lawyer for comments on why her and the courts are allowing innocent animals to die. If the media were to start questioning your husband, his family, and their neighbor's, perhaps they'll be more inclined to get the animals off their land before the whole town is made aware of the low-lifes they are.

 

[Wee Mite Miniatures]

This is what we did when a woman in your position got in touch with us.

She left the property and left all her kids, dogs and horses to fend for themselves. Things got nasty and she was not allowed back on the property. The husband knew nothing about horses. The horses were not being taken care of and a few had died before we had heard of the situation. We placed calls to the husband, his attorney, the police, the MASPCA, and the neighbors. Three horses broke out of the field. We and two other people were able to pay the fines to the animal control office and each take one horse.

A neighbor was able to walk the MASPC through the property to view dead and starving horses and dogs. She was able to take a horse and two dogs with her.

The husband's lawyer suggested he sell the horses and use the money to pay the taxes on the property owned by both the husband and wife. He placed an ad with the help of the neighbor. The horses were sold for $50.00 each with the check being writen out to the town to pay the taxes on the land.

If it were me and my horses were dieing I would give him permission to sell the horses or give them away even if I got nothing out of it.

 

[Chaos Ranch]

I'll do my best to answer as many of the questions as I can, I apologize if I forget any.

The location of the horses cannot be accessed from a road. The road runs in front of his mothers house, and she lives on the top of a hill/ridge. The pasture they are in sits behind her house in a valley. You can't see them from the road. The ground on one side is posted, no trespassing. The ground on another side is her brothers, and he will not cooperate. The ground across the back belongs to a long time family friend of hers, and they will also not allow access, and the chances of seeing the horses from that part of the property is very slim as a deeply embanked creek runs through the mothers property, and only a couple of acres touch the back property, and the creek is heavily lined with trees, so you cannot see them if they are on the other side of the creek (the side she lives on and the majority of the pasture is on.)

The county police were called in December when the gelding died, and they merely stated that there was a bale of hay out there, so he couldn't do much. This county does not worry about animals, not at all. They are over-loaded with drug cases and they feel animals take no priority over humans. The only animal control I know of is NAFA, and I have contacted them several times, their voicemail is full and I cannot leave messages, they only have a message phone and no one actually answers it. I have emailed them...no reply.

I cannot find any organization anywhere in the area that would, or could step in and do anything. I can't even locate one.

The horses are in both of our names, and I have photos up to a week before I was forbid from the property to show the condition the horses were in while I was allowed to care for them. I just cannot get photos of the condition they are in now... no access.

The horses cannot be disposed of (hate that word) through give-away, trade, or sale until we reach a property division agreement in the divorce, and the soonest possibility of that happening is in two weeks.

I did hear back from my attorney today, and she gave me some good advice as to how to get him to give up the horses so that I can get them into homes, but I will have to wait until the negotiation to do it. I just hope they can hold on another two weeks. That gives me time to try to locate people that can come and get them if I get custody of them.

The news media would not be able to do anything..they said they do not want to get involved in a domestic matter. (Divorce) and they would also be refused access to the property to film the horses and making statements on air could open them up to a lawsuit since the matter is currently in a lawsuit in court.

I can only hope, and pray that the horses can make it two mroe weeks, and that I can get custody of them in the negotiations, and that his mother will allow me access to the property to get the horses out of there. Ultimately she can refuse, as possession prevails and they have been on her property for almost 10 months now. Since she herself is not in the litigation, the judge cannot force her to comply with an order pretaining to me and my husband, and if granted custody of the horses, I may have to then petition the court against her to get her to allow me access to regain the horses. I just hope it doesn't all come down to that. I hope somewhere in that man's heart there is some sense of compassion ...even a little flicker, and he will change his heart and mind about the horses and allow me to get some help in there to them, or get them out of there.

 

[Chaos Ranch]

Oh, I forgot to mention, I did give him permission to sell them, I begged him to sell them, I begged him to let me call in people to come and get them and just give them away so that neither of us can quibble over an money involved. I bought and paid for all of those horses myself, my own money. But that does not matter a bit to me. Not one cent... he just doesn't want to give them away because he thinks he can make a lot of money off of them by getting them in the divorce and selling them, but they are in no condition to sell, and they are dying. He doesn't want me to have them just because he knows it hurts me.. and I don't want him to have them because I know by 18 years of marriage and life with him...that it's ultimately hurting the horses to stay with him. I have tried numerous times to get him to let me put him in contact with people that will come and get them for free. He just won't do it.

 

[Riverrose28]

Laywers are no help in this situation, and the police can't take any action untill called from someone such as animal control, or ASPC. They need a warrent to seize the animals. Call animal control or your local ASPCa TO SEE IF they can see the animals themselves. They have the authority to search the premises and seize if nessacary.

 

[Reble]

I do know in Ontario Canada, if you call our ASPC they have to go out and check on

all calls that come in about abuse animals.

Good Luck looks like you are up against a wall.

Sending good thoughts your way..

 

[HGFarm]

Keep calling and keep writing and I would not give up. And I agree then, it's time to call the media also. Tell them this is not a divorce issue, it is a terrible animal abuse issue and the animals are DYING. Keep calling different media until you get some kind of response. Also keep after the local shelters- are there any animal rescues in your area? Get them involved. Just don't give up- and I wouldn't really mention about the divorce- I would stress the issue over the well being of the animals.

And I would find a way to get pics, even if I had to crawl across 'no trespassing' property in the middle of the night!! It would be too bad if one or two of those horses 'broke out' of the fence in that direction also!

 

[StarRidgeAcres]

KEEP CALLING! Call until your fingers are bleeding from dialing. Lawyer, AC, media, ect. This is no longer a domestic Issue, this is an animal cruelty, abuse issue. And If necessary, you need to get on the property at night and take pictures.

 

[Reijel's Mom]

This is just beyond sickening. If the horses are truly starving and starved in appearance, I would not stop calling the police every single day until something is done. Volunteer rescue groups cannot do a thing about this without law enforcement involvement.

 

[Marty]

Kimmy I just now saw this. First I want to tell you and everybody that 99.9 horse rescue groups cannot and do not have any legal authority to seize so forget that unless you know for a fact of one that can..

Give me a call on Thursday around noon and I'll have a phone number for you.