wher do I go from here?
I was in Maryville this past week for a vacation/moving trip and we found 4 abandoned horses. We were staying at my mother in laws house on 6 mile road and she pointed them out to us. According to her they have been abandoned for about a year. She has been bringing them apples and carrots when she can (she is in her 70's) and she spoke to the lady across the street from them who has been bringing them hay. The story I am getting is that the property is being leased by a 3rd party and the land owner says he does not want to get involved. He will not release the name of the lessee and will not act as a liaison. The horses are in bad shape. The woman doing the inquiries has contacted the local ASPCA but they claim they have too many cases and cannot help at this time and the sheriff's department says there is nothing they can do. I am getting the story second hand but I know there have been attempts to get the horses help. I don't know where to go. I am back in NJ now and don't know what I can do from here to help them. We are planning on moving to the area in a few months but I hate to think nothing can be done until I get back there. There are 4 horses 3 female and 1 male. The golden female has a great personality. She practically hugs you when you go see her (she may just be happy for the food) and she still has some body weight to her. The other 2 females are head shy but will tolerate anything for an apple. They are almost starved. You can clearly see their hips and ribs. The male is tolerant of people and has some body weight to him as well. I have pictures of all four of them. All of their hooves are cracked and the nice female may be going lame in her back leg. The property has a brook that runs through it and that is their only water source I can see. There is a barn next to their enclosure but I cannot get behind it to see if they have access to it. I don't think they can get in it but I cannot be sure. Other then the feed we gave them and the hay the lady across the street they are not getting any care that I can see. I don’t know what to do being so far away and I don't know if the 2 female are going to make it much longer. Any advice would be great

We are aware of these horses if they are the ones on the right hand side with the barn. We have been in contact with the Humane Society and Ag Extension. I can't go into detail, but the owner has finally been tracked down. Divorce. Hopefully something will be done soon. The problem we are having is local officals in this county don't want to do horse cases and have more or less sluffed us off. Without local support our hands get tied and we have to follow different avenues to get things done. Tell your Mom thanks for caring. I will get back out there this week.

Thanks soooo much for the update. I'm so relieved to hear something is being done. We fed them while we were down for the week but it wasn't enough. I have never felt more helpless before. If there is anything I can do to help out let me know. I am hoping to get involved with a rescue group as a volenteer once we get down there and get settled.

Any Updates??? :D

Not thrilled with this, but our hands are tied.... The Humane Society has allowed the "owner" to get a vet out there and care for the horses like he should have been doing for the last YEAR. We have been told by the sheriff and DA they have no intentions of taking any animal complaints seriously and only if the Humane Society brings the charges will they even help. A bunch of crap. The Humane Society in turn have stated they only plan to "work with owners" so they don't run the chance of being sued. HHT's powers are only in the county we are chartered in which is Knox. We can not bring charges in another county unless the county is willing to take over once we have done the investigation for them and given a case to them on a silver platter. We are not finished though with this county. There is a time frame of 11 months 29 days that a case can still be filed on cases. This means the SOB who allowed a filly to starve to death better keep a good eye over their shoulder because there is still plenty of time to make a really good case against them that they will not wiggle out of. :-D

I can't believe they wont do anything.....My mom visits they daily and she said she saw another person feeding them but she hasn't seen any changes yet. I have her keeping an eye on them for me until I go back down in June. Is there anything I should look for when I visit them? Can we get the media involved? Nothing gets them going like a little bad press

Because he is complying with what he was asked to do and a vet is involved with checking on them not much can be done right now. It is now a wait and see.