WAVE 3 TV Louisville, KY | Agencies seeing a rise in neglected or unwanted horses

Agencies seeing a rise in neglected or unwanted horses

By Caton Bredar

LOUISVILLE (WAVE) -- Agencies across Kentucky are seeing an increase in the number of horses suffering from starvation or neglect, a problem many officials are describing at the crisis level. WAVE 3's Caton Bredar visited one private agency in Nicholasville, that's working to give those unwanted horses, a place to call home.    

The problem isn't limited to Kentucky. Across the nation, horse owners are feeling the effects of drought and hard times. Luckily, at the Kentucky Equine Humane Center, most of those owners are throwing up the white flag and surrendering their horses.   

"Most of them that come to us, are coming in time," Laurie Neagle, director of the Humane Society explains. "People are realizing they can't care for them. So we haven't seen that many come in really bad shape, but we have had a few."    

Like a small, stout 3-year-old copper-colored filly now called Dixie. Dixie was found three months ago, half-starved, running loose down Dixie Highway. After going to a foster home for a month, Dixie was turned over to the Humane Center.    

In a nearby stall, a skinny, brown Thoroughbred stallion nibbles on some hay. He was surrendered to the Humane Center when his owner couldn't afford to feed him any longer.    

"He needs about 600 pounds," says Neagle. "He hasn't stopped eating since he got here."    

"We have had a few," she continues, "Where the owners have let them get to the point where they probably ... If it had gone on much longer, the horses would have died from malnutrition."  

From mules to thoroughbreds, with just about every breed in between, agencies like the Humane Center are seeing an increase in the instances of neglect, or the number of owners simply unable to care for their animals.    

"I think if a single horse starves to death, it's a crisis," says Neagle, who believes the cause behind so many desperate horse owners may vary, but there are some common denominators. 

"...for the most part, it's an economical reason, why they can't keep them."    

According to Neagle as well as the Kentucky Horse Council, the cause of the cold, hungry winter is, at least in part, due to a hot, dry summer. With drought effecting most of the Midwest, the cost of hay has at least doubled throughout Kentucky. In some places, it may be considerably more. Soaring gas prices and the state of the economy are also possible factors, and some blame the closing of U.S. Slaughter houses on the horse over-population problem. Neagle says that she's not certain that's an issue, since most people are finding there's little market for their horses anywhere.    

"They can't sell them," she says. "The market isn't bringing the prices, so they're looking to get out of the business. We've had several calls from people who are getting out of the breeding business and are looking to place their horses.    

Even officials at high profile sales companies like the Keeneland Sales in Lexington report a surplus of horses in the marketplace. They say they're concerned about an over-supply of horse stock out-reaching the demand.     

At the Humane Center, their mission is to never turn a horse away, and so far, they've never had to. Thanks to adoption open houses every third Saturday of the month, they've also never had to put a healthy horse to sleep. But if the present situation continues, Neagle fears that will change.

Absolutely, I see that happening," she says. "That's the reality of it, there's so many of them. What do you do?"

For more inforamtion on the Kentucky Equine Humane Center, click on the highlightd link.

Online Reporter:  Caton Bredar

Online Producer: Charles Gazaway