2002

Sevier County: 12/2002 - Riding stable complaint. Horses in barn, standing knee deep in manure. Some are skinny, coughing, snotty noses and trouble breathing. Horses were sweaty and standing on a concrete slab in a covered shed. Wind was very cold and blowing hard. Owner told complainant that they were open every day, from 9 to 6, no matter what the weather was. Also told that the horses don't have Coggins because they are on private property. One of the stable hands was seen whipping a donkey.

Greene County: 11/2002 - 36 horses on 28 acres. No pasture, extra feed only once in a while. Some with Oozing wounds, swollen legs and large cuts. Many come from a local auction house. Currently on leased property.

UPDATE: Click HERE for the latest article from Greene County Online.

Greene County: 11/2002 - 5 or 6 horses not being cared for. Left in a field to fend for themselves.

Knox County: 11/2002 - Shetland pony living on a 1 acre, glass and metal covered, lot. Owner comes by every couple of weeks and throws out some feed. No shelter, no water source.

Cumberland County: 11/2002 - Asked to place a horse a couple saved from Rhea County. Starved and sick, living in a mud pit with no shelter and the owner had been still riding him in his sickly condition. 10-15 year old gelding. After getting his vaccines, coggins and deworming the vet who seen him put him on medication.

UPDATE: Horse passed away.

Knox County: 10/2002 - BLM Auction. 140 animals came through the auction. 23 were Jacks. 24 Colts and Fillys. Only 5 geldings. 58 mares and 30 studs who had been originally pulled from the wild due to over crowding of plains most likely to end up as brood mares and breeding studs to add to our already over saturated equine. Many to end up in back yards, discarded and neglected. Those that know how the BLM is supposed to work will be interested to know that at 10:30am on the first morning of bidding, only 12 pre-registered bidders were signed in. Bidders are supposed to be pre-inspected after their paperwork is received to see if they meet so-called strict guidelines. I also found out there was 34 "walk-in" registrants who would join these 12 who had just signed up that morning. Hummmm, wonder how they got inspected so quickly? Think about it..

Lincoln - Marshall County: 10/2002 - Large training barn, owned by elderly brothers, keeping horses in knee deep manure in stalls. Horses have since been sold and property has changed hands.

Henry County: 10/2002 - Several horses being neglected. No Humane Society in this region.

Monroe County: 10/2002 - Three or more horses on 1-2 acres. Field filled with trash, bottles and broken glass. Horses very thin. Sometimes water is carried in. Old round bales of hay.

Knox County: 10/2002 - Walking horse barn that trains padded horse has two mares, outfitted in big shoes, only get up to eat. Trainer riding 16 month old colt. After workouts, horses are withheld water for extended periods of time.

Dickson County: 10/2002 - Case that had been investigated last year and the owners got rid of the horses. Now have another one. Have no hay or water. Told it was leaving over the weekend.

Jefferson County: 10/2002 - While attending a local fundraiser, rider spots very thin horses, wallowing in a muddy corral. Rider told belonged to some guy in jail on drug charges.

Greene County: 10/2002 - Person keeping horses in deplorable conditions. Knee deep in mud filled stalls. Old, moldy, round baled hay in pastures. Pastures littered with trash and discarded automobiles and parts. Buying horses at auction supposedly in these conditions.

Knox County: 10/2002 - Gelding in small yard. Feet in bad shape.

Knox County: 10/2002 - Owner unemployed wishing to turn over ownership of two horses. Found out they have outstanding vet bills since 1999 totaling over $400.

Knox County: 10/2002 - Horse in overgrown field. Been there for years. No attention given.

UPDATE: Happened to catch the owner when driving by. Horse in great shape. Well cared for. Been there for many years.

Knox County: 10/2002 - Pony boarded at local stable for one year. Owner has not paid board or feed bill.

UPDATE: Owner surrendered horse to HHT. See adoption page under Little Bit.

Sevier County: 10/2002 - Starving ponies.

Dickson County: 9/2002 - Old horse left to fend for itself over the years. Very thin. Owners are well off but offer no extra food except lush pasture. Local vet suggested she be put down. Neighbors have offered to purchase but owner wants $900. Neighbor has been buying feed at own expense. People have complained about this horses lack of care for over a year to local authorities.

UPDATE: Horse has been given to local 18 year old boy named Trey. HHT agent has been working with proper horse care instruction. Horse getting along well.

Dickson County: 9/2002 - Aged gelding owned by ex-wife. Husband is holding until she pays him the money she owes him..

Stewart County: 9/2002 - Mustang and pony tied out in a trailer park. Extremely thin. Feed no extra feed.

Putnam County: 9/2002 - Two donkeys on a grass lot in downtown. This is a residential zone, not an agricultural zone. The donkeys are visibly starved with prominent ribs and protruding hip bones.

Roane County: 9/2002 - Two miniatures, with long hooves, in a dirt lot. There is inadequate shelter, the hay is moldy and of poor quality. There is a river next to the lot, but there is no access. The owner is 16 years old. We have educated her and will re-check.

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UPDATE: Owner has confirmed he can not care for and has sold them.

Roane County: 9/2002 - Stud colt being tied out, unsupervised, on a 24' rope in an unfenced field. He is left out in bad weather, with no access to water. The colt managed to get himself loose, and went and terrorized a neighbor's stalled horse. Train tracks run along side this property. We educated the owner and suggested they obtain portable corral panels, which could be moved around the field to allow the horse to graze. The photos below are of the rope used to tie the colt, and the device the rope was tied to.

UPDATE: Young colt is also being tied out. Horse got loose again. Owner is waiting for trees to loose leaves so he can run fencing. Seems to be a property dispute that puts the horse at risk.

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While on this call, we also witnessed this poor pitbull. We have turned this over to the proper authorities.

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Dickson County: 9/2002 - Dead donkey in a creek bed for 3 days. Still there. Other animals on property are in bad shape.

Johnson County: 9/2002 - Two horses abandoned on property after the owner moves. Property is for sale. This was reported to us by potential buyers of the property. There is no water available. The horses are thin and in bad shape. Their manes and tails are matted with burrs. The realtor seemed unconcerned.

Knox County: 9/2002 - Four horses in a dirt lot with no water for 2 days. The owners were contacted. One person thought the other was watering the horses, and vice versa; but neither was doing it. The owners have assured us that this would be corrected immediately.

Knox County: 9/2002 - Have received 5 complaints, so far this year, on a draft horse at the local fair. The horse has been standing tied - out in the sun and heat - for days. He tries to lay down, but he cannot. This is the same horse that we have received complaints on for the past two years.

Correction: The draft horse was not standing in the sun, but he was in the heat.

Update: Fans have been placed in the tent that the horse is in.

McMinn County: 8/2002 - The following three photos are of a horse that a trader pawned off on a lady. The lady was told that the horse came from a confiscation case, along with 4 other horses. After checking with the local Humane Society, and County Ag Agent, the story that the trader told was confirmed to be a lie. Two days after the lady acquired this horse, it went down in the field and was unable to get up. The horse was humanely euthanized by a local veterinarian. At least the horse was loved, for the short time that it spent in its new home.

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Knox County: 8/2002 - Two horses in a back yard. One is skin and bones. Trying to sell. The other belongs to someone else.

DeKalb County: 7/2002 - Report of a man seen beating his horses. One of the horses has scars and favors one leg.

Houston County: 7/2002 - 15 horses in open stall barn with no cover. Pregnant mare was brought to vet because she was losing weight. Foal died due to malnutrition, according to autopsy. Other horses are in bad shape.

Houston County: 7/2002 - Three horses got scared on 4th of July and ran through fence. They were seriously injured and treated by a local vet. At least one of the horses is extremely thin, the other 2 are in very bad shape.

Loudon County: 7/2002 - Horse in back yard. Feet in very bad shape.

Knox County: 7/2002 - Mare and foal in small lot. No food or water visible. No shelter from the sun. Very thin.

Blount County: 7/2002 - Small pasture with 10 to 12 horses. One is very badly bitten up from the others. Very ribby. Three more in a dark enclosed barn.

Knox County: 7/2002 - Visitor to local riding stable reports that horses were being ridden with shoes missing. The stable owner allegedly told the visitor that "they are ridden that way all the time" and that "they're fine". A woman was seen kicking one of the horses in its side.

Stewart County: 7/2002 - A horse was left tied in the sun with no shade or water. The horse struggled and the rope cut into its leg and across its face where the halter restrained him. While the horse was struggling, the sheriff was contacted, but they did not respond for about an hour. The horse died.

Sevier County: 6/2002 - Correction - Received a call from a vacationer about a man giving pony rides for 2 1/2 hours using a merry-go-round type walker. Caller was very disturbed by this because the 4 ponies were never offered rest or water. It was over 90°, but there was shade.

Roane County: 6/2002 - Three horses on a 3/4 acre dirt lot. No food or water for 3 days.

Cocke County: 6/2002 - Six or seven horses remain on property. Three or four died during the first part of the year. Very thin, sores, split feet. One is stalled in a near-by barn. Fence is in poor condition. Cows on property keep getting out.

Wilson County: 6/2002 - Pony or miniature horse, very under-nourished in a small corral. No visible food or water.

Smith County: 6/2002 - Nine total. Five have died from starvation. Some can't hardly walk.

Blount County: 5/2002 - Visitor to riding stable reports that the horses' hooves are in poor condition.

UPDATE: 7/2002 - Received another complaint on the same stable. Most of the horses have thrush, as well as large saddle sores. No veterinary care. Horses are sent out on the trails with shoes missing. A lot of the horses appear weak and have visible mouth, back and girth sores.

Jefferson County: 5/2002 - Visitors to local stable/boarding facility witnessed many horses housed in dark, smelly conditions. At least one of these horses was extremely thin. The visitor was then asked not to go back there because those horses were "new". One horse was ridden away for several minutes and returned glassy-eyed, as if it may have been drugged. Also while the visitors were there, they witnessed a horse being beaten, whipped and kicked by a man (one of the stable's farriers). On another visit, this farrier was seen working on another horse. The man did not beat the horse while anyone was watching, but the same horse was seen a little later on with open wounds on all four legs and across its chest. HHT was told that this same farrier has had a horse die while he was shoeing it. We were told that this farrier sedated the horse, but it was still fighting him. The horse ended up falling and being impaled by the farrier's stand. We won't go into the gory details, but suffice it to say..... the horse died.

Lewis County: 5/2002 - Five starving horses (including a young colt) in small corral with no shelter. There was another horse on this property, but it died 8 months ago. Horses are in very poor condition. Neighbor is concerned that these horses are starving to death.

Roane County: 5/2002 - Two horses in an overgrown pasture. Both are in poor condition.

White County: 5/2002 - Mustangs tied to telephone poles with logging chains. No water or shelter. On another visit, we observed these mustangs in a pasture, still dragging the chains from their necks. These chains are 15 to 20 feet long. After speaking with the owner, we were told that the chains are used for training; to "break their spirit". The BLM has been contacted.

Wilson County: 4/2002 - Palomino QH mare has been going downhill for the past 2 years. Humane Society has been contacted several times. Two other horses on property that get loose on occasion.

Knox County: 3/2002 - ***The report of the abused draft horses has been moved to the "Auction Reports" page.***

Sevier County: 3/2002 - Visitor to riding stable reported that many of the horses were in bad condition. Several eye infections, missing shoes and untended injuries.

Monroe County: 2/2002 - Small herd of horses being kept on 400 acres of woods. No pasture at all. Have not been fed in approximately 2 weeks.

UPDATE: Horses look and act fine. There is no visible hay, and we were told there hasn't been for 3 weeks.

Macon County: 2/2002 - Allegedly three year old gelding, freshly gelded, thin and underweight. Saved from auction. Seller said to just hose him down to clean up the infection on his private area. After no success, the horse may now need to have an amputation. Horse is suspected to be more like 12 to 15 years old. Pictures to follow.

UPDATE: Gelding died on 2/28. His stomach ruptured after filling up with infection. The vet, who had been treating him, was not a equine vet. There weren't any equine vets in the area. No drain tube was ever placed in this horse to allow the infection to drain. Owners were only told to give bute and antibiotics. His temperature was 101° and he was eating and drinking fine. Our sympathy goes out to the owner, who DID try to do what they could for him. They had made the decision that morning to have him humanely euthanized, when they felt he was in trouble.

The vet was unable to come out until the next day to euthanize the horse. When the owner left him, long enough to speak with someone out front, she came back to find him dead. He had waited until she left his side. No longer in pain, he awaits her arrival at the Rainbow Bridge.

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Meigs County: 2/2002 - Owner sends horse to trainer. The horse was in good condition at the time. The photo above is the way the horse looks now. This mare is about 15 hands and weighs approximately 650 pounds. She is three years old, registered, and about 250 pounds under weight.

UPDATE: Mare has progressed to a body score of 4. She is essentially blind in both eyes, but has adapted to sound. She is grazing safely in a field of her own. When the mare was picked up from the trainer, she was moved to a temporary boarding facility. The owner will be bringing her home in the next couple of weeks.

Sevier County: 2/2002 - Passerby reporting that a mare has been limping for approximately 3 weeks. She has a foal by her side.

Henry County: 2/2002 - Report of 5 neglected horses. Foal suspected to have frozen to death. Other horses are frail, with no hay available.

Land owner is leasing pasture to a tenant. The tenant then allows a third party to keep horses on property. Only 4 horses remain now. A grey mare went down and was unable to get up. A vet was called to euthanize the mare.

After investigating the situation, we found the following: The four remaining horses appear to be in good health. The grey mare foaled about 2 weeks ago, but there were complications. During the delivery, the foal got hung up. A vet was called to remove the foal. The foal did not freeze to death, but died during foaling. The mare was thin, but had been under veterinary care for several weeks prior. We do not feel that the horse owner is neglecting his responsibilities.

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McMinn County: 2/2002 - This poor gelding is about 27 years old. He's very lethargic and has trouble chewing. He is currently pastured on a property that is for sale. Owner said they've had him for 6 or 7 years, and that he originally came with the house. HHT is going to attempt to purchase him from his owner.

UPDATE: Owner says that horse is 31 to 32 years old. The horse was moved to this location so that the owner's other horses wouldn't hurt him. Owner will have a vet check his teeth. Does not wish to sell at this time.

UPDATE: Owner hasn't been out to feed his horse in over a week. Neighbors have been feeding horse for over 3 weeks.

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Stewart County: 2/2002 - BLM Mare & foal constantly getting out into the road. Fence is in poor condition. Owner does not live on site. Mare's body score is 1 to 1 1/2. Her feet are in need of attention. There is a lot of mud. Bad round bales of molding hay. Bag of moldy whole corn on the ground across the road. A drum of sweet feed with the lid being held down by a block. The top has holes in it, allowing rain in.

UPDATE: HHT Agent investigates and finds that the mare has gotten out of the pasture again. When our agent arrived, the mare was eating freely from a 55 gallon drum of sweet feed. Her foal was still in the pasture, crying for the mare and trying to get to her. Sheriff's Dept. was notified. The mare was returned to her pasture and repairs to the fence were being made, while our agent observed. A local vet agreed to check the mare and report to HHT if there were any ill-effects from her eating binge. Mare and foal's hooves still in need of attention. Seeing as this is a recurring problem, we will continue to monitor.

Sevier County: 2/2002 - Large number of horses in a field. One has a splint on its leg, and the others keep kicking. Some are very thin and sickly looking.

Blount County: 2/2002 - Five horses have been in a small field, lacking food over a year. One is VERY thin.

Williamson County: 1/2002 - Twelve horses, with no shelter, in a small area. Rusty objects in the fields. New construction within close proximity to this land. Wealthy area of town. We did a check and found horses to be in good physical health. They had food, water and a tree line for shelter (all required by law). Horses are allegedly being boarded for people. Pastures could use some clean up. Did not feel just cause for immediate concern. Feel local animal control is monitoring the situation. There may be a possible offer from the community to help clean up the fields. We will re-check in February.

Loudon County: 1/2002 - Private boarding stable (currently has no outside boarders), has horses on site living in filthy stalls. Manure building up and lack being fed some days. Some horses seem depressed. One is thin. Person over this barn has been evicted, from other sites they have leased, in the past. Hope to educate.

NOTE: Before boarding your horse at a site, be sure to talk with other current boarders. Also get the names of some past boarders, who may be more open with their comments. ALWAYS get your lease agreement in writing. Who is to provide all aspects of care?

Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we try to help those who can not help themselves. Pray that or state laws will be changed to allow us the authority to pull a horse in need of help, without having to go through all the red tape. Pray that our local law enforcement will take our request seriously and try to intervene when needed. Please continue to help support us financially. A lot of man hours and gasoline go into checking out every case turned over to us to investigate. Your donations allow us to continue our fight against horse abuse & neglect.

If you would be interested in volunteering, adoption, or need to surrender a horse to a good home, please contact HHT. We will send you the correct application.