By T. D. Thornton
After a thorough veterinary evaluation of the 43 neglected and undernourished horses found in dire stabling conditions at a privately leased farm near Harrodsburg, a spokesperson for the Kentucky Department of Agriculture (KDOA) announced June 28 that six of them will be moved offsite to be given better care at a Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation facility.
Rusty Ford, the KDOA equine programs manager, speaking at an impromptu break in the schedule of Tuesday's Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit in Lexington, said the horses met the legal “criteria for abandonment,” but Ford would not comment or take questions on any potential criminal charges that might come out of the ongoing investigation.
Ford also did not mention Breeders' Cup-winning trainer Maria Borell, whose name on Monday the Kentucky state veterinarian for the KDOA confirmed as “associated with the ownership” of the abandoned horses.
Ford described the conditions of the 43 horses on the Mercer County farm as such:
• 3 horses are “emaciated, with [Henneke] Body Condition Scores of 2 or less.”
• 10 are “underweight, but manageable.”
• 14 are “of a suitable weight.”
• 8 are “overweight.”
• 8 have an “ideal body condition score of roughly 5.”
“A lot of times we get negative criticism for not moving quickly enough [or] as aggressively as we should,” Ford said of the KDOA's actions, which have come under criticism because the state has been investigating the Mercer County abandonment since June 3. “But there are processes and procedures that we follow in making the legal cases [to] be able to stand up in court. But what we never do is neglect the horse.
“One of the obstacles that we were facing, because this [is] an active investigation, was the disposition of the animals,” Ford continued. “We've been working through those channels, because it is a legal action. Seizure is established with the county, and the county was reluctant to allow any of those horses to leave the premises.”
That changed Tuesday morning, Ford said, when it was determined that the three most emaciated horses “desperately needed to be in an environment that could provide more individual direct care.” Another three, he said, would be transported off the farm because they “could use the added care as well.”
The remaining population that will stay on the premises, Ford said, “were doing quite well in the environment they were in, with the recourses that the industry has provided.”
Ford credited a team of four female volunteers who he dubbed “the golden girls” that were providing the bulk of the day-to-day care for the horses. He said Monday's evaluations were handled by two state vets working in conjunction with two private volunteer vets, and that at one point on Monday the KDOA had to respectfully decline help from a number of vets who had shown up at the farm offering to help.
Borell has yet to respond to a text message from TDN sent Monday afternoon requesting her side of the story.
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