Repercussions Needed for Some Horseback Outfitters

Ive been privileged to provide vet care for many horseback outfitters guest ranches and dude ranches throughout the course of my 22year career and I can attest that the majority take excellent care of their animals. They provide highquality feed stay on top of preventive care for each horse and have the vet out promptly when an animal is sick or hurt. These horsemen and horsewomen develop a strong bond and partnership with their horses and mules. Theyll always put the needs of their working animals first and I am proud to be their veterinarian.

The Dark Side
But there are some businesses out there that represent the dark side of the horse industry. These places spend little to nothing on their horses care. They ignore injuries and ailments overwork their animals underfeed the herd and send visibly lame and sick horses on long trail rides. The property is usually filthy and rundown and the staff are unkempt and unfriendly.
In the staffs defense theyre not treated much better than the horses. Theyre also overworked grossly underpaid and depend mainly on tips from the guests to pay their bills.
Theres always an owner somewhere making a darn good living off their shoddy business. They usually live in a different state own multiple dude outfits or horseleasing businesses and if theyre ever onsite which is rare youll recognize them by their fancy new diesel trucks expensive clothing and complete disregard for the law.
Although there are cruelty laws in place theyre often vaguely worded and leave large clumsy loopholes for owners like these to take advantage of when it comes to horse care. Theres occasionally a day of reckoning for some of these outfits but its the horses who ultimately pay the price. And theres always a very long line of complicit people who help the

owners by remaining silent when they should be reporting the situation.
Law Enforcement Case
One day I was visiting such a place at the request of a law enforcement officer who had received complaints from the public and it was not a happy visit. The horses were overcrowded and packed into small pens. The few feeders that contained hay were populated by the stronger healthier animals while the weaker and lowerranked horses eyed the sparse hay from a safe distance.
Judging by the protruding ribs and bleeding injuries on the horses who werent at the feeders it was sadly obvious who was getting the lions share of the calories and who was not. And horses are not kind to one another when competing for resources.
As I walked through the herd of horses with the police officer more and more injuries became apparent. There were bleeding legs infected cuts and scrapes and dozens of horses had horribly overgrown hooves and limped painfully around the pens. Ancient skeletal horses with bulging arthritic joints stood quietly in the background.
They closed their eyes and lowered their heads for a face rub when I walked over to examine them. When the horses still trust us after humans have utterly failed them it kills my soul in ways that I cannot explain.
I could see something odd on one horses back. As we got closer I realized that I was looking at a cantaloupesized and partially ruptured abscess where a saddle had rubbed deeply into his flesh. Another nearby horse had an eye that was swollen shut his face soaked with tears and discharge from the untreated injury.
I gestured to the officer and we haltered the two horses after taking some pictures and video. The horse winced as I gently probed the enormous abscess on his back and thick pus
flowed freely down his side. He was shaking in fear probably expecting to be saddled and ridden despite his condition
I ran a hand over his neck and murmured to him then reached for my medical bag and drew up some pain medication for him and for the horse with the eye injury. I knew I wouldnt get reimbursed for the medications but I didnt care.
Who Pays the Price
Youre going to file charges arent you? I asked the officer.
He shrugged. Oh we absolutely will but I can already tell you that nothing will happen. The DA claims that we cant prove that this owner knows anything about the neglect and hes already blaming his staff for everything. Theyre filing charges against the staff members so the owner just drives off in his fancy truck while they take the heat. As usual.
I exhaled in frustration. So nothing changes for the horses? Does he get any sort of followup from the department to make sure he cares for these injuries?
The officer looked sadly at me. The horses are his property. If the DA wont charge him with anything our hands are tied. Yet our department faces the wrath of the public who dont understand why he gets to keep the horses. They blast us on social media and send us hate mail. And he goes and opens another dude outfit somewhere else and it begins all over again.
I looked again at the sad herd standing quietly in their filthy pens and had to fight back tears. I knew that the officer felt the same way.
How do you keep going? I asked him. He patted my hand sadly but didnt answer me.
Need for Change
That night I stayed up until the wee hours looking up every cruelty law and reading every statute related to horse
businesses that I could find. By 2 a m. Id given up.
Until someone with the knowhow and the power to enact a change gets involved this will indeed happen again and again. Owners need to be held fully responsible for the wellbeing and care of their animals and there need to be much higher standards for animal care in operations like these. The laws for horse care need to be crystal clear and unfortunately they arent.
Maybe youre the one who can help close these loopholes and change the law.