Hello, I was hoping someone could give me some advice. I do not own any horses, but I have some experience with them. My property and my neighbors property are each about 5 acres. My house is elevated above his house and property. He has 7 horses and one cow. All the animals except for 1 are on one side of his property. One horse, a stallion, is kept away from the other animals. I see this animal when I walk outside or look out my window. In my opinion, 5 acres is too small for 8 animals, but not the reason for my concern. The stallion at the far end of the property has lived exclusively in a 15 foot circular pen for about six months straight now, with poop that is never mucked out, and never attention such as hooves, brushing, teeth, etc. he doesnāt even get a pat from his owner who just walks over and throws hay over the fence with not a word to the animal. The horse is not emaciated but it looks lonely and it boggles my mind that no one does ANYTHING with him. No vet care, no hoof care, covered in flies, no shelter from rain, no blanket, no exercise, no poop raked out, no contact with anyone or anything. I know everyone on this site is going to tell me to mind my own business, but why would someone do this to an animal? Itās really heartbreaking and every day I just HOPE that his owner or anyone would do something with him. I have never seen anyone walk to his pen other than to throw food over the fence. They are unfriendly people and I donāt know what if anything I should do. He just rots in there every day. Itās cowardly to call AC, and maybe Iām ignorant and this cold owner is perfectly normal.
Itās not cowardly to call AC if itās justified-- but itās hard to say if it is.
As long as heās in good condition with food and water AC is unlikely to do anything, but if he truly has no shelter at all and the poop in his pen is never removed itās possible he is being neglected and it is worth calling (look up laws for your state). Iām not sure how you can tell for sure he never gets any vet/hoof care, exercise etc. unless you are home 24/7 and watching. The rest of your complaints about loneliness and not talking to the horse and the number of animals (which seems likely to be legal) are not something I would mention.
Iāve been watching our neighbors horse starve/founder for seven years. No fly protection, no shade, in a tiny pen by itself. Have called the Livestock Board several times, they have forced the owner to provide care, but once they go back to check on if those items have been covered, they donāt go back until they get another call. I tried to buy this horse from these people, but they wonāt sell. Itās an awful thing to have to watch, but thereās only so much a person can do. The definition of āneglectā varies from state to state. As long as the animal has food, water, and basic care, most times it wonāt be taken away.
OP is watching this horse 24/7 if the post is to be believed. Call Animal Control if the horse is being neglected.
@Palm Beach This is the only reference I see in the OP. So unless @nimjohns36 is housebound, except for walks outside, I donāt see 24/7 surveillance.
Or is that your tongue I see in cheek? 
@nimjohns36 You could be anthropomorphizing a bit.
Hereās an example of true neglect (lots to read, but ends well):
http://savingargus.blogspot.com/2007/12/saving-argus-how-horse-survived-10.html
For all you know this stallion prefers to be by himself.
He may be perfectly fine being able to see the other animals & not being kept closer.
Where was he kept before the 6mo youāve observed him in the (I agree 15ā seems too small) pen?
And. like others have mentioned, unless you are indeed onsite 24/7/365, you have no way of knowing if a shoer or vet ever visits.
Even if they donāt, horse could exist w/o this care - perhaps not as you would keep him, or any of us on this BB for that matter, but as long as he is fed & has access to water & some sort of shelter (laws vary from place to place on this) not textbook Neglect.
To ease your own mind, call AC & present your case - except for the supposed loneliness & lack of personal interaction (talking) from the owner.
This yes. Call animal control but often if the horse has adequate food, water and shelter it isnāt abuse. Maybe not how we would care for our horses but not legal abuse. If animal control is unable to do anything, maybe stop observing?
Remember it is also not legal for you (or animal control) to go on neighborās property without permission (or for animal control, a warrant) as that is trespassing. However, you can invite animal control onto your property to see neighborās horses.
@2DogsFarm - OP sure knows a lot about the horse for only seeing it occasionally, and possibly has amazing hearing.
"he doesnāt even get a pat from his owner who just walks over and throws hay over the fence with not a word to the animal. The horse is not emaciated but it looks lonely and it boggles my mind that no one does ANYTHING with him. No vet care, no hoof care, covered in flies, no shelter from rain, no blanket, no exercise, no poop raked out, no contact with anyone or anything."
Personally, I would call. However, to be taken seriously it is imperative that you are objective and leave about emotions. Animal control cares specifically about neglect or abuse as defined by their laws.
āHeās by himself all the time and no one caresā = getting ignored
āThere has been a horse living at [insert address] since [month] 2018. The horse does not have access to shelter and is kept in a round pen that is full of manure. After reviewing our local ordinances [insert ordinance number] indicates livestock must have access to shelter in [insert conditions]. I have photos taken from my personal property on [insert days] demonstrating these conditions are not being met. What is the proper email address to forward these records?ā = much more likely to get taken seriously
If he has no shelter and heās having to walk around in a lot of manure, I would definitely tip off animal control. But as GraceLikeRain said, make sure you report objective facts about what you have observed. Not emotional statements about how you feel about it.
If he has access to a shelter or the owners say he does, and if he has hay and water or if there is hay and water on the property there isnāt much AC can do. They can perform a check but thatās it.
If the horse is being fed and has the state minimum as far as shelter/enclosure thereās nothing you can do. I personally would never keep a horse like this, but I am aware that stallions are often kept in relatively poor conditions due to temperament issues. As the owner of a couple of unfriendly horses, I canāt fault the neighbor for not hugging the stallion or chatting with it during feeding time. Some horses are not interested in humans. I have one with perfect ground manners, wonderful at her job, very honest and steady girl but does not like to be touched affectionately at all. I can only kiss her nose one time after we have a nice ride, and thatās it. Sheās all business and would not care at all if she didnāt see me or any other human for months. Perhaps the stallion is the same way.
