I don’t know the backstory. Who is Alexis? Asking because I was interested in a very cute project pony owned by Alexis something in Virginia in 2020 and when I looked her up she had a pending charge for animal cruelty. I decided against getting involved with her and always hoped the pony found a good home.
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I live in Fauquier and plan to attend both hearings. I definitely do not think she will get away with this and, I believe, since this is the second time around, the charges can be bumped to felonies.
The question will be whether our CA decides to turn the criminal aspect over or decides to handle it himself. It’s a wait and see there, but I would hope he would turn it over if a deputy is, in fact, involved in the situation.
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Alexis Farris is the name of the deputy whose horse was seized along with the rest of the horses.
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Thank you! Unrelated to my experience.
Commonwealth attorney handling Byrd rareshide has also traveled to prosecute in other counties for similar situations, he says. Maybe an interesting option depending on how that goes and what kind of capacity he has. I think AG can step in but not sure if Michelle W can operate completely independently or still will need someone on the county level involved. Seems like a change of venue in order out of Fauquier though if a deputy is involved and accused rather than maybe having sent a horse there and didn’t know what was going on, or something. One would hope.
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Since the farm advertised self care board quite heavily, I guess it would depend on who was self care vs. full care and what veterinary records can be provided for all the animals.
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Happy to hear Swampwitch will attend the hearing tomorrow. I think we all would like to hear what transpired. I also agree with GPjumper that some horses may have been boarded there and the owner unaware of what was happening. The hearing will tell us more. I don’t want to automatically paint everyone with seized horses as being party to the abuse.
My experience is that these cases take time. The good news is that the animals are safe for now. In the first Diana Phillips trial where she starved 4 horses to death, she was allowed to keep the dozen or so horses remaining because they were being fed. Except the horses weren’t and 2 months later AC was able to seize them. That was when the felony charges came in. The prior charges were all misdemeanors for not disposing of a livestock carcass and had fines. Her mother, Gloria Mullins, was acquitted in the first trial because she denied owning any of the dead horses and the commonwealth could not prove otherwise. Gloria had been contacted by a deer hunter on her property that a horse was down in the field and was in obvious distress. Gloria made no effort to check the horse or call a vet. It wasn’t her horse she told him.
I will be bringing a notepad to both hearings and posting full reports from each. I will happily share the links here for everyone.
Judging by how many people are posting looking for horses on social media, it appears she leased horses and sold them or bought horses and leased them out before she paid them off. It appears to be a giant, tangled ball of yarn with potential civil proceedings coming out of it as well.
The local gossip mill hasn’t produced evidence of bodies, so I’m hoping animal control was able to step in before the suffering got any worse.
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There are two professionals doing self care and running their businesses out of the property who have been active on social media. I don’t know what kind of professional would work out of that and enable her, but I hope their reputations get questioned as well.
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This post was flagged by the community and is temporarily hidden.
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Since they’ve flagged @swampwitch for posting spam. No update to give. Continued until tomorrow.
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17 horses, 1 pony, 1 donkey, 2 sheep, 2 goats, 4 cats removed from the Bay Ridge Equestrian property in Nokesville, Virginia.
Conditions of the farm warranting seizure included unclean automatic waterers filled with algae that had not been cleaned for some time, sun bleached/poor quality hay, broken fencing with screws and nails sticking up and out presenting a hazard. Entire sections of fencing that had come down with fence boards laying on the ground with nails/screws sticking up. Fencing repaired unsafely with baling twine, numerous rotting fence posts where boards were keeping the fencing together, Round bales still covered in the netting. Lots of baling twine on the ground in the paddocks, 2 sheep locked in a stall. 2 goats locked in another stall. 5 horses in one paddock, 2 in another, 1 in a stall, and the rest in a third paddock. 3 cats locked in a tack room with overpowering ammonia smell and feces, one cat running loose.
Alexis Farris-3 horses, 2 sheep (14, 18, 19)
Barbara Kuzyk-1 horse (11.)
The Shoes- 5 horses (1-5)
Amanda Stanton- 10 horses, 1 donkey, 2 goats, 4 cats (horses 6-10, 12,13, 15, 16, 17)
#1 BCS of 2, large and painful splint, multiple ulcers in mouth, cloudy right eye, evidence of urine scale, rain rot, anemic
#2 BCS of 2.5 elevated temp but no fever, poor coat condition, blisters in mouth, multiple areas of hair loss
#3 BCS of 3 very thin, rough full coat, urine scalding on hind legs, thrush, slightly elevated white blood cell count
#4 BCS of 3, eroded hoof walls, urine scalding, marked dental condition with sharp points and hooks, special diet to prevent choke, bloodwork revealed dehydration and stress
#5 BCS of 4, pregnant, stressed, low AST
#6 BCS 4, worms, dehydration
#7 BCS 3, 30 years old, large hoof wall crack, needs dental care (sharp points), toes overly long, bloodwork revealed stress and dehydration
#8 BCS 2, swollen left hind from fetlock to hoof, coat in poor shape, toe cracks, needs full exam and float, bloodwork revealed pulling nutrients from muscles, stressed. Repeat bloodwork showed improvement
#9 BCS of 4 rain rot and bald spots, feet overgrown; oral float needed, reduced propriorecption, overly long feet, bloodwork okay
#10 BCS 3, mouth in poor shape, sharp points, markedly large mouth ulcers, bloodwork reveal dehydration and malnourishment
#11 BCS 5, ataxic, positive for EPM, malnutrition on bloodwork
#12 BCS 4, shoes on hind feet, has DSLD, barefoot up front, long with toe cracks, lowered angle on eyelashes, eye exam needed, anemic and stressed on bloodwork
#13 BCS 5, dehydrated
#14 BCS of 3, high worm load, body pulling nutrition from muscles, dehydration, urine scalding
#15 BCS 5, dehydrated; came to the farm obese
#16 BCS 4, large belly, large toe cracks, nothing significant in bloodwork
#17 donkey BCS of 4, feet overgrown, Pastern dermatitis, thrush
#18 BCS of 4, multiple wounds from halter being embedded, coat in poor condition, inflamed lower lips and gums, mouth ulcers, periodontal disease, both eyes red needs eye exam, pulling nutrients from muscles
#19 BCS 3, ataxic, positive for EPM, insulin problems, old horse mouth, abrasions on both knees consistent with falling.
Sheep: BCS of 2/5
Goats: BCS of 2/5
Cats: living in urine and feces filled tack room.
Farris: dismissed. Animals returned as she was a full care boarder. She IS a deputy for FCSO.
Kusick- full care board, under the care of vet for weight loss, but didn’t think horses weren’t being fed as a reason. Horse to be returned to owner.
Shoes: self care board. Horses came to Bay Ridge for better care. Animals returned. Shipped into the facility 10 days before seizure.
Stanton: seizure of equines upheld. Animals turned over to CVHR. Appeal bond of 75k. Banned from owning any agricultural animals. She can petition to get that back after 2 years.
Judge agreed all animals lacked adequate care. Not enough evidence to prove Farris had care and custody of the animals vs. Amanda Stanton.
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The deputy walked away with a stern warning because the commonwealth didn’t really push her hard and the judge felt she couldn’t, without a shadow of a doubt, put care and custody as her responsibility since she claimed to be a full boarder.
A petition has been started asking the commonwealth to step aside and hand the case over to the state attorney general’s animal prosecution unit. They will handle any criminal proceedings/appeals going forward. We believe this is necessary because this case, not only spans several counties, but also has a conflict of interest involving the deputy. Please consider signing and sending a strong message to our system.
Please consider signing this and supporting the efforts for Justice in Virginia.
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I actually connected with Amanda Stanton/Bay Ridge Equestrian when I was getting back into riding and trying to figure out a way to get more saddle time. She was all over FB and Virginia Equestrian advertising lease options, so I went out to see if we would be a good fit for each other.
The story she gave me was that she had just acquired the Nokesville property, so that’s why it was in rough shape. Likewise the horses — her explanation was that she had taken on a bunch in expectation of ramping up her lesson program, but many needed “a person to work with them regularly.” All her answers seemed almost plausible, but there were things that set my spidey sense a-tingling and so I didn’t pursue.
Notably, one of the flags was that she never volunteered her last name — something I only realized after I was driving home again. Now I wonder if it was to prevent me googling her first set of charges, which would have been about 2 years prior.
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Yes. She always has been caught using the last name of Cave/Cove on lease agreements to hide her real name from people. Last time, she transferred the horses to friends and just acquired them back once she was allowed to own them again.
According to @SwampWitch, who was at the hearing; she is not allowed to own, board or care for any livestock. She can petition that in two years.
Last time she was still buying horses even while under court order barring her from owning any so I hope something is done this time to prevent it.
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Where in Shenandoah county was she keeping horses?
