She also started a 501c3 foundation to take donations to supposedly support these retired horses, which I hope is being looked into.
8 Likes
And this Byrd lady was breeding her horses, vets on site doing checks, but didn’t see that field of starving retired horses?
I’m curious how the flew under the radar with professionals on site…
9 Likes
Easily. The farm is pretty good size (100+ acres) and the barn and ring are toward the front of the property.
The vet and farrier usually go directly to the barn.
I would assume that the retirees were in the big pastures with run-ins at the back of the property and were not visible from the barn or ring.
I do remember something on a FB post that a farrier had been trying to get her to do something for the retirees for some time, but that’s third or fourth hand. I don’t even know which farrier she used.
4 Likes
Looking at those two horses, it’s mind-blowing, given I’ve recently ridden 25 and 23-year-old horses who were still going strong. And while I don’t know their individual circumstances, sometimes competition horses at that age get retired simply because they don’t have the temperament to step down a level, not because they are unsound.
People have been talking about the need to keep an eye on retirement horses in this thread, but I will also say given this woman incorporated her retirement home as a “charity,” it’s also why I never contribute to any type of rescue that I haven’t personally seen with my own eyes.
I am not surprised at all she was able to hide them under blankets in distant fields. I’ve lessoned and even leased at larger farms and I didn’t go around inspecting every single horse on the property and it would have been odd if I had. Service providers often are “in and out” and don’t take it on themselves to check on the condition on horses they aren’t shoeing or examining.
11 Likes
Just to correct some items since I want to ensure nothing is going around that is considered false or defamatory in the event that becomes legally relevant, none of the horses had their condition hidden under blankets.
11 Likes
Interestingly I’ve had more than one person reach out to me privately, offering retirement board at their own farms to the horses coming out of this situation.
But here’s the thing. The horse world is small. Some of us really pay attention, even if we don’t make comments.
Immediately after the story broke about what was going on at Byrd’s Retirement farm, more than one [trainer, judge, connected horse person] jumped on social media and shouted their defense of her. And then many more made comments on those posts or showed their own support by “liking” or “loving” those posts.
Those posts have since disappeared. Without any explanation or a follow up of what their thoughts are now. But there are lots of conversations going on privately still, the gist of which are continued assertions that’s it’s “not that bad” or “it’s a witch hunt”, and some of those conversations are being shared. You know, human nature.
And as I said, some of us are really paying attention to those initial votes of support and the private follow up support.
So if anyone wants to get involved in the ongoing effort to help the horses from this farm, they need to be prepared to answer for that stuff, if it applies.
That is all thank you.
8 Likes
This is sad. Hopefully they have all since learned that they were had the wool pulled over their eyes and that this person really did starve these poor animals.
7 Likes
This is also not the first time abuse has been found at the facility. Back in 2021, someone else attempted to raise awareness on social media regarding the condition of their horse when they discovered its terrible condition and immediately removed it from the property. In that instance, friends of the abuser were loud enough and berated/bullied her enough that she wound up taking the post down for fear of being blacklisted by the community.
I’m sure there have been similar cases going back a long time. There is no doubt in my mind that PEOPLE KNEW. They just didn’t say anything due to the BO’s name/reputation. There is a lot of fearful silence that goes on around here, and it’s sickening what happens as a result sometimes.
19 Likes
Terrible situation. I am so sorry for those horses and their owners.
Have any charges for animal abuse or cruelty been filed against this Byrd person? If not, why not?
Has VHSA thrown her out? Is there any action that can be taken by USEF against her?
6 Likes
The real failure here is animal control which has been called many times and done nothing.
here animal control falls under the authority of the police department, animal control is separated subdivision (by the way it costs my city nearly half a million dollars per year to take care of the 18 to 25 dogs and cats animal control captures and keeps in the $1.2M specialized animal control building that is currently under going a $400,000 remodel even though it just ten years old) but the Laws governing animal welfare are at best unclear as the written laws are as just what is an unhealthy animal is more discretionary beliefs may be challenged.
On the rewrite of my city’s large animal ordnance the words Horse and Pony were removed as No One in animal control or the police department could actually identify as what a pony or horse was, so we added a method of height measurement with specific heights to determine if a horse was a horse thus considered a large animal, while a real pony fell into a small animal class… three small animals equals one large for zoning restrictions
Animal control, at least here, is just a feel good department as the true cost of the service is so far out of line.
My understanding is that until I went to the commonwealth attorney on Thursday afternoon, there was perhaps limited to no documentation to enable that to happen. Some of these legal processes take time, and unless there is an animal in imminent danger of dying, things have to happen at the speed that they happen. I believe animal control and a veterinarian are going regularly now to keep an eye on things. There’s a lot that I can’t say.
Much like the press situation, I don’t LIKE that, but I understand there are rules they have to work by and I do think there are now people involved who are committed to doing the right thing. If the Goochland commonwealth attorney Michael Caudill follows through in the way I think he is, I would vote for him for president. It’s rare that I meet a political figure and think “Wow that human is actually one of the good guys.” I get that a lot of people have limited confidence that it doesn’t get turned around in the span of 1 business day, since we are horse people and to us this is an immediate emergency, but as a legal definition since none are actively dying, the preference is to ensure everything is documented meticulously versus getting them out now and asking questions later.
Personally I’m trying to get out as many as I can and I’m ok if charges don’t go through because I got those horses fed and cozy in a blanket this week. It would be a bummer but I’ll take saving one life over a criminal conviction if I have to pick.
15 Likes
Thanks for your reply, and I understand about things taking time.
I would bet, though, that if authorities pressed an investigation, they would find graves on that property - and not of horses who died by euthanasia or from natural causes, but rather of starvation.
That woman needs to be outed publicly by the media. Can you contact local television outlets? They may be willing to do a piece on the evening news.
6 Likes
Unfortunately since I am not a vet or an animal control officer, I can’t say what constitutes danger… There are at least 2 that if I had anything to do with it would already be in a vet hospital. Here are photos posted on FB that were sent by an anonymous source dating back to 2020.
1 Like
Oh my gosh. She had horses that looked like that in 2020 and no one did anything about it?
That is so scary. Poor horses.
4 Likes
This is the weirdest part to me. Does anyone know how difficult it is to obtain 501c3 status?
The owners were paying to keep their horses there - they weren’t charity cases. I can’t imagine my BO getting the barn (filled with paying boarders) designated as a charity to receive donations for providing care to the horses. That’s what the cost of board is for.
According to the IRS:
The exempt purposes set forth in section 501©(3) are charitable, religious, educational, scientific, literary, testing for public safety, fostering national or international amateur sports competition, and preventing cruelty to children or animals. The term charitable is used in its generally accepted legal sense and includes relief of the poor, the distressed, or the underprivileged; advancement of religion; advancement of education or science; erecting or maintaining public buildings, monuments, or works; lessening the burdens of government; lessening neighborhood tensions; eliminating prejudice and discrimination; defending human and civil rights secured by law; and combating community deterioration and juvenile delinquency.
They certainly weren’t preventing cruelty to animals. And as a retirement facility, it gets blurry as to whether they’re actually “fostering … amateur sports competition” - I suppose you could argue that a low-cost retirement facility allows amateurs to still afford a riding horse at a competition oriented facility. Seems like thin ice though.
8 Likes
I am making a lot of ASSumptions here because I am in Alabama but most horses if they are in good condition at the end of the summer are not going to be a “2” by December or January. So I bet those horses were in poor condition at the end of the summer. I have a horse that balloons up on summer grass and I am lucky to get her down from a “8” to a “6.5” by February. And I don’t have lush pasture - mostly bahia and fescue. Virginia mostly has cool season grasses and I ASSUME primarily fescue pastures. That stuff won’t die back until there is a hard freeze and we had a pretty warm Fall down here. I am not aware of extreme cold until December. Just because horses are on pasture doesn’t mean there is a lot of nutritious grass in that pasture.
And then no hay? Round bales are cheap and they grow good hay up in Virginia - I wish I was closer to be able to access hay from that area. I don’t think this is just winter lack of food - I think this is a lack of food from the first time they set foot on that farm.
10 Likes
It is very easy to get a 501c3.
It’s harder to keep it.
All a 501c3 allows you to do in a situation like this is to accept donations and not have to pay tax on them as income. If you are soliciting donations from wealthy clients, having them be tax deductible is a big inducement to donate.
In my limited experience, small 501c3s do not get a lot of scrutiny and may go some time without filing 990s. If you don’t file one for 3 years, they revoke your status. 28,000 nonprofits that are revoked annually on average, of which only 20 percent are reinstated .
A 501c3 with less than 50K in gross receipts files their 990 on an e-postcard.
I think the whole point of the Foundation was to give the whole “retirement farm” a bit of a glow up.
ETA: “glow up”, meaning legitimacy.
10 Likes
Very interesting. Thank you for the info!
1 Like
Railbird and I both spoke to the Richmond Times Dispatch today.
20 Likes
