There’s a mare where I board who’s probably a 1.5 on the scale—but she’s 35. Her loving owner who pulled her out of her dam dotes on her. Despite the shine on her coat and sparkle in her eye, her body just doesn’t process all the soaked feed, grain, etc. that she eats. So okay, there might be one or two in a group of retirees that large, not half the herd.
Bottom line is that sometimes witch hunts are successful in finding witches.
Not half the herd, closer to 3/4
Really? The same horse? Oh, that is sickening. 
The bottom picture is awful, but I don’t think it’s the same horse. Top picture has a left hind sock, bottom it’s on the right.
ETA - I was corrected below and now see the horse isn’t laying the way I first saw it. I hope she can recover.
Nope, that’s the left hind in the bottom photo. The right hind is completely under the horse and not visible.
I see it now. When I first looked I thought the left hind was straighter with the lower leg under some hay. The piece of tail helps with the illusion.
Yeah these photos came to me directly from the people who had hands and eyes on the horse in question. Same horse.
Honestly, even if it hadn’t been the same horse (and I can see how one might make that mistake) the condition of that poor horse is deplorable and unforgivable.
A stated, I 100% agree
More history here:
Spotlight on Terra!
Terra Calamaco is a former FEI ranked jumper with quite a romantic history! Terra was born in Argentina and reportedly spent a year in his youth running wild in Patagonia before he was found living with a herd of cows and recaptured. With his extraordinary jumping ability (check out the video in comments!), the now 23-year-old gelding competed successfully in Grand Prix in his home country and the U.S. He even went to France one summer with his owner and won the keys to a new car when he came out on top of a huge sponsored class for amateur riders.
Terra retired sound and healthy and much loved seven years ago. He moved to Byrd’s Retirement farm in October 2022. He was picked up as soon as this unfortunate story became public with a BCS score of 1.5. 
#byrdstrikearmy
This is so unbelievably disgusting. I almost sent my retired mare here when I was looking for places. Byrd came extremely highly recommended by well respected professionals and friends in the area. I am so glad I chose somewhere else to send her and she is very happy and healthy. The chestnut pictured above, Ruby, looks like she is a carbon copy of my mare Annie. When I first heard about this/saw her pictures, without knowing which farm it was, my heart stopped. I am heartbroken for all humans and horses involved. There is a special place in hell for people that willingly do this to these gorgeous animals.
Since Grace @Railbird has already outed herself here, I wanted to share with you guys this story I wrote about her involvement in this case.
Spotlight on Grace!
One volunteer who has been working tirelessly both on site and behind the scenes is Grace Maxwell of Richmond. She personally picked up two of the affected horses and moved them from the retirement farm to the veterinary hospital and then to the rehab center. She assisted with loading some of the first four horses that were picked up by their owners and she dug around on social media to find other owners and helped to coordinate shipping for their horses. She gathered needed supplies from donors all over the area and delivered them to VRSVA.
Perhaps most importantly, Grace has been documenting the conditions of each horse removed from the farm and compiled a list of other witnesses to forward any pertinent information to law enforcement for the ongoing investigation. She also met with the county Commonwealth’s Attorney and asked for his support for prosecution if warranted.
Grace has good reason for becoming an advocate for the horses in this crisis. In 2021, one of the horses belonging to a friend of Grace ended up in starvation condition at Byrd’s retirement farm. After the horse was rescued, the friend tried to expose what was happening at the farm by posting about it on Facebook, but she felt bullied by the local community supporting Byrd and was compelled to delete the story.
Grace thought that maybe the circumstances of her friend’s horse was just a one-time thing. But when she saw Loki’s story last week, she got a terrible feeling and wondered how many other horses there might be suffering the same fate.
“So I just offered my trailer to people, and my friend who had the starved horse found someone on Facebook who had posted about sending a horse there. And she asked me if I would call her, since I do cold calls for work and I’m not afraid. And that was the first person I notified about what was going on there.
“And then the first time I went to the farm I saw Ruby and I looked her in the eyes and kind of promised myself, and her, that I wouldn’t let her die there.
“On Friday (February 10) I got the call that Ruby’s owner had been found and I was setting things up to get her the next morning, but then I heard she was colicking. I just started sobbing in my living room, I thought there’s no way a horse in that shape is going to make it. I got my trailer and figured maybe I was just going to hold her head while she died. So she would have someone with her who loved her in that moment.
“But damn if I didn’t walk in the barn and she lifted her head up and pinned her ears at me like ‘You’re late!’ “
(At this moment in the conversation I am remembering and appreciating every good mare I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing. #teamruby)
Grace continued, “I’m not a sob story emotional person usually. I’m usually pragmatic. But to see horses whose eyes have given up and they are lying down staring off into the distance, not to rest, but just because they are tired of living…
“When I was trying to get an appointment with the Commonwealth’s Attorney, I felt like the secretary was trying to deflect me, and that’s what I asked her. I said have you ever seen a horse so thin it just lays down to stare in the distance, because it’s too tired to stand.
“And she was like, wait, what?
“And then she really listened to my story. Before that she was saying that she wasn’t the person to hear complaints like this.
“Anyway, that’s how I got on the warpath.”
#bethechange!
From the look of things, this woman sort of appeared out of nowhere, not too long ago. She’s been around the Hunts for some years, but there’s really not much else anyone seems to know about her or rather, is saying about her.
But see that screams to me the horse is not thriving. BCS of 1.5 is not healthy anyway you slice it. I think sometimes it’s harder for an owner to see this. My horse is still young but I put my old dog down in July and when I look back at pics of him I probably waited a little too long but I couldn’t process it at that time. I also have worked for animal control for 21yrs so I’m no stranger to skinny animals. The only skinny horse we could not successfully put weight on that we seized was a horse who had a large tumor in her stomach that we found at necropsy. Old doesn’t excuse thin.
Not true.
She’s been around since the early 80s, maybe earlier? Graduated HS ~1982? Showed locally and did the local eq as a junior. Forget whose barn she rode out of as a junior. Got out of college (don’t think she graduated) rode for a bunch of different people in the Richmond/Goochland area, went to FL for the winter circuit with a pro and showed some in the jumpers over some big sticks on her junior horse. Worked for Barney Ward, Tony D’Ambrosia and some other big names.
Came back to the Richmond area and bought this farm, then got married and had two kids. Only had her own horses on the place for a while, and then stood a stallion. I believe the nice grey mare in her profile is a homebred by her stallion.
I’m guessing now, I don’t know this for a fact, but as her kids got older (and she got divorced) she got more involved in horses and showing, taking in boarders and judging local shows, then VHSA affiliates.
Whatever else is going on, she has always been a lovely rider with a very soft touch. I’ve known some pretty tough horses to go around like kid’s packers for her. And as a judge, I would say she knows her stuff. I hear grumbling about her as a judge, but the normal grumbling, nothing extreme. She absolutely has the education and experience to be a good judge; whether she has the character is a different question.
There has always been the touch of a con artist about her, especially around sales and leases.
But I don’t know how she got from there to 17 paying boarders with body scores of 3 or lower.
ETA: multiple edits for context and detail
She’s been residing at the farm since the mid 90’s or so, but every other address she’s been listed at in VA - near Richmond - since the mid-80’s and into the 90’s is straight suburbia. She went to Averett University, so I guess she’s originally from around here or decided to stay in the area after college. Her former husband doesn’t seem to be around and relocated elsewhere. There’s really nothing about her out there, like she’s a ghost or very under the radar, until recently.
Her former husband is very close by, he works for a local company.
She is absolutely local, grew up in Richmond and is the granddaughter of Sen. Willey; for whom the bridge over the James River is named. Maiden name was Gunter, Byrd Gunter.
She did spend a fair amount of time following the circuit working for various pros, so there was a long period where I suspect she used a relative’s address as her permanent address while traveling.
ETA, @LexinVA, please see my edits in my earlier post.
Maiden name was Martha Byrd Gunter. She changed her first name when she changed her last name or at some point surrounding.
She’s been around forever. Since her junior days.
Google can’t tell you everything.
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