“Woman arrested after 27 dead horses found across multiple properties”
There may be more found as they search the properties.
I hope they throw the book at her. Everyone goes through hard times, but that’s just inexcusable.
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I’ve been reading COTH for years but came out of lurkerdom to say that I unfortunately used to work for this person at her farm in Clements. She’s always been a POS, has been to prison for elder abuse, treated her staff terribly. Had some really, really nice paint horses and the most beautiful TB stallion I’ve ever seen (a Candi’s Gold son). She bred some world champion HUS and pleasure driving horses. But she’s a piece of trash. It breaks my heart to know that I probably cared for some of the horses that died. They were lovely. I’m sad.
ETA- she drives a jag and has a beachfront house in Aptos. This is not a money problem.
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This is one of the things she was up to twenty years ago. Has large holdings in Aptos, as mentioned.
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I saw this report while reading the news and wondered why her name sounded vaguely familiar. What an evil soul with a black heart.
All the remains of dead horses… It’s a pretty good guess they weren’t humanely PTS. She just let them suffer until they died.
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That’s insane. I hope there are good laws there. She needs to be imprisoned for a long time.
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@BrownDerby, when you found this article, did you find anything that said what happened with that case? The above poster said she went to prison for this. I just wonder what she was actually convicted of. That is just so horrible, but I guess it shows she has always been willing to take advantage of people/animals that are in her care.
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She and her husband are professionals. They’ve been sued by everybody and nothing ever comes of it. Money is laundered in a sham oceanfront restaurant.
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Did they ever figure out she burned down her own restaurant?
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Wow, I never heard of that case. I thinking of the Bella Vista Restaurant in Aptos. Such hard workers!
So sorry - I did not see this had been created. Bringing over my OP from the other thread:
53 dead horses, an additional 14 euthanized due to their condition
90+ seized
The owner, Jan Johnson , operating under Tres Cruzes Land & Cattle Co was arrested with a $625,000 bond ( which she posted within days - she can’t feed her horses, but she’s already out on bail ).
She owns the APHA stallion “All the Wild Details”. Her barn manager, Justine Fitzhenry , has been posting publicly as recently as this month - offering 2025 breeding contracts, trying to sell some of the horses which ended up being photographed by the Sheriff’s office in the seizure. (How Justine isn’t facing charges is beyond me.)
Another one of Jan’s properties was also busted this week for harboring an active cockfighting ring - 30 dead birds, 60+ live: https://stocktonia.org/news/public-safety/2025/01/09/cockfighting-ring-in-lodi-busted-2-arrested-dozens-of-dead-roosters-found/
As a long time APHA exhibitor/owner/breeder, a lot of us knew there was something “off” here for a long time. Personally, I would see them post horses in a “fire sale” (which I can appreciate/understand) but then immediately turn around and purchase other horses which didn’t make any sense. They’ve long been breeding their own mares to their stallion(s), but most of us around the country only see tidbits on social media - which makes it seem like foals are being moved to good homes and everything is unicorns and rainbows.
APHA and other breed associations have been made aware of these charges. It will be interesting to see how it unfolds. There is a lot of unsubstantiated talk on Facebook currently about previous experiences regarding dead semen shipments, breeding reports not filed, etc.
The rescue group housing the seized horses is on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oakdaleequinerescue.OER
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That grazing horse is so screwed up it looks like AI. Jesus.
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She looks positively ghoulish in that mugshot. I’m not typically one to comment on people’s appearance, but something about that dead look in her eyes made me gasp when I scrolled by it. Who was doing business with this woman and allowing her to amass this many animals? She looks like someone to run far, far away from.
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The one with Lordosis?
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Yes, but it’s beyond that. Something in the front end is messed up, too - hard to put my finger on what it is.
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OH, that was hers? I pass by that place all the time! Never ate there though. It’s still just sitting, as is.
That gigantic shoulder blade, probably. Makes it look like the neck has sunken into the chest cavity. I mean, she’s got to be like a -2 on the henneke scale.
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There are some horrifying photos from the actual seizure recently posted by the rescue.
WARNING: dead horses
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It seems like Justine, the barn manager, should be charged, too. As an accessory, perhaps? Or is that not a thing in abuse cases?
The dead horses— mares with foals, some wearing blankets-- just left out there. This is some evil, sick shit.
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I genuinely have no idea. Again, she was posting as recently as January and from everything I’ve heard she was the one involved in the day-to-day care of those horses. Even if the story is that all the dead horses were euthanized and they just opted to not bury them… wouldn’t you take off the slinkies and blankets?
Justine is claiming that she had nothing to do with any of this…
Seems pretty involved to me. 
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