By all accounts, breeder Carol Luttrall, 78, has always done the right thing by her horses. Until recently, Luttrall lived alone on her Texas farm with three of her homebreds in the backyard. One mare she had kept from birth, the other two she had acquired after they retired from the claiming circuit. One, a gray gelding named Deliverer, had been named the 2011 Texas Champion Claimer and had retired with 22 wins from 56 starts. Luttrall had foaled them all herself, and Deliverer was a special favorite after he nearly died at birth due to an umbilical cord issue.
“She planned on doing all the right things,” said Donna Keen, co-founder of Remember Me Rescue. “She planned to keep them for the rest of their lives.”
Luttrall's daughter, Holly Lee, remembers a childhood filled with both Thoroughbreds and rodeo horses, and always took pride in how well the family's horses looked.
In recent years, Luttrall had lived alone on the farm as an active and very independent woman, according to Lee. Lee didn't always see the horses when she would visit her mother, but she knew there was grain and hay in the barn, and her mother always said the trio were doing well. Luttrall had been experiencing some memory problems, which Lee and Luttrall's doctor thought were likely related to normal aging. Then, in late 2022, Lee said her mother suffered a stroke. Afterwards, Lee realized that Luttrall had been forgetting to take her medication, a blood thinner which carries an increased risk of stroke if it's stopped suddenly.
That's when she started taking a harder look at things.
Lee was horrified to realize that in fact, the horses hadn't been getting regular grain and hay. Luttrall's property is rocky and not a source of lots of grass, even in spring, let alone winter. All three of the horses, particularly Deliverer, had lost significant weight.
“I drew a conclusion that I didn't think she was remembering to feed the horses twice a day,” said Lee. “I wish I could have been a little more into her business, but she's very private.”
With help from the Texas Thoroughbred Association, Lee connected with Remember Me Rescue, which is a Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance-accredited facility. Knowing she didn't have the resources to care for the horses as she sorted out full-time care for her mother, Lee and Luttrall surrendered the three horses to Remember Me in January.
Keen said that fortunately, Lee caught the problem before any of the horses were too thin to be rehabilitated. All three have made progress with their body condition scores and have been wormed, given dental floats and vaccines, and had blood work done. Keen posted about the family's situation on Facebook and was heartened to receive donations from the industry, including one from owner/trainer Joe Davis, who had bought Deliverer as a yearling from the 2005 Fasig-Tipton Texas Sale, to support their rehabilitation. The two mares — 18-year-old Black Flamingo and 17-year-old Orange Colored Sky — will soon be available for adoption to a non-breeding home. Deliverer needs a little more time and weight before he'll be ready to find a new home but Keen thinks he'll get there.
“That's one thing that breaks my heart – my mother was very pro-animal welfare,” Lee said. “She never abused her animals. She took such good care of them. They came before she did. For our horses to look like they were neglected is just heart-breaking to me. It's embarrassing as all get-out. If I'd have seen a horse that looked like that, I'd have called the humane society.”
Lee said she's hopeful that sharing the family's story will serve as a lesson to others about how neglect cases can happen – and how to help prevent them.
“It's not always somebody's fault, it just depends on the situation,” she said. “In the case of elderly people who live on their own who have animals, people need to check on the animals – and them.”
When news of an equine neglect situation comes out, horse lovers often ask how a horse can end up thin or sick – what was the owner thinking? Experts say there are a few different root causes in these scenarios, and they're not always simple.
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If you appreciate our work, you can support us by subscribing to our Patreon stream. Learn more.Why do neglect case happen, anyway?
Dr. Clara Mason is an ambulatory equine veterinarian based in West Virginia who is known for her work on a variety of animal abuse and neglect cases, particularly equine cases. She works closely with state legislators to make better animal welfare laws, and often consults with law enforcement and prosecutors on ongoing neglect or abuse situations. In 2019, she was recognized by American Association of Equine Practitioners' Good Works for Horses campaign for her work to improve equine welfare.
Mason said she finds that most neglect cases fall into one of three categories for horses. One of them is mostly a matter of bad luck – people getting in over their heads due to a sudden job loss, inability to source hay, or (as in Luttrall's case) a physical or cognitive challenge that has made it difficult to consistently distribute food or organize vet and farrier care.
Another root cause Mason finds is knowing, overt neglect. In this situation, a person doesn't have the experience or compassion to feed a horse properly – even if they're able to do so, which they sometimes are.
“We've had a bunch of those where the barn is full of hay, yet the horses die of starvation,” Mason said. “It's just a matter of what [the owners] prioritize for their day, and feeding the horse was not part of it.”
Then there are more complex, mental health disorders that can have a similar result. Mason said she encounters people who cannot grasp that they are neglecting their horses, even when the horses' condition makes that obvious to others. Animal hoarding falls into this category.
“That's our biggest challenge anymore, is absolute, straight-up hoarding,” said Mason. “People will pretend to be a 501(c)3 and they're actually not a charitable organization. Perhaps their heart is in a good place, but oftentimes it's not. The basis of hoarding is there's no love for the animal, it's a desire to own the object. In most hoarding cases, the person gets to brag they have 100 horses they've rescued when clearly they shouldn't have rescued one.”
These can be the most challenging cases, Mason said, because often the owners resent being told they're not properly caring for their animals and may be resistant to advice or directives from law enforcement or veterinarians about what they should be doing differently. People in these situations as the result of a mental health problem can often be repeat offenders.
Read our 2016 reporting on the challenges of safely refeeding a neglected horse
Gail Vacca, founder and president of the Illinois Equine Humane Center, said hoarding cases are the most difficult to crack. In one situation, Vacca recalled the ILEHC was called in to deal with starving horses belonging to the same woman on and off for more than six years. Even as she had horses taken from her by authorities, the owner would visit Illinois racetracks periodically to source more horses.
“She told everybody at the track she was a hunter/jumper trainer and if they needed to place a horse, give her a call and she'll make sure it gets a good home,” said Vacca. “Part of her problem was she thrived on being a hero for people at the track.”
Meanwhile, Vacca said the woman would move her horses frequently, leaving boarding farm owners with unpaid bills and skinny horses in her wake. Vacca said the person also moved the horses across different counties, which made it difficult for local authorities to recognize that she had a pattern of neglect complaints. Her professed status as a rescue also made it more difficult. Vacca said she has encountered several people who will have one skinny horse they've had for some months and a newer acquisition in good weight, but will tell authorities the fleshy horse is one they've rehabilitated and the skinny one is a newcomer to their rescue.
“You had to think there's some serious underlying mental illness for her to keep doing this,” Vacca said. “She went through so much effort to keep the horses so she could starve them.”
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The best approach to a neglect case depends on its root cause.
The official position of both the AAEP, the American Veterinary Medical Association, and many in law enforcement is that education should always be the first solution to a neglect situation when possible. In theory, teaching someone how to properly care for an animal rather than simply seizing it should lessen the likelihood of recurrence. It's also a practical consideration in places where county officials don't have an easy way to house large animals like horses.
Mason is often called in by local law enforcement to formalize a plan showing the areas of horse care that are lacking and listing a series of solutions. She'll also make out a guide with a timeline for follow-up by police showing them what to look for to gauge whether an owner is resolving the issues successfully.
In cases where someone has become temporarily overwhelmed by a physical or financial problem, Mason finds they are more likely to accept assistance, like referrals to local hay banks or donated veterinary services. In some situations, Mason discovers owners who just didn't know that what they were doing was wrong. She encounters cases where a skinny horse is being given enough food but has gone so long without a dental check-up the owner doesn't realize the horse can't properly chew the food they're getting. In other scenarios, a horse may be an adequate weight but suffering from chronic laminitis because the owner doesn't recognize the symptoms or hasn't found a farrier who can help. And she also sees cases where a horse is considered a neglect case because it's obese, often due to inappropriate feeds or feed amounts; for whatever reason she has seen a number of obese horses whose owners tried feeding them loaves of bread to add calories, which is not appropriate.
Read our 2016 reporting on rehabilitating hooves after a neglect case here.
When education isn't the problem, horses are usually reliant on the public to report cases of neglect to local law enforcement. Details and documentation are often key to communicating the issue. Mason cautioned that if you're concerned about animals on a property, you may not trespass onto that property to investigate yourself – but you can document what you see.
“You can't deny someone visual access, meaning if the horse is in the pasture and you can see the horse safely from the road, take a picture. And then next week, maybe do the same thing,” she said. “It's hard to assess an animal based on your memory, especially if you're not familiar with a thin horse, but photographs speak volumes.
“Sometimes what happens is there's a legitimate case, but people have documented it by some method that's illegal and then it gets shot down when it gets to court because the people have violated right to privacy.”
After reporting the horses to law enforcement, Mason said you should resist the urge to feed them. For one thing, this may require you to trespass to do so. For another, without a veterinary work-up it's hard to know if you might harm the horse by bringing it a new feedstuff. But possibly most importantly, law enforcement may go by the property and see feed, assume it came from the owner, and think all is well.
When it comes to prevention, Vacca and Mason agree that you shouldn't take someone's word for it when they say they're a rescue, even if they claim to be a 501(c)3. You can verify a non-profit's tax-exempt status here, but Vacca said you should also give preference to organizations that are accredited.
“Now we have the TAA. We have accredited aftercare groups,” said Vacca, who noted that Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries also accredits equine rescues that are not primarily for Thoroughbreds. “There's no excuse to go out of the safety net that the industry has provided with the TAA. No excuse.
“If TAA groups are full, ask them to help you place the horse. Let them do the vetting. Don't try to do it yourself. You're not well-versed in it, you won't have the time and experience.”
Prioritizing education for law enforcement and prosecutors is also key to getting neglect cases handled. Many attorneys and police officers may not be familiar with horses, and may not know how to spot neglect. Equine veterinarians like Mason can provide local authorities with resources, and some groups like the Kentucky Horse Council offer regular training for investigators to help them spot neglect and abuse.
“Everybody knows what a skinny dog looks like, but nobody really knows what a skinny horse looks like,” said Mason. “Once you educate law enforcement, whether it's the sheriff or the prosecutors' office, once they're educated, they seem to embrace it.
“Everyone knows how busy law enforcement is. They've got bigger fish to fry these days than some thin horses, however human abuse begins with animal abuse and there is paper after paper on that. We've tried to convince law enforcement to please not ignore those calls.”
For more resources on how to report or identify an equine neglect case, see this resource guide from the AAEP.
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