what do you think....tragedy or abuse?

[floridamum]

Today I saw a sight that no one would want to see!
The events leading up to today were as follows:
Saturday, New Years Day, my daughter got a call from a friend who was feeding 2 horses for his roofer bosses. The call was frantic, and concerning one of the horses in his care. My daughter was told that he neglected to go out to feed the horses the night before and now an already sick horse had gone down.
The first question my daughter asked herself was: "What has the horse been eating?"
My daughter rushed out to the site and the horse struggling to get up and with the help of her friend, all their efforts failed. It was after they realized it would take more help, my daughter called me.
Please understand, none of us are "horse people" but, we have sense enough to know any animal down, is not a good thing. To make matters worse, this horse was EXTEMELY skinny, and we doubt it weighed more than 500lbs!! You could run your fingers down between it's ribs and it's looked like a skelton with bones showing definiation.
Without seeing the horse yet, I instructed my daughter to check the hay for mold, and she was told the horse hadn't been fed hay for 2 weeks. When we asked what the horse was eating, her friend told her that he was instructed to feed the horse a handful of grain 2x's daily. When my daughter looked around for the horse's water, she couldn't find any, except for a bucket of filthy, mud. She was told that the horse had been fed a diet of carrots and grain by hand. It was CLEARLY a sign of NEGLECT on the part of the owners.
To make matters worse, we couldn't contact the owners, or get anyone to go out and assist the horse, without the owners consent. The owner had gone out of town on a vacation, leaving a roofing employee nothing...no permission to seek medical treatment or a phone number for a Vet. or friend who had knowledge of horses. Now, as I said, we are not a part of the horse community, but I would assume you would treat your animals/pets as you would a family member, and call home to check on a sick family member. The owner of this poor horse, never called home, nor could they get any of the messages left on their phone.
To make a LONG story short, the horse tried and tried to get up on it's own but, couldn't. My daughter and her friend tried repeatedly, and couldn't get the horse up. They covered the horse with a blanket and her friend fed the horse sugar water all night.
The next day, after the owners returned, we were told that the horse had been given to them by another Rescue, and it had been in worse shape when they got it. They claimed the horse had weighed only 400 lbs., and that they had put 200lbs. on it by feeding it oatmeal, corn and grains.
Than, after the owners returned and decided to have the horse put down, we were told that when a doctor came out to put the horse down the doctor announced to them that the horse went down because of a stroke.
My questions are, first, do horses have strokes?
Second, would a doctor be responsible for reporting obvious cases of neglect of abuse?

[SalemWitchChild]

First of all yes it is obvious neglect. Even if the horse was like that when they "rescued" it, no one that rescues in their right mind would leave knowing the horse was in that condition. At the very least they would rush home. They obviously had no plan for putting weight on this horse from what you tell me they were feeding him. Horses can have strokes I beleive but I find it more likely that his kidneys were failing from lack of food and water. A vet will sometimes report it but I wouldn't rely on that. Call the police, your local aspca or shelter and report it yourself.

[dunappy]

A rescued horse ANY rescued horse NEEDS forages like hay or if they can't chew then soaked hay pellets or beet pulp. If they new owners were NOT feeding this horse any hay, and only grains, more likely they set the horse up for bleeding ulders and/or liver failure. A horses stomach is just not cut out to eat grains only.

A horse could have a stroke, but it is more likely to have been something else as well. Also a vet may NOT always report a case IF the person in question is one of his customers. If It were me I'd report the case personally just to make sure it was looked into.

[jennylynn]

This is 100% abuse. Two handfuls of grain a day is no where near enough food for an animal of that size, not to mention the fact that they need hay and FRESH water. UGH.
Call your local SPCA or city pound. This horse needs to be taken away from them ASAP.
I hope they get locked the eff up.