| 9/20/2006 12:11:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article | |||
Frankfort-based Indiana Horse Rescue saves 28 horses, more to come JANIS THORNTON Staff writer A week after seizing another nine horses from a Gibson County farm, Indiana Horse Rescue's Tony Caldwell of Frankfort is still angry. "I've never seen anything this bad," he said. "We've seen it bad, but not this bad in this concentration." Under Caldwell's care, the total 28 horses rescued have improved considerably. The animals had been the property of Richard Stallings, who owns a horse farm in the Princeton area. The conditions the animals endured were deplorable, Caldwell said, causing a multitude of health problems. Caldwell is giving the horses their proper treatment: hooves scraped, pain medication administered, and clean water, nourishing food and clean stalls provided. By necessity, six were euthanized by a veterinarian before they left Gibson County, Caldwell said, and one died on its own. The animals were not just neglected, Caldwell insisted, "They were tortured." Indiana Horse Rescue is a nonprofit equine rescue shelter for abused, neglected and unwanted horses. It is located in rural Clinton County, just beyond Frankfort's west side. Most of the animals Caldwell transported to Frankfort were crippled, hobbling around on neglected, elongated hooves that curled upwards and knees swollen the size of cantaloupes. Many were starved, their ribs and hip bones protruding through their thin skin. And nearly all were infested with parasites and suffered from infections, he said. "Some of the stalls were three feet deep in manure and urine," he said. "The smell was noxious." He also described drinking water he found there for a colt and his mother as a bucket of black, algae-filled sewer sludge. "I saw one horse clomping around in mud up to its knees," Gibson County Sheriff's Deputy Tim Coomer reported to The Times on Tuesday. "Tony took its pulse rate, and it was in pain." One mare's feet were so badly deformed, it couldn't stand and was forced to lay in its own waste, Coomer said. "I think everybody was emotionally distraught," Caldwell said, speaking for the team of rescuers accompanying him at the farm. To make room for the new arrivals, Caldwell and his wife and partner, Kathryn, moved several of their healthy residents to the Indiana Horse Rescue's other three facilities. Caldwell estimates the rehabilitation of the Gibson County arrivals could take up to a year, depending on the severity of the animal's condition. But at the end of their treatment, when their health is restored, he said, he expects the horses will go on to normal lives in good homes. The situation in Princeton first surfaced in January, when a former employee of the Stallings farm contacted the Gibson County Animal Control Service. The informant told Animal Services Coordinator Brenda Foley that Stallings was not disposing of the dead horses in a proper manner. Rather, he was having the carcasses dragged to a nearby woods and abandoned. "We actually were able to confirm by skeletal remains 10 deceased horses," Foley told The Times Tuesday. "In Indiana, failure to dispose of a carcass in 24 hours is a felony offense." Stallings, who teaches junior high math, worked out an agreement with the county to clean up his farm, Foley said. But by July, she observed no improvements and called in the state. Again, Stallings agreed to a clean-up plan and then failed to act. "We felt the horses were deteriorating more in the time we had been working with him," Foley said, "and we weren't going to allow it to continue." She knew of Tony Caldwell through one of her employees and called him. Accompanied by the sheriff's deputy, Caldwell inspected Stallings' farm on Sept. 7 and impounded 26 horses. When he returned Sept. 13, he obtained a search warrant from the Gibson County prosecutor. The next day, he rescued another nine. In a few days, Caldwell will return to Princeton, where he and local authorities will inventory Stallings' farm and assess whether he is meeting the county's latest mandates to hire a veterinarian and to clean up the property. If Stallings hasn't complied, more horses will be seized, Caldwell said. "At some point, the court will issue a protective order, and we will take them all," he said. The Stallings horses are bound to place a strain on the nonprofit rescue facility's resources, Caldwell said. However, several area residents have called with inquiries on how they can help, he said. "We have the structure and the manpower," he said. "Mainly we need financial resources." Money to purchase food, hay, medicines and supplies is what is needed most, he said. No charges have yet been filed against Stallings, Coomer said, but the Gibson County prosecutor is studying the case. The owner may be charged with torture, both Caldwell and Foley reported. Many of the complaints against Stallings fit the state's definition of torture, Foley said. "It's not that we're out to get the man," she said, "but he has committed these crimes against these animals." Leg bones from the recently euthanized horses will be analyzed by Purdue University students, Coomer said. The findings could help law enforcement officers determine whether charges should be filed. Foley stressed that Stallings' acts of cruelty and neglect are not representative of Princeton. The community is appalled, she said. She also said that because her department is relatively small, dealing primarily in dogs and cats, she was not equipped to handle the welfare of so many horses by herself. "Thank God for the Indiana Horse Rescue," Foley said. "We are very appreciative of all their help." Two phone messages left for Richard Stallings by The Times on Tuesday were not returned. Gibson County is located in the southeastern tip of Indiana about halfway between Vincennes and Evansville. |
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