28 HORSES STARVED TO DEATH!!

[Allure Ranch]

Its an absolute shame that someone couldn't have been more responsible with those poor horses care and well being..... Shame on them.

 

[Riverdance]

How sad all around.

NO horse, or any other animal for that matter, should suffer such a fate. If one can no longer care for their animals, there are always organizations that would have found new homes for them and helped to feed them.

There is just NO excuse!!

 

[mydaddysjag]

I hope they investigate to see if he has any other horses on other properties, and if so, hopefully they are alive they are taken. If so, it will probably be hard to find places to place them, but I know we could have one more without stretching ourselves.

 

[HGFarm]

DISGUSTING and I agree- SHAME on the people that KNEW what was going on and never did anything about it!!!!!!

 

[sfmini]

Really sad, didn't know Grady was out of prison. Guess he may be going back.

If you Google his name, you come up with all kinds of articles.

 

[Connie Ballard]

What a sin...God didnt put these animals in our care to be treated like this. Like many others, we started in minis in 1996 and know the stories over the years of those auctions where people would buy up a trailer full of colts for $100 ea. The 2nd mini we bought here in Ohio was a 4G horse in 1997 and she was stunning...even by 2011 halter standards 4Gs Midas Angel Shadow. Shame how people who could do well with their programs/business....let it go so bad.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

I find that very interesting, maybe there was a lot more to his not wanting to DNA his horses than we know?

Anyway, that is hardly relevant now.

What will happen?

Nothing.

Nothing at all.

He will play the "I'm old and it just got out of hand " card, and, just as with the other case we witnesses a couple of years ago, he will be allowed to keep some of his horses to continue breeding with because they are now "his life" and he's old!

What should happen?

He should have all and any animal that is still alive on those ranches removed and he should receive a life ban from keeping any animals or having animals kept for him (that bit is the key)

But it won't happen!

 

[Getitia]

February 11, 2011

GRISLY SCENE

Farm owner arrested following discovery of multiple dead horses

By Tina Alvey

Register-Herald Reporter The Register-Herald Fri Feb 11, 2011, 12:04 AM EST

Responding to an anonymous tip Wednesday, law enforcement officers discovered numerous dead horses at a Greenbrier County farm.

Standing at the Shawver’s Crossing site along U.S. 60 early Thursday morning, Sheriff James Childers said, “This is pitiful. This is awful.”

As of 3:30 p.m., officers working with a veterinarian Childers called in had identified 28 dead animals, Childers said.

“There’s no evidence of feed anywhere on the farm that we’ve been yet,” Childers said. “The vet’s opinion is the animals died for lack of food.”

All of the animals were found on a 300-acre farm, which the sheriff said is owned by Grady Whitlock of Raleigh County.

“I called (Whitlock) this morning and told him he’d better (come to the farm),” Childers said Thursday afternoon.

When Whitlock arrived on the scene, officers took the 83-year-old man into custody. Childers said he is charged with at least 28 counts of animal cruelty, one for each dead horse found thus far.

Whitlock was arraigned before Greenbrier County Magistrate Doug Beard and released on a $2,500 personal recognizance bond on the misdemeanor charges.

Childers said Whitlock’s best guess was that there were between 85 and 100 horses on the Shawver’s Crossing farm. The sheriff said animal control officers were having difficulty arriving at a count of living horses, given the size of the farm.

“We seized the farm and the property,” Childers said following Whitlock’s arrest. “Now, we’re making sure we make arrangements to feed the animals that are still alive. These animals are so hungry they’re licking our vehicles to get the salt.”

“We might bring four-wheelers out here to help get food to them,” he said. “One of the saddest things is that a lot of the ones we’ve found alive are pregnant.”

This is not the first time complaints have been made about conditions at Whitlock’s Shawver’s Crossing farm. In January 2006, The Register-Herald reported animal control officers were investigating a situation involving 60 miniature horses that were allegedly being neglected at the farm. Many of those animals were also pregnant at the time.

Whitlock denied owning those horses.

That incident was resolved when the unidentified owner of the animals was pressured under threat of legal action to move them out of the marshy area where they had been kept.

Childers said Thursday the horses now at the Shawver’s Crossing farm are not miniatures. He said he understands that the miniatures are now kept on a farm Whitlock owns in Lewisburg.

“I’ve heard there are some dead horses at his Lewisburg farm, too, but I haven’t had time to check that out in person,” Childers said, adding that he had dispatched two deputies to that farm late Thursday afternoon.

The sheriff said he had also received a report that at least five dead horses have been found at yet another farm Whitlock owns in Mercer County.

Childers said he does not anticipate filing charges against anyone else in connection with the animal deaths at the Shawver’s Crossing property.

 

[hobbyhorse23]

“These animals are so hungry they’re licking our vehicles to get the salt.”

How on earth we can call ourselves "civilized" when that sort of abuse is considered a misdemeanor, I will never know. I'm embarrassed by the whole human race sometimes.

Leia

 

[Minimor]

All these dead horses, and it's a misdemeanor? And possibly dead horses at two other farms....WHY does this guy have horses at all, and what on earth has he been doing with 85-100 full size horses?? (Other than the obvious--"nothing" and "not feeding them")

 

[Miniv]

How on earth we can call ourselves "civilized" when that sort of abuse is considered a misdemeanor, I will never know. I'm embarrassed by the whole human race sometimes.

Leia

Leia, I was thinking very much the same thing.....

I know the man had two sons. They all showed up at an AMHA National Convention years ago to announce they were leaving AMHA because of the registration changes (I think it was the DNA?) Back then I thought Grady wasn't mentally all there. So, I'm now wondering -- WHERE ARE THE SONS????

 

[rimmerpaints]

That is so sad!

 

[Minimor]

Apparently they have found additional dead horses on another property, and these are Minis?

another link

 

[StarRidgeAcres]

All these dead horses, and it's a misdemeanor? And possibly dead horses at two other farms....WHY does this guy have horses at all, and what on earth has he been doing with 85-100 full size horses?? (Other than the obvious--"nothing" and "not feeding them")

There are reports today out of the State Journal.com that dead horses were in fact found at two additional locations where they serverd search warrants. Some are minis, others were listed as "livestock."

 

[eagles ring farm]

so sad

 

[topnotchminis]

How awful

 

[REO]

I saw this earlier today but it made my heart hurt too much to answer.

This makes my soul bleed.

I just don't FREAKING understand this.

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

Oh my Lord!!! This makes me sick and ANGRY!!!! :arg!

 

[Dona]

As horrible & absolutely heartbreaking as this is....it doesn't surprise me at all.

I knew about Grady way back in 1989 when I first got into Minis. There is a very good reason why he was against DNA! That would mean he couldn't manufacture false papers the way he did on a regular basis. I had a very good friend who went down to Grady's place to look at some mares to buy. She saw mares running in pastures with several stallions, all together. When she saw mone mare with a gorgeous little colt by her side, she asked Grady who the sire was. His answer was "Who do you want it to be?"

She walked away. I think I would have a very hard time trusting the paperwork of any horse that came from his farm.

Someone should pay BIG TIME for what was done to these poor animals!

 

[StarRidgeAcres]

As horrible & absolutely heartbreaking as this is....it doesn't surprise me at all.

I knew about Grady way back in 1989 when I first got into Minis. There is a very good reason why he was against DNA! That would mean he couldn't manufacture false papers the way he did on a regular basis. I had a very good friend who went down to Grady's place to look at some mares to buy. She saw mares running in pastures with several stallions, all together. When she saw mone mare with a gorgeous little colt by her side, she asked Grady who the sire was. His answer was "Who do you want it to be?"

She walked away. I think I would have a very hard time trusting the paperwork of any horse that came from his farm.

Someone should pay BIG TIME for what was done to these poor animals!

Dona, I too heard stories like this. I believe it was Worlds 2008 and I was at dinner with a very large group of folks, me being the real "newbie" in the group compared to the rest. It was an amazing opportunity for someone like me to hear stories (some great, some good, some sad) about some of the "old time" breeders and farms. Although he wasn't the only one, Grady was mentioned as being a breeder where it was common knowledge he falsified paperwork. As you say, he ran multiple stallions with the same group of mares, he waited until babies were born and/or he had a buyer looking for a certain pedigree before he "assigned" the parents. Yes, he was certainly against DNAing.

All that aside, how truly sad and unforgivable these horses were at the mercy of such a person. What a horrible death - starvation.