Horse left in care of another who neglected & starved it, what now?

Oh dear I hate these kind of stories. I would geld him and keep him so you and him both know he is safe. Please keep us posted and maybe share some pictures.
Before and after :0)

I think they are trying to scare you as well...

Since your vet documented him from the time he got off trailer and before he went on trail they can testify to the degree of neglect the horse has gone through before the sale even took place.

Knowing that though keep a good log of everything for him and talk to an aspca official and discuss the situation with them. Either have them out to your place or you offer to go to them with pics and all records before he left and when he came back..

Other than that all you can do is take care of you boy and give him time, food, love and rest :)

So I'm going to go at this from a financial prospect. You need to keep records of EVERYTHING that you've spent on your horse that goes above and beyond general horse care. Including the plethora of vet and farrier visits and medications and supplements he's going to need to get him on the right track. As a breeding stallion he is valuable property and not just a "pet". Therefore, if you are considering gelding him (which I assume gelding him in this condition would kill him anyways), wait until you settle things legally. As they didn't technically "pay" you for your horse yet, the horse was still yours but under their care pending their payment, therefore they damaged your property.

I'm really not sure why the cop didn't allow you to go get your horse back and why it had to be surrendered to you unless you had a really crappy contract that said the horse was the woman's BEFORE she paid for him but could be seized upon failure to pay after a certain date? If so... never do that again. The horse is yours until you receive payment in full, ALWAYS. Even when people make monthly payments (as stated in a contract) they don't receive a bill of sale until after the final payment so the horse is still owned by the seller, not the buyer until the final payment.

I am very sorry for what happened to your horse, and I am glad that you got him back. What you do now is really up to you. But I would suggest waiting to geld him until after all of the legal stuff is over with because as a gelding he is only considered a "pet" and anything done to him is a misdemeanor rather than a felony.

I would suggest listening to your vet. I would not put him out on grass as that would be much too rich for his digestion and would probably make him very sick. Although a nice hand walk with a few bites here and there never hurt :) As for his lethargy, you're going to have to help him push through to a point. Time how long you walk him for, and add 30 seconds every few days. Build up his muscles slowly but make sure you're building them and not just sustaining. He's got a long way to go but he can d it! On the next warm day (if you ever get any) give him a nice warm bath and let him sun-dry. Don't try and rush things, that's how horses get sick. If you make him gain weight too quickly he's going to be too heavy for his muscles, so although it sounds a bit weird, he's safer at this weight for his muscle tone. Hand walk him up and down hills as he gets stronger.

I can't remember who wrote it but there was an article a while back about Walking a Horse Fit for a 3-Day.... Man I wish I could find it right now...

Also when you start feeding grain, I would never feed more than 3-6 lbs at a time depending upon your horse's size. If your horse needs more food add another meal. My mare is 14.2hh and I wouldn't feed her more than 4lbs of food at a time. Yes, feeding "lunch" might be a bummer but you will never overload your horse's GI system this way. Also, if you're going to add oil to your horse's food, I would suggest Canola Oil, it has omega-3 fatty acids, which also reduce swelling which it sounds like your horse could use (not that it works like bute but if he's not ready for meds but can have some oil, I would suggest something with omega-3s).

Oh wow! I'm so sorry this happened to you! I'll be thinking of you and your stallion. I believe that you should do whatever it takes to prosecute these people! Keep records of EVERY expense for him and if it goes to court, seek to be reimbursed in full...after all...you never intended to shell out the money in the first place and they abused him so they should pay.

I've had experiences where local animal shelter "officers" do not listen or take things seriously. Try looking up local or state animal control and contact them. They typically work more in conjunction with the police department and may have a better idea of how to proceed. Also...do you know any lawyers? I'd hire one! If you know one or have one in your family, ask them about your legal rights and how to proceed! I know a great pro-bono lawyer here in DE. She can't help you where you live but I can forward your story on to her and get her advice for you if you'd like. She's a huge animal lover and takes on a lot of animal abuse cases! She knows her stuff!!!

Sometimes, you have to do what you have to do, and deal with the consequences after the fact.
Personally, after the hide and seek game went on for a week, i'd have done a drive by to see what I could see.
Then, if I had seen what you described with the mud and muck, i'd have pulled a good morning sunrise visit with my truck and trailer.
Hubby likes the sound of his own voice. Press him hard, and he will fold like a house of cards.
Wifey wears the pants, but she's dumb as a fencepost, and thinks her britches are made of rose petals.
I love people like that. They're tremendously entertaining to psychologically torment, as they're prisoners of their own minds.
Yank their chain hard a couple times, twist their tails hard, and they'll go away.
They're wanting to press trespass charges against you?
Let them.
The instant you're served with papers, have them served with a bill for every expense you've incurred thus far attempting to restore your horse to some semblance of normalcy, plus expenses of recovering your horse, plus a chunk for long term care for the poor guy.
I'd say about $50,000.00 might be in the ballpark.
The idea isn't necessarily to get a payday.
You're essentially playing legal chicken with them
They've been exposed as hosers, which invalidates their percieved self worth and self esteem, and exposes them for their true selves.
So, they attempt to poke you in the eye with a sharp stick, IE trespass charges.
Return the favor, and poke back, HARD.
Play their game better than they do, out think them and go obnoxiously over the top about it.
Think of it like this-
I had a client who refused to pay me for services rendered, even with an agreed upon price in advance, in writing.
When the job was complete, in about half my estimated time for the job, he decided he could get away with only paying half.
So, we played chicken.
He threatened to call the cops, I assured him I would dump 10 tons of pine logs down his driveway if he didnt pay, and i'd be happy to call the chief for him from my speed dial.
I even went so far as to pop one of the straps holding the logs on the trailer.
It took him about 20 minutes, and he paid up. His wife paid me in cash, and told him to quit being an a$$.
So, play their game of chicken.
For every threat they make, return the favor in triplicate.
They'll cave, I promise. Their threats are hollow, and theyre looking to save face.
What they should to is eat their epic fail, and move on.
What I suspect they'll do is antagonize you to make themselves feel better about being themselves.

It also merits mention that we, as equine advocates, have the obligation to stand up for what is right.
If we choose to stand by and watch such things happen, are we not contributing to the problem?
If we take no action, or our actions are ineffective, are we not condoning such practices by default?
Make no mistake, I am NOT advocating a military or violent style action, despite what some may think.
The OP is playing it pretty well, in my opinion, though I would likely have been a bit more decisive and forceful in my own actions.
If the law doesnt support what is right, go to bat to alter the law.
Personally, I despise HSUS. That does not extend to local humane societies, which actually take action to help animals live quality lives, and execute their missions fairly well.
We have 3 dogs and 3 horses in our family.
They are all very well cared for, sometimes spoiled rotten.
Unfortunately, not all folks value animals as we do.
Our choices are to stand by and do nothing, educate people on how to better care for their animals, or, in extreme cases, compel those who neglect their animals to give them up by choice, or by lawful compelment.
Nothing says that we can't raise a stink when we see cases of inhumane treatment of animals.
Be that a cordial discussion with the owners, or organizing a public demonstration to persuade corrective action.
Each situation is different, the mentalities of all parties involved are subjective to the given situation, and the appropriate actions are dependent upon all the factors of each individual situation.

These are 3 before pictures. The one in the saddle was taken on 9/5/11 and the other two are with the vet taken two weeks before he left my farm. It was a horribly rainy day so he was quite drenched. However even soaked you can see he is not in poor body condition what so ever. I'll post some after shots next.

His coat is long but even through that you can see his back bone sticking up and then the skin sinks down and just covers his ribs. You can see his ribs showing, hips sticking out. The manure caked on his legs is over a foot high. The cuts on his head both sides. (Sorry it was dark and the barn light lights are not the brightest at night.)

One more post...

Its funny I look at the pictures above in the previous post of him with the vet that day in the rain. He'd been out in the pasture playing. It was raining so of course he got muddy. I remember taking him in and washing him off to prevent any mud rash. I'm so particular about that. Then this!!

These are pictures of his hooves. You can see where the frogs are just rotted entirely away. And where the shoe is broke and started to grow into the hoof wall. And finally our hands after touching his legs covered in manure. You can totally tell its manure too and not mud.

Oh dear, ss sorry to see this. So glad he is back with you now. I thought he looked a little skinny in the first 2 picts in the rain with the vet, but that may just be his breed and I am used to my stocky qh cross pony with the big butt. Then I saw the other pictures. He is a lucky boy to be back home, I would geld him and keep him forever!

BTW I LOVE the pic of him with the saddle on!