Healthy horses?

A growing number of people are becoming concerned about some horses in our community. I have joined that ban wagon. I was told by the sheriff that they had food and water, so he couldn't do anything and that they looked okay to him. I'm no horse expert. I have never owned a horse, but I think they look horrible and I cannot imagine leaving my dog in the lot they have these poor things in. They used to look just fine, in you over looked the lot, but, they have been getting skinnier and skinnier every year. When she rides then they pant and breath really hard. Are we just over reacting? She says they are hard to keep a good weight and they are far from skinny. I feel embarrassed like we are attacking a young girl, but it just doesn't seem right to me. I collected these pictures from her public facebook page.

From the pictures I looked through only one showed any rib, and depending on the day, one of mine will show a little rib. He gets fat on air but loses it with no grain at all. I wouldn't be super concerned as far as weight is concerned.
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The protruding backbones don't concern you?

When I see a backbone in anything I get worried.

That is my pony mare on the right, and she has more of what I would call a protruding backbone on a very hungry horse. The second batch of pictures do look a bit worse but I would hardly say they appear to be at deaths door. Instead of calling the police or animal control, I would offer to buy her a bag of feed or a few bales of hay. Some horses need more grain than others so if they are trying to ration and budget it, some will look worse than others. My mare also has sunken in muscles around her neck and hindquarters, there's really nothing to her.
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I just found this:

Horses experiencing weight loss will have visible ribs. The withers, the highest point of the shoulder, will become bony and more triangular instead of rounded. The neck will get thinner and lose any crest. Eventually, as weight loss increases, the horse’s spine becomes prominent and sunken hollow spaces will appear over the eyes.

Read more: Weight Loss in a Horse | eHow.com Weight Loss in a Horse | eHow.com

And here are your sunken eyes.

She has feed. The neighbor who owns the property next to the lot bought her $200 worth of feed, and wormer. She still didn't feed them. The lady ended up feeding them herself (and the horses gained weight and started looking very good), until the grain ran out. She didn't buy anymore after that. If she has the money to buy new horse trailers, a car, and buy new tack, she should have enough to feed them. So you can see why I would be apprehensive to give her a handout. Plus, I think water is pretty cheap, so I don't understand why they go for days at a time without it. Why keep buying horses when you have barely enough land to take care of one?

And last year she was given a few bales of hay. She didn't bother trying to buy any more. She did buy a new horse trailer this summer, while her horses look like this, and also bought another horse. I'm going to have to take my own pictures.

Going without water is definitely not good. Neither is getting new toys and horses if the ones you have can't be taken care of. Weight is one thing, but not having water, well, there's really no excuse. It takes me about an hour every morning to get feed and water for everyone because I haul it a bucket at a time. But it gets done, 2 or 3 times a day in the summer. There's no excuse for that.
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I doubt there is anything you can do to change this ladies mind, she has no obvious care for the animals well being. Look at the tack, the bits are painful (the horses are avoiding them) and the saddles are horribly fitted, and yes... a few of the horses are skinny and have dull ratty coats (another tell tale sign of malnutrition.)