Texas: malnourished horse cases on the rise.

Texas news stories: neglected horses a problem with no easy solution.

Emaciated Horses in the Panhandle [link]
Aug 13, 2008

Horses that look like they haven't eaten in weeks... It's a continuing problem in the Panhandle. It falls under animal cruelty in the law books... Not properly feeding your horses and making sure they are taken care of. A viewer sent in pictures of horses she saw on I-40 in Gray County. The American Quarter Horse Association gets calls about horses like this all the time. Tom Persechino says " the AQHA isn't a shelter, so we have to rely on local law enforcement. Hopefully law enforcement can help the horses and or the owner." We called the Gray County Sheriff this morning about the horses the viewer snapped photos of. Lt. Hoard says a crew went out there to take some more pictures earlier today and, thanks to our phone call, they are now conducting an investigation. The only other option besides getting law enforcement involved is to send the horse to a humane shelter, but Persechino says those are hard to come by. "We did a study and only 3 out of the top 100 major cities have shelters that are equipped to take care of horses and taking horses in."

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Neglected Horses: A Continuing Problem [link]
Aug 13, 2008

Sick and neglected horses are becoming a problem in the Panhandle. A few weeks ago we told you about horses that are being neglected and left to their own devices by owners who just didn't want them anymore or couldn't afford them. Today we're looking at the challenges owners face if they choose to keep their horses. One of the main challenges... Keeping the horses well fed. As the economy continues to worsen, it's getting more and more expensive to make sure the horses eat. Tom Persechino at the American Quarter Horse Association says "the increasing price of corn, the increasing fuel prices... They all affect the horses. We used to see one call every few years about malnourished horses. Now there's not a week or a day that goes by without us getting a phone call about it." Another reason why so many horses are malnourished.... The owners don't know what else to do with them. There are only a handful of humane societies around the nation that are equipped to handle horses... And none in our area.

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