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HPS was alerted to the plight of a starving horse by a concerned citizen. When we went to the property
to investigate, we spoke to the wife of the horse's owner. Her husband was a long-distance truck driver who had had
the horse for many years. She had not been married to him for very long, was unfamiliar with horses, and afraid to be
near the large animals to care for them when her husband was on the road.
We found Spirit with two other horses. There was no hay or feed. Spirit was only a 1 on the
Henneke Scale and was extremely weak. The other horses were only slightly thin. As we were
counseling the woman about the severity of Spirit's conditon, her step-daughter walked over from her home next-door.
Unbelievably, she said that she watched Animal Cops all the time and had thought that he looked like the emaciated horses
she saw rescued on tv.
The family was not interested in following a feeding regimen to bring
him back to health and voluntarily relinquished him to the care of the HPS sanctuary. On a diet of soaked alfalfa, high-protein
pelleted feed, and plenty of hay, Spirit flourished. Today,
Spirit is 32 years old and in excellent health.
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