GLIDDEN, Iowa — Almost every one of the 40 or so horses in the barren pasture is crowded around two bales of hay, about 200 feet apart, munching away.
The straw is some of the first decent nourishment the animals have had in ages, authorities say. And unless the owner of the 40 acres where they live files a successful appeal, the horses will soon have new homes.
District Court Judge Joel Swanson ruled Tuesday that the horses, on a pasture about four miles south of Glidden owned by Tom D. Hall, should be removed. In a hearing prior to the ruling, the chief sheriff’s deputy of Carroll County and a local veterinarian testified that the horses on Hall’s pasture were malnourished and had not been properly cared for.
Authorities pursued a similar case against Hall about two years ago. He paid a $20,000 bond for care and feeding of the animals, and they were returned to him in May 2009, according to court documents.
Chief Deputy Ken Pingrey testified that the Sheriff’s Office got involved again this spring after numerous complaints of improper fencing around Hall’s land.
The Sheriff’s Office had an electric fence installed and began providing feed for the horses when Hall was away. In at least two cases he was jailed in other counties on suspicion of stealing hay, the chief deputy testified.
The fence and the feed were not free. The county had to pay $1,440 for the fence and more than $3,000 for the feed.
Said Sheriff Doug Bass after the hearing: “Someone’s got to do it, or you’ll have 40 head of horses out there dead or causing an accident.”
There is another reason, too, said the longtime lawman.
“We have a heart, too.”
The county started taking action earlier this month after deputies, responding to another complaint, found some of his horses outside the fence, and all of them emaciated.
And on Friday — the day The World-Herald published a story on the situation — Pingrey found a dead colt in the pasture, apparently killed by a stud horse. Stud horses and colts are not supposed to be held in close proximity, local veterinarian Dr. Mitch Hiscocks testified.
In his defense, Hall testified that he thinks others bring their own horses covertly onto his land to mate with his studs and then leave the gate open. He said he believed the whole situation was “hyped.”
After the hearing, Hall declined to comment. Sheriff’s deputies arrested him on an outstanding warrant for contempt of court, stemming from an earlier case.
Bass said that Hall would be able to appeal the judge’s ruling and that the horses will be kept in Hall’s pasture until that process runs its course, which could take a month.
“We’ll probably do just as we’ve been doing, keep them fed, keep them watered,” he said.
It costs Carroll County taxpayers $70 a day to take care of the horses. But Tuesday afternoon it was the plight of the horses that concerned some people in Glidden, a town of roughly 1,200.
“It’s ridiculous; he should not have any kind of livestock,” said Shannon Thompson, a local resident. “The man shouldn’t even have a dog.”
Contact the writer:
444-1310, andrew.nelson@owh.com
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