A story comes full circle. About a month ago, in a KIDY exclusive, we first told you about 12 malnourished horses seized by Tom Green County sheriff's deputies. KIDY's Senora Scott has been keeping tabs on the horses since the seizure and was on-hand Monday morning when all 12 of them got a new home.
After months of abuse before being seized by the Tom Green County Sheriff's Office and a few weeks of rehab here at the Western Veterinary Hospital, it only took a matter of minutes for the horses who captured the hearts of the Concho Valley to find a new home.
"We followed the whole story from the beginning until now, and monitored the situation, saw them improve, waited for the auction to come along,” Ryan Akers said.
Akers is the ranch manager at Sugg Ranch. It's owned by Robin Sugg, who gave the go ahead to buy all 12 of the horses at an auction put on by the sheriff's office after hearing about their condition.
"And it's just sad, it makes you sad, you wanna help, so that's what Robin did, she helped,” Akers said.
For a cool $3,700, these horses will be headed out to a new life. Ryan says, as far as working prospects go, it's probably not in the cards for most of his new four-legged friends.
"Some of them may be capable of it, many of them probably won't ever be. A lot of them will probably end up being companion horses or something of the sort or even just lawn mowers,” Akers said.
But the Sugg Ranch will not do one thing: send any of these horses to slaughter. They're in the business of defending the western way of life and even improving it, broadcasting loud and clear that the way these horses were treated isn't the norm.
"Luckily, this person was found out, caught and taken care of, and now we're doing what needs to be done to make it all better,” Akers said.
While the horses still have a long way to go, they're all getting healthier by the day. Not just by gaining weight, but gaining their spirits back as well.
Veterinarian Gary Hodges put it best saying they're actually starting to act like horses again.
If you want to continue helping these horses or even purchase one for yourself, you can contact the Sugg Ranch.