Pinto Bean, a mini horse, and two of her barnmates have a new home in Chichester after they were removed from a property in Acworth earlier this week.
One of the horses, a 1-year-old named Dune, had wandered off the property into the surrounding neighborhood in Acworth. A neighbor contacted police, who then followed Dune’s footsteps back to the barn where the other two horses – the mini named Pinto Bean and a quarter-horse named Morgan – were waiting.
“Basically this little yearling rescued the rest of his herd because they found him and it led them back to the others,” said Teresa Paradis, the owner of Live and Let Live Farm where the animals were taken. “He was very dehydrated, yet he went to find help. A horse usually doesn’t leave its herd.”
Paradis said Dune, who was found with visible wounds across his body, is the hero of this story.
Paradis said the horses were emaciated and dehydrated when they arrived at her Hutchinson Road farm. She said she was contacted by the state’s Department of Agriculture after police found the horses earlier this week.
On Thursday, a vet visited the Chichester farm and confirmed the horses were far below their healthy weight. Paradis and Sharon Morey, a longtime volunteer at the farm, had determined as much when they first saw the horses and could feel their ribs, spine and hip bones protruding beneath their fur.
Paradis said the vet also found that Morgan is possibly pregnant. Paradis and Morey suspected as much by her heavier weight and the amount of water she drank in the last few days on top of already being dehydrated. Paradis said she consumed 15 gallons of water Thursday morning.
The horses’ health was determined using a body scale where 1 is extremely emaciated and 10 is extremely overweight. The vet found that the mini was a 1¾, the yearling a 1½ and the quarter-horse a 3.
People interested in donating to the farm or finding ways to support their rescue efforts can visit liveandletlivefarm.org.
(Nick Stoico can be reached at 369-3321 or nstoico@cmonitor.com.)