Contraband's recovery: Rescued horse doing well a month later

When Shery Varney first saw Contraband, her 6-year-old Tennessee Walking Horse, he was skin and bones, missing chunks of hair and standing knee-deep in feces on hooves that were painfully overgrown.

A month later, Contraband looks almost like a different horse.

The formerly gaunt frame has begun to fill out, and some of the shine has returned to his chestnut and white coat.

He's received free veterinary care from Dr. Linus Huck for an abscessed tooth, and his hooves have been trimmed, Varney said.

Contraband was one of 16 horses collected from a farm in Biehle, Mo., and one of 15 that survived.

The horses' former owner, who gave half of the horses to Varney and voluntarily relinquished the rest, was reported to the Cape Girardeau County Health Department about five years ago for animal abuse, county health director Charlotte Craig said.

"We were there five years ago, and things were borderline back then," Craig said.

Although livestock is not technically a public health issue, Missouri law gives any health official the ability to investigate any claims of animal cruelty or neglect.

Craig said the department gave the owner of the horses a list of adjustments she needed to make to improve the quality of the animals' care.

Four or five months later, they returned, and those things, such as feeding and hoof care, had all been accomplished, Craig said.

When investigators returned in April, however, conditions had changed.

Kyle Held, a cruelty investigator for the Humane Society of Missouri, said such an experience is typical when dealing with animal abuse cases and that providing constant monitoring of the situation is nearly impossible.

"A lot of times, people think we aren't doing anything, but we go out there, we give them recommendations and get the place up to a reasonable standard," Held said.

It can be difficult and frustrating to help livestock in neglectful or abusive situations because the laws concerning their care are archaic, dating back to the early 1900s, Craig said.

The laws, which prohibit starving an animal but give little protection where veterinary care or shelter are concerned, need to be updated, Craig said.

Six of the horses were placed in a foster home by the Humane Society of Southeast Missouri, Craig said.

Varney kept Contraband for herself, and a friend who went with her to transport the horses also kept one.

Three of the horses were taken to an emergency medical center for equines, under the custody of the Humane Society of Missouri. After radiographs done on the feet of one of them showed severe damage to the coffin bone inside the hoof, he was euthanized, said Amanda Hirshberg, assistant director of Long Meadow Rescue Ranch, a large animal branch of the Humane Society.

The other horses were in better condition, Hirshberg said.

About half the horses are skittish and timid around people. "They act like they haven't been handled a whole lot," Hirshberg said.

The horses will most likely be available for adoption in a few months, and those interested may contact Long Meadow Rescue Ranch at 636-583-8759 or view horses for adoption at its Web site, www.longmeadowrescueranch.org.

As for Contraband, Varney says he's adjusted well to her other two horses and has enjoyed romping around a real pasture for the first time in years.

"He just needed to get some groceries in him," she said.

bdicosmo@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 245

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Video of Contraband and Shery Varney

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