Future of animals removed from farm

After more than 50 horses and dogs were removed from a family farm in Isle of Wight County, allegedly because of neglect, WAVY.com learned what the future holds for the animals.

"I think this is a case that all of us need to be bothered by," says Dr. Steven King.

King is a veterinarian who specializes in treating horses. While King doesn't work with the animals rescued from the Hansford family farm in Zuni, he does know what it takes to rehab a malnourished horse.

"You can have severe problems such as colic if they're re-introduced to grain feed too early. So, probably what's going to happen with them, they're going to start with a decent quality of hay and plenty of it and they they will gradually start to introduce some grain and that will take course over say, two to four weeks," says King. "If they were malnourished, they've probably not been de-wormed properly either and that would be critical that those horses have those conditions taken care of, make sure they're not parasitized heavily which would affect them."

The US Equestrian Rescue League sent WAVY.com a picture of one of the Hansford horse's hooves that looks abnormally long and bent.

"We call that laminitis. Where the actual hoof capsule separates off of the bone and that's what appears to have happened in that horse's case. The hoof has grown so long, it's painful. He's going to have a life-long problem with that hoof," says King. "Even if that horse is now trimmed properly, it's going to take weeks to months to years to get that hoof to what's considered normal."

"You may be familiar with Barbaro, the horse that was actually euthanized because he had laminitis," continues King. "That horse broke his leg and ended up getting laminitis in his other limb which was extremely painful and ended up being humanely destroyed because of the pain he was in."

US Equestrian Rescue League Regional Director Amy Woodard tells WAVY.com, 25 of the horses were voluntarily released into its care by Jeff and Diana Handsford.

"It was a very large number to move logistically. Ten of the horses went to our affiliates in the Richmond Region. They placed them in foster and quarantine facilities that they have and the other 15 were placed in just the Tidewater, Virginia area," says Woodard. "We place the horses in a rehabilitation center or foster homes that are run by our volunteers and the horses are evaluated and cared for by veterinarians. They receive everything they need to make them healthy and eventually they will be placed up for adoption."

However, the non-profit pays roughly $150 per horse, per month.

"...and that's without providing extensive medical services which some of these horses need," says Woodard.

As for the 80 Golden Retrievers found on the property? Laura Spink of the Southeastern Virginia Golden Retriever Rescue Organization tells WAVY.com, "The dogs were not getting the medical treatment they needed. Of the 30 dogs we pulled, about half are heart-worm positive."

Spink says it costs about $500 per dog to treat them. Many of the dogs will also be neutered. Spink says the dogs are friendly and get along very well with other dogs, but they haven't had much human interaction.

The dogs are currently in foster homes, learning how to be indoor dogs and learning how to live around humans.

Both Spink and King say the outlook for most of the animals is positive.