Joey

15.3 hand gelding
Approximately 18 years old
Pinto of unknown origin

This rescue has never been one to "throw someone under the bus in public" for the bad decisions people make that results in neglect to their animals. We truly believe most people are good but are sometimes terribly misguided. Sometimes they choose to not see what they're doing or not doing. They get over their heads and don't ask for help until it's too late. Most people are remorseful for the bad decisions they've made. It usually serves no purpose to humiliate them in public.
Except this owner: Not only did he starve this horse all winter on purpose because he simply didn't care about him, we heard from several sources a horse died on his property over the winter.
We were led to a tiny mud pen at the back the most beautiful piece of property we’ve seen in a while. They were surrounded by beautiful green grass they couldn’t access. He was with a tiny miniature horse we later named Napoleon. The neighbor started bringing them fresh water because he was simply throwing them water from a scummy pond that totally smelled like mold and dead fish.
He was willing to give us the horses.
We should have walked away and called the police and animal control. The neglect was so severe it was absolutely prosecutable, but with the stories we were getting, we decided time was of the essence for these horses so we got them off the property as soon as we could for their own safety.
He was nothing but arrogant and took zero responsibility for what he did to these animals. Joey was missing hair all over his body, he had rain rot and was covered in scabs from untreated fly bites. The mini’s feet were so bad his legs were actually twisted. 
The person who owned these horses was nothing but arrogant and completely self-righteous through the entire process.
His parting words as we were leaving were “I don’t know what that lady’s problem is, there’s nothing wrong with that horse.
So, we brought them home to heal. We began refeeding him very slowly to avoid refeeding syndrome. He had cuts and scrapes on his legs and he had no hair on his legs from the fly bites and mud fungus. 
Other than his twisted feet, the mini was in better shape. He was not starving, but his hair coat was terrible.
We did bloodwork and had their teeth floated and they became healthy in a shockingly short amount of time. We quickly discovered Napoleon had some serious ground skills, so he is currently in training to be a therapy animal. Now that Joey is healthy, we are working on some training issues with him. We hope to have him 100% and ready to be adopted by early spring. 
Both horses can really use sponsor angels to help pay for their care. More pictures of Napoleon can be found on our permanent residents page.