In August this family leased a horse from me after all references and a site check were done. They had a small farm in town and very few animals were on the property during the site check and all references checked out. I checked on him 3 times while he was with them and he was always in good condition.in May the family stopped taking my phone calls and ignored my emails. Then in August I found that the horse was listed for sale online against the rules of their long-term lease contract and this family continued to ignore my multiple attempts to contact them.
When I finally got a hold of them after getting their local police department involved, I picked him up in November. He was 150lbs underweight, had worms, and hadn't had his feet trimmed in several months. When I picked him up, I was only allowed in the front yard and I saw several chained dogs and several under cared for cats just in the front yard. The property was dirty and smelled. The family told me that they had 2 other horses in the barn and that they were for sale. One was sold shortly after.
I spoke with Animal Welfare shortly after and they stated that they had been to the property just before I picked him up and was putting a lot of pressure on the family to give up the multiple animals in their care and a case was open. A neighbor of their's, thinking that the horse was still there tracked my number down to let me know that a goat had been starved and beaten to death by Robert's son. Animal Welfare was not informed that this happened so there is no record of this. This was only weeks after I picked up the horse. They also told me that there had been 8 additional horses purchased over the summer of 2006 and kept on the 2 acre property all together along with a pig and several goats.
For several months the family harrassed me by phone demanding that I pay for the horse they leased from me, but finally left me alone once I let them know that I was aware of their case with animal welfare and told them that I would press criminal charges for the horse's condition if they ever contacted me again.
In January Animal Welfare made a bargain agreement with the family to remove the remaining horse from the property. They agreed not to pursue pressing animal cruelty charges if the family surrendered the severely malnourished horse. It was fortunate for that horse, but unfortunately it means that they are able to still have animals in their care and because it was not publicized only a small number of people know what happened to the animals in their care.
Dianna Henderson, Annastasia Henderson, and Bob Begin will search out and apply to adopt free or low cost horses from rescues and they will purchase horses priced under $1000 or bring home any free lease available. They do have enough horse experience that they wont send up a red flag right away. They will promise a wonderful loving, caring forever home. They have references that think they are wonderful and if they know you are coming they will clean up for a site check. Seller beware.
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