Kentucky Equine Welfare Measure Advances

The legislation requires those convicted of equine cruelty to pay restitution for the animals’ care.
Share
Favorite
Close

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

Legislation requiring those convicted of equine cruelty to pay restitution for the animals’ care has advanced to Kentucky’s Senate. The measure was proposed after authorities confiscated more than 40 abandoned horses last year.

In June 2016, the Kentucky Department of Agriculture and the Mercer County Sherriff’s Department investigated a herd of 43 apparently abandoned horses. Authorities ultimately arrested and charged Charles Borell with 43 counts of misdemeanor second-degree animal cruelty. They issued a separate warrant for the arrest of his daughter Maria Borell, a Breeders’ Cup winning trainer.

Charles Borell ultimately pleaded guilty to nine counts of second-degree misdemeanor animal cruelty under an Alford plea deal. In doing so, he admitted no wrongdoing, but accepted that prosecutors had sufficient evidence to convict him. The remaining cruelty counts were dismissed. He was sentenced to serve two years’ probation and is prohibited from having any ownership role for any animals in Kentucky.

While the case was pending, authorities won ownership of the horses to rehome them and obtain restitution for the more than $20,000 spent on their care

Create a free account with TheHorse.com to view this content.

TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com.

Start your free account today!

Already have an account?
and continue reading.

Share

Written by:

Pat Raia is a veteran journalist who enjoys covering equine welfare, industry, and news. In her spare time, she enjoys riding her Tennessee Walking Horse, Sonny.

Related Articles

Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with

FREE weekly newsletters from TheHorse.com

Sponsored Content

Weekly Poll

sponsored by:

Where do you primarily feed your horse?
297 votes · 297 answers

Readers’ Most Popular

Sign In

Don’t have an account? Register for a FREE account here.

Need to update your account?

You need to be logged in to fill out this form

Create a free account with TheHorse.com!