Police say Lyme woman had more than 10 unclean, emaciated horses
Lyme — A local woman is due in court Tuesday after animal control officers say they found more than 10 emaciated horses in squalid conditions at her Grassy Hill Road residence in April, according to state police.
Carolyn P. Thomas, 58, of 345 Grassy Hill Road was charged Oct. 13 at Troop F with cruelty to animals.
According to an arrest warrant affidavit written by state Animal Control Officer Todd Curry, a local animal control officer first responded to Thomas’ home on April 11. That officer had found an underweight, unclean pony wandering along Grassy Hill Road and had tracked it back to the Thomas residence.
Once there, the officer allegedly found several other horses “in deep mud and excrement” without access to feed, hay or water. That’s when the officer got in touch with Curry, who works for the state Department of Agriculture.
According to the affidavit, Curry visited Thomas’ home the next day, April 12.
Upon arrival, Curry said he found a barn with 10 stalls occupied by dirty horses that had visible ribs and hip bones and overgrown hooves curled upward like elf shoes. One of the horses had “an extremely infected right eye,” Curry wrote. Another had an abscess on its front right leg.
An uncovered drain running through the center of the barn’s walkway was overflowing with urine, fecal matter, trash and debris, according to Curry.
“The stalls were extremely wet and had several inches of fecal matter in them,” Curry wrote. “They did not appear to have any form of bedding in them. It was clear to me that they had not been cleaned in weeks.”
Curry said other horses in similar conditions were located outside the barn, although he didn’t specify how many. He said he found one of the outdoor horses chewing on a pressure-treated stairwell it could reach over a fence.
According to the affidavit, Thomas told the officers she’d gotten all of the horses from out-of-state auctions so they wouldn’t be euthanized. According to Curry, Thomas had been feeding the horses daily, but said she couldn’t afford the care necessary to handle their hooves, infections and other injuries.
Curry said Thomas “admitted she had taken on more than she could handle” and had tried to find owners for the horses without any luck.
All of the horses have since received new owners through a network of adopters two state-certified veterinarians created for abused and neglected horses.
Thomas is due in New London Superior Court Tuesday morning.
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