Roswell men horribly abuse horses in Montana

A Roswell man, Craig Heyden, and his son, Curtis Heyden, of Woodstock, had been charged with four counts of animal abuse after a summer camping trip in the back country with four horses that had been without feed, water and shoes. One horse collapsed on the trail. All four are not under veterinary care and may recover in time. Please read the story and see photos at www.rockymountainrider.com , a regional horse magazine. Local newspapers also covered the story.

I am hoping the officials in Montana make the Heydens pay for all vet bills and care to get the horses back to good health. Maybe they`ll be blessed with a painful agonizing illness. Massive blood sores come to mind .

I am sorry to hear about this. Most people in North Fulton County (GA) who have horses take good care of them. These people are an exception and I hope that they have to pay big fines to get the horses healthy again.

A horse is a horse, of course, of course, unless it's Mr. Ed!

OK, so according to the story on Rocky Mountain Rider, these two men, who have enough money to live in an upscale subdivision and drive soccer mom cars, REFUSED to pay the feed and vet bills when the judge gave them that option??
Throw the book at 'em, Your Honor. They are a blight on the name of the State of Georgia. No sense of responsibility at all. Too bad animal cruelty is only a misdemeanor out there. It should be a felony.
This is one of those moments in life when the Biblical "eye for an eye" has SO much appeal.

The actions of these men absolutely sicken me. I hope they get the maximum penalty, and I will certainly be spreading their names around on every animal related website I know of.

Can these men be sued for the expenses incurred by the current caretakers of the horses?

do you suppose they just were really ignorant about horses and their needs?? To me, it sounds like they had the money, but zero knowledge. WHICH is NO excuse... ignorance is NOT bliss..

This type of ignorance saddens us all.... I think education is of utmost importance when we deal with anyone new to horses...or any animal..

Prayers to these beautiful horses and their angels...

Ignorance is no excuse. You can't live in this civilized western society and claim you "didn't know" that the horses were skinny and that the oozing saddle sores were a problem. I hope the judge slaps a sentence of hiking those mountains for 2 months with sand and rocks in their socks with back packs full of boulders and made from wood and itchy wool. And they must go naked for full exposure to the eliments and insects.

Those pictures in the Rocky Mountain newspaper of the wounds to that horse, the skin and muscle worn off down to the bone show that these men were not ignorant. But cruel. And the horse left on the trail to die was so thin and had not had any water even thought the river was within a short distance. The two women who found the horse and gave him water and took off his saddle are heroines. I cannot believe that horse lived. Judges around Atlanta like the woman judge in Dekalb who sentenced the cat torturer need to get hold of these 2 men and sent them to jail. I bet the men had food and water while camping. No excuses. This is not ignorance.

I wrote the original article, and need to update the name of the men: HEYDON is the correct spelling. It was misreported in two newspapers and in Rocky Mountain Rider. We have corrected it in the forthcoming October issue (and on our website: wwww.rockymountainrider.com that will be out the first of October. The horses are doing slightly better. Two have such severely ulcerated eyes from biting flies that they may loose eyesight. Able has very badly abscessed front hooves with special hospital plates put on to hold medicine and dressings. Diamond, the one with the most severe wounds, is very slowly recovering, loosing his last winter's coat (kept from malnutrition), and being very sweet and friendly, as they all are.

I have a horse rescue organization in Cumming, GA. These two men came to my farm wanting to adopt 4 horse for the summer then bring them back. They said they were going on a trip of a lifetime together, father and son. Admirable? I thought it sounded like a nice experience. After speaking to them a while, they had no horse knowledge, no trailer experience and didn't have any use for the horses after their trip. I had a gut feeling NOT to let them have any horse now or later. I am glad my gut speaks to me. I would have been devistated if it was any horse in my care that this happened to. I am sick to my stomach seeing any horse treated like this. It is absolute cruelty.
When they left here, they were heading to the local horse auction facility to see what they had cheap. These horses once belongs to someone who cared and loved them. I hope the owners never find out so they can be spared the heartache of this suffering.
Cheryl Flanagan
www.savethehorses.org

I hope the judge throws the book at these two Heydon men. Better yet, put them in prison, without food , water or any care. Have them do hard labor on a chain gang. Maybe it will help "educate them".

I do not argue. Ignorance is NO excuse, as I stated in my original post.
Being involved with horses for over 30 years, I have seen some pretty stupid people who "think" they know what they are doing... I agree, these two need to do what they thought those horses ought to do.
God sent those two angels to those horses... that I believe..

I find something amusing... totally off topic... I am NOT from Penhold (first post)nor am I from Three Hills... how does this forum "think" it knows... I am from Big Valley... close ... but no cigar.

Cheryl... I applaud your good sense and strength and your conviction..

still says I am from three hills...

No, they were not ignorant. There are horrifying photos of the bone-deep giant sores on the horses' backs. No one in their right mind would think that was ok.

kim wrote:

do you suppose they just were really ignorant about horses and their needs?? To me, it sounds like they had the money, but zero knowledge. WHICH is NO excuse... ignorance is NOT bliss..
This type of ignorance saddens us all.... I think education is of utmost importance when we deal with anyone new to horses...or any animal..
Prayers to these beautiful horses and their angels...

In looking at those graphic photos of the horse with ribs and hip bones jutting out and the other with a large red oozing wound, there is no ecuse of ignorance. You don't have to be an expert to know that those conditions are not normal on any animal or human. I hope they put these two abusers away for a very long time, give them a large fine and make they pay back all of the vet bills, which will be in the thousands of dollars.

I applaud Cheryl also. These men were looking for disposable horses. Their lawyer told me that they wanted to find someplace to take good care of the horses (after they were confiscated). I'll bet they just wanted to drop them off at an auction or sanctuary and forget about the whole thing.

By the way, names are spelled Heydon, and Craig lives in Crabapple, an area north of Roswell.