EAGLE COUNTY - The visions are haunting - horses starving to death in a land of plenty.

Wrangler Jamie Gross was on horseback, his natural habitat, checking backcountry hunting camps in the Flat Tops Wilderness one day last month - one of those stunning autumn High Country afternoons that makes one think they've reached cowboy Nirvana.

A palomino gelding shattered the reverie. Someone had left the 20-year-old horse emaciated, bruised, saddle sores oozing, skittish and alone in the wilderness to fend for itself. Gross could not do the same.

Gross laid a rope around its neck and started down toward the corral at A.J. Brink Outfitters in Sweetwater. The horse was so weak, it took most of the day to make what should have been a three hour ride.

On his way down, he ran across local veterinarian Dr. Courtney Diehl driving up to a call at another ranch. She gave the palomino a quick look, and was repulsed by what she saw, she said.

"I was shocked with how it looked," said Diehl.

Some hunters told Gross the palomino wasn't alone. He and a partner set out the next day and found a second abandoned horse who was in better shape, but not much.

Gross said the first thing they did with the two horses when they reached A.J. Brink's was to feed them. "They were eating like it was their last meal," said Gross. "We couldn't just leave them up there."

The two horses appeared to have come from Budge's White River Ranch, which operates in Eagle and Garfield counties. Diehl contacted Colorado State Veterinarian Dr. Jim Grady, who contacted authorities in Douglas County where Grady suspected the White River Ranch horses would spend the winter.

When a White River Ranch crew hit the Front Range, Douglas County Animal Control Officer Joe Stafford was waiting. He took a look at the horses and impounded 11. With the two being cared for in Eagle County, 13 horses had been impounded.

That chain of events left John and Elaine Harrison of Budge's White River Ranch charged with multiple counts of animal cruelty.

"Apparently (the horses) were weak because they had starved all season, and they left them," Diehl said. "I was told the wranglers stripped off the tack and cut them loose."

The same story

That coincides with Jack Harrison's version of events. He used to run White River Ranch, near the end of Coffee Pot Road in far western Eagle County.

He said he turned it over to his son, John, and John's wife, Elaine. He said the palomino Gross found, "laid down" and was left behind one the November afternoon the White River Ranch crew was bringing that summer's string of horses down after hunting season ended.

"It just wouldn't go any further. I know it had plenty to eat. There was still 100 bales of hay and plenty of grass and grain up there," he said.

The horses Diehl saw were likely starved into this condition, by inadequate feed most of the summer season, she said. The palomino's saddle sores were caused by its saddle not fitting properly, but being ridden regularly, anyway, she added.

"When a horse is being starved it's impossible to fit a saddle and tack, and these were repeatedly ridden when in that condition," said Diehl. "The amount of callouses in around the sore indicate it was chronic behavior. They rode him all the time."

Almost nothing about the horses indicated proper care, she said.

They also had probably never been de-wormed, which needs to be done four times a year, and its teeth had not been cared for, which, she said, is supposed to be done about once a year.

One horse had only one shoe on, which indicated it had thrown the other three, she said. "No one was on top of any kind of care," Diehl said.

Diehl regularly checks on the two horses, which landed at a farm in western Eagle County. "They're alive and eating and full of spirit," she said. "We're very hopeful."



Other eleven

When John Harrison returned to the Front Range winter pasture with horses pulled off the White River Ranch resort, Douglas County animal control officers were quick to check his horses.

In Colorado, a brand inspector has to check horses if they're moved 75 miles or more. Usually, it's meant to check ownership, but it's also used to check a horse's condition.

When the horses were checked before they went to the ranch last spring, they were fine, but when they came back, they weren't, Diehl said.

Stafford said he and other animal control officers had warned the Harrisons to provide proper care. He said this wasn't the first time Harrison's horses had come down in poor condition.

"We told them what would happen if animals were abused and neglected," said Stafford. "We've been trying to get a handle on it since July 2003. This year things came to a head."

Stafford took a look at the horses and impounded 11, saying they had been abused and neglected. Douglas County prosecutors agreed, and charged John and Elaine Harrison with animal cruelty.

"My opinion is that you're never going to change who people are, but you can try to keep them away from the animals. You can try to prevent this from happening," said Stafford. "Some of these animals lost an incredible amount of weight in a very short time. It would make one believe that there was almost no care given to any of these animals, although that's difficult to prove."

Jack Harrison, the father, has run afoul of the law before, charged with animal cruelty in Elbert County, Kiowa County, Arapahoe County and Garfield County. He is currently on probation. In various police reports, he has listed his name as Jack Harrison, Jack Lyle Harrison and Lyle Jackson Harrison.

In this latest round of allegations, Jack Harrison denied everything. He said emphatically that, "I have had nothing to do with those horses."

"I'm on probation for cruelty to animals, and have had nothing to do with horses in the nine months," said Jack. "I haven't ridden a horse, fed a horse, tended to a horse. I have stuck to my probation completely."

Jack Harrison read from a pretrial release ordering him not to own, rent, lease or maintain or keep or care for horses or other large animals. "That's what I've done," he said.



Ownership questions

Who owns what horses is a bit confusing. Grady said the Harrisons leased, bought and borrowed horses for the summer. Of the 11 impounded in Douglas County, eight were owned by other people.

All those owners were "upset," Stafford said. If the abused horses were used by White River Ranch, the ranch operators are responsible for their condition, whether or not they cared for the animals directly, he added.

To determine a horse's health, animal control officers measure fat in six different areas on a horse's body. A horse requires a certain amount of fat to deal with various types of stress, such as being hauled long distances in a trailer, being pregnant, or just getting through the winter in good health, Stafford said.

Grady said the fat reserves on the palomino found by Gross had almost been completely depleted when the wrangler found it in the Flattops.

"Something has to be done to end this," Stafford said. "This has been going on much longer than I've been around."



Horse care

The two horses found abandoned in Eagle County are being cared for at the SaddleUp Foundation horse rescue in Eagle. The nonprofit group could use help - particularly money and hay - caring for the horses. Their address is: SaddleUp Foundation, P.O. Box 994, Eagle, CO, 81631.

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