Out to pasture

 

The venerable circuit court of Goochland County was filled with horse lovers on April 3,4, and 5 for the bench trial of Byrd Rareshide of Columbia on 13 separate Class 1 misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty. The Hon. Timothy K. Sanner, Chief Judge of the 16th Circuit, found Rareshide, who pleaded not guilty on all counts, guilty on charges for horses Patrick, Ruby, Opal, Loki, and Terra. Sentencing will be on May 24.

Goochland is horse country. By some accounts, there are more horses than children here. Equine facilities are central to our rural character.

Rareshide was represented by prominent Richmond defense attorney Craig Cooley.

In early 2023, the horse community was stunned by seemingly skeletal images posted on social media of well-loved animals past their prime entrusted to Rareshide’s retirement facility. Within a few days, many, if not all, of those horses were removed from Rareshide’s 100-acre farm in Columbia and transported to equine rehab facilities to begin “refeeding” regimens to reverse the effects of alleged starvation.

These refeeding protocols introduce nutrition slowly to avoid causing colic, which can be deadly.

Goochland Commonwealth’s Attorney John Lumpkins guided eleven witnesses through almost two days of testimony. These included horse owners and veterinarians who had treated horses at Rareshide’s farm.

Owners testified that the horses entrusted to Rareshide’s care were like family members who had given them years of joy. In their prime they were all equine athletes, show horses, hunter jumpers and a polo pony. Like their human counterparts, horses reach a point where age and injuries take their toll and they can no longer compete, but, with proper care, can enjoy a quiet retirement. Owners sent their horses—several live out of state, traveling from places like Massachusetts and Kansas to testify—to Rareshide whose website promised “. three large pastures to accommodate the dynamics of the individual horses. Byrd puts hands on each horse three (or more) times each day.”

The testimony explained that horses put out to pasture need a period of adjustment, typically a year, to thrive while living outdoors, deriving nourishment from grazing on grass, with shelter provided by three sided “run in” barns. During their working life, horses tend to be kept in barns when not working and provided with adequate food.

The defense argued that when horses kept outside lose weight in winter and regain it in spring when grass begins to grow it is “mother nature’s way”.  The Goochland Animal Protection officer that visited Rareshide’s farm in response to a call concerned about the condition of horses there said they look like “horses coming out of winter” in early February 2023, a least a month before grass typically breaks dormancy.

Concern about the condition of the animals led GAP to contact the state veterinarian, which must be consulted to seize animals. This happened over a weekend. However, by Monday, owners began to remove their horses, so the matter was not pursued by animal protection.

Cooley contended that the horses in Rareshide’s care were never without food or water.

The testimony included an explanation of horse metabolism. Eating hay plays a vital role in keeping a horse warm as well as providing nutrition, sort of stoking its internal furnace. Lack of hay impeded this process so horses cannot keep themselves warm.

Veterinarian Dr. Katherine Burke Johnson, owner of Veterinary Rehabilitation Services of Virginia in Gordonsville, a “step down unit” for animal care, took in seven horses from Rareshide’s farm in early February 2023. She said that all horses were extremely thin, and testified that when horses are hungry, they eat things like wood and sand.

Johnson explained that body condition scoring (BCS) is a method of estimating the amount of fat on a horse’s body on a scale of 1 to 9.  It is used to estimate a horse’s nutritional status.

Johnson testified that of the horses that came to her clinic, Opal, with a BCS of 1 was the weakest. She was depressed, not reactive to her surroundings, stood with her head down, had no normal gut motility, was dehydrated, had no appetite, had nothing in her system to move through. She responded well to the refeeding protocols and was a BCS 3 on the day she left. She had grown a heavy coat, but when it was shed Opal had no hair underneath.

Another horse, Patrick, arrived with a BCS of 2, and was also dull, depressed, not interested in eating. He gained 80 pounds in 14 days but had developed a permanent heart murmur.

Cooley contended that the horses were old with bad teeth and unable to eat properly. Johnson said that if detention was the problem, the horses would not have been able to respond to the refeeding as well and fast as they did.

Veterinarian Blythe Jones of the Keswick Equine Clinic testified that she visited Rareshide’s farm to check on Loki, whose face was reported swollen by Rareshide. Loki, said Jones, was so thin that his face looked swollen by comparison. She categorized the horse as emaciated, that he was weak and his vital signs “quite concerning”. Loki’s BCS was 1.5. His skin was “draped over his bones” with no muscle. Jones said it seemed like Loki was using all of his energy to stay alive and was not sure he would have survived much longer if he remained at Rareshide’s farm.

Jones said she told Rareshide she was concerned that Loki’s internal organs were in too poor a condition for him to live. Rareshide told Jones that she could handle Loki if it was just a feeding problem.

Jones testified that she took blood and fecal samples to check for parasites. Loki was so weak that he did not need to be sedated when she examined his teeth, which had no sharp points to prevent eating. She found dirt packed in his mouth, which she said was evidence of lack of food but no evidence of hay whatsoever.

The pastures at Rareshide’s farm were in poor condition, Jones testified, contending that Rareshide did not “throw hay” to the horses unless there was snow on the ground.

Cooley contended that Loki had not spent a full year outside and was still in the transition process.

Annie Spencer, owner of Ruby, who had been at areshide’s farm since 2019, traveled to Goochland from Massachusetts to testify.

“Ruby was my baby for her entire life. I wanted to make sure she had a comfortable retirement. She gave me so much I wanted to give her everything.” Rareshide’s Virginia farm, where winters were milder than those in New England, seemed like a good retirement option, said Spencer. She said, in response to a question from Cooley, that Ruby’s weight had waxed and waned with the seasons. Spencer visited Ruby in 2019 and was satisfied with conditions at that time.

Spencer and other horse owners testified that they had regular communications about their animals with Rareshide, including photos usually via text.

Over the years, Spencer received periodic updates about Ruby mostly via text. When Rareshide recommended medical or other care, Spencer agreed and paid the invoices at once with no question. On February 8, 2023, Spencer received a call “out of the blue” from the Keswick Equine Clinic about concerns for horses at Rareshide’s farm.

About this time Spencer was notified that Rareshide changed veterinary practices to Woodside Equine. While she thought the switch was odd, it raised no alarm bells. Then Spencer was told that Ruby might have colic, which can be fatal for horses. Spencer, pregnant at the time, was unable to travel, but worked with another horse owner to have Ruby transported to Johnson’s rehab facility, where she recovered.

Debbie Calvin, who traveled to court from Overland Park, Kansas said she had no reason not to trust the judgement of Rareshide, who had an excellent and long-standing reputation among the horse community. Then Calvin saw social media posts about horses at Rareshide’s farm. When she zoomed in on a cell phone photo of her horse sent by Rareshide, the horse seemed to be skin and bones. “What the hell have you done to my horse?” Calvin asked Rareshide, who replied that the horse was fine but had just lost some weight.

When vet Dr. McDaniel saw the horse, she was pronounced “in rough shape” Calvin told the vet to get her horse off of Rareshide’s farm as soon as possible, that cost was not an object, “if she lives through the night.” Calvin immediately flew to Virginia and said that the horse looked worse in person. “She was skin and bones, could not eat or swallow.” Following appropriate treatment, the horse has recovered, is doing well and is lucky to be alive, Calvin said.

Grace Maxwell of Henrico became involved after seeing the photos of the horses on social media and offered her horse trailer to help move the horses. On February 9, she picked up Ruby and Finch from Rareshide’s farm. “Ruby was very underweight and in worse condition.” Maxwell was concerned that Ruby would not be able to remain upright for the trip from Columbia to Johnson’s facility in Gordonsville. “I wanted to make sure that Ruby didn’t die there.”

Reams of texts between owners and Rareshide about the condition of the horses and photos were entered into evidence. Both the Commonwealth and Cooley questioned whether some of the photos had been manipulated. A photo of Ruby, for instance, wearing a blanket to allegedly disguise her thinness was explained as needed for cold weather by Cooley.

The prosecution rested on Thursday afternoon.

Defense witnesses said that Rareshide was an experienced horse person dedicated to helping horses however she could. Her hay and feed suppliers testified that she bought a lot of feed and hay. In fact, the hay supplier said he thought Rareshide bought more hay than she needed for 10 horses. He was unaware that she was caring for 25 horses. He said there was plenty of hay and feed in the barn where Rareshide’s horses were kept. Other horses in the barn were also well cared for.

Evidence as presented that Rareshide drill seeded her pastures in September 2022.

One witness testified that the winer cycle of thinness is beneficial to pasture horses because when the grass comes in they “blow up” and gain weight, which can result in dangerous strain on their feet. The witness contended that healthy horses should show some ribs and that lower BCS are better than higher. When older horses are overweight, she said, it puts more strain on arthritic joints and could lead to excessive sugar in a horse’s diet causing other problems.

Rareshide took the stand on Friday afternoon. Her demeanor was confident, relaxed, and gossipy as she talked about each of the horses in question, their personality quirks, and herd dynamics, and specific needs. She also explained, in great detail, how she deployed hay in the pastures by dispersing “flakes” around the field to keep the horses moving. She contended that each horse got 4 to 5 flakes of hay up to four times per day.

Rareshide said that if pasture boarded horses do not hold weight in winter, she supplemented their diet with grain. When horses come from the barn, she said, their first winter in pasture is the hardest because they are not used to the elements and lose muscle mass because they are no longer working. She said that it is hard to keep weight on older horses.

Cooley said these horses are “an ornament not to be ridden.”

Nine-quart grain buckets and a muzzle used to restrict the amount of grass a fat horse can eat were presented to the court. Rareshide said she used the buckets for feeding alfalfa pellets, grain and other nutritional supplements to the horses, following daily individual schedules.

Rareshide said that Christmas 2022 was “really cold, the temperature was five degrees.” She made sure “everyone” had hay and observed that once you start (feeding hay) the horses won’t let you stop. She testified that she fed 55–60-pound bales of alfalfa hay daily.

Lumpkins’ cross examination focused on the non-profit foundation Rareshide established in 2022. She said it was to offer a way to fund veterinary and other care for which owners were unable to budget. The foundation was deemed inactive for failure to pay fees. Lumpkins pointed out that several of the owners testified that they considered “money no object” for their retired horses.

Cooley contended that Rareshide’s “natural” approach to pasture horses was sound and attributed weight loss to natural decline even though expert testimony by veterinarians said the horses were emaciated and skin and bones. He contended that the horses, many in dire condition, removed from Rareshide’s farm in early February of 2023, would have gained weight “on the cusp of spring,” which was still a month in the future.