Louisville Magazine

APR 2017

Louisville Magazine is Louisville's city magazine, covering Louisville people, lifestyles, politics, sports, restaurants, entertainment and homes. Includes a monthly calendar of events.

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LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 4.17 113 On a March afternoon, as the blue sky fades to gray, a cold, wet wind lashes the farms of central Kentucky, signaling a late-win- ter snow about to burst. Angie Cheak shivers, buries her small frame in layers and walks up to a wooden fence for a reunion. A blind mare — one eye surgi- cally scooped out, the other a milky opal orb still in the socket — nuzzles Cheak's face. e 53-year-old with wrap-around sunglasses and hair slicked into a tight ponytail quietly coos, calling the mare a nickname I can't quite make out, either "Sugar Bum" or "Sugar Bomb." e blind mare shares a field with two other mares in their mid-20s and two donkeys. ree weeks ago, Cheak and some other volunteers rescued the animals from a "horrible situation," Cheak says, a "hoarding situation." She describes the Jessamine County farm outside Lexington as one that had left the equines without water, food, farrier care or vaccinations. e night before Cheak loaded up the animals, she says one mare died from malnutrition and a uterine infection. In the Jessamine County case, Cheak says the owner agreed to give up the animals. But in some equine abuse and neglect cases, there can be a span of weeks or months in which the ownership of seized horses hangs in legal limbo. During an ongoing investigation or court proceed- ings, an owner may relinquish rights or fight to keep the animals. Finding foster homes for these temporarily orphaned horses can be challenging. Most people are not ready to shelter a number of horses for an indefinite time as legal proceedings wind through the court system. It's an ex- pensive undertaking, anywhere from $200 to $1,000 per month per horse, depending on the severity of their condition. Angie Cheak pets a horse she recovered from a Jessamine County farm.

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