Another side of the horse crisis: Abandoned colt, unknown to farmer, fathers several foals

Horse owner Marilyn Montavon and one of her horses
(Lexington Herald-Leader photo by Greg Kocher)

A Central Kentucky horse farmer has been finding bundles of surprises in her stables. Someone managed to sneak an unwanted colt onto her property, and the horse lived unnoticed for at least a year among her herd of more than 20 Thoroughbred mares. As expected, the end result has been a bevy of surprise pregnancies that could cost the horse owner thousands of dollars in food and veterinary bills, reports Greg Kocher for the Lexington Herald-Leader.

"I think somebody just figured they didn't want to send the horse to the (slaughterhouse) and they thought, 'Oh, here's a field full of horses. He'll get lost in the herd,'" said Marilyn Montavon, who owns the 50-acre farm near Centerville in Bourbon County, near Lexington.  "But they were irresponsible in putting a colt out with a field full of mares."

The colt, whom Montavon dubbed Mystery Man, has since been sent to live with a friend in Illinois, but where he came from remains a mystery. Police have no record of a missing or stolen horse, Kocher writes, but a horse farmer in Jessamine County, south of Lexington, had three horses suddenly appear on her farm, Karen Gustin, executive director of the Kentucky Equine Humane Center, told Kocher. "We will eventually take those horses because they're labeled as abandoned," Gustin said. "There's no information as to where they came from or who they belonged to." (Read more)

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2013/04/23/2612602/mystery-horse-impregnates-five.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2013/04/23/2612602/mystery-horse-impregnates-five.html#storylink=cp

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2013/04/23/2612602/mystery-horse-impregnates-five.html#storylink=cpy