County can sell vet's seized horses

Treatment of animals described as 'inhumane' during extended hearing

By J.R. Williams - jrwilliams@nvdaily.com

WINCHESTER -- A judge has ordered 18 horses seized at a Star Tannery farm can be sold by the local government, but the animals' former caretaker has 10 days to appeal the case.

A hearing on the case lasted well into Thursday night in Frederick County District Court. Judge David S. Whitacre delivered his ruling minutes before midnight.

Animal control officers, veterinarians and area residents were called to testify in the hearing, which focused on Dr. Gwendolyn Pfouts, owner of the Berryville Avenue Veterinary Clinic in Winchester. Authorities seized 18 horses from Pfouts' former home at 2121 S. Pifer Road, Star Tannery, after receiving calls from neighbors about the condition of the animals. A bank in South Carolina recently foreclosed on the property.

Pfouts appeared in court Thursday with her attorney, David Bean.

Several people with direct knowledge of the situation, testifying for the prosecution, offered a searing assessment of the animals' care, but Pfouts rejected their claims as untruthful or without proper context.

Dr. Cheryl Detamore, a Hardy County, W.Va.-based equine specialist who was asked by the Frederick County Sheriff's Office to examine the animals, called their treatment "inhumane."

She described in detail a mare with "extreme melanoma tumors" on its backside.

"This particular mare without a doubt was the most extensive case of melanoma I've ever seen," Detamore said. "It was tumor on top of tumor."

Detamore recommended euthanasia for the horse. She testified that while nearly all the animals needed veterinary condition, some were an acceptable weight.

Several witnesses described a lack of shelter, inadequate water and hay bales that were moldy or were still in their wrapping. According to court documents and testimony, stallions and mares were mixed.

Witnesses called by the defense, including a veterinarian, argued that on trips to the Pfouts farm, no glaring issues were present.

Months before the seizure, many in the horse community had expressed concerns about the horses' welfare and had brought feed for the animals.

Ann Crandell, a neighbor who said she knew Pfouts through endurance riding, testified she found two dead foals on Pfouts' property in December.

"One of them had been dead quite a while," she said. "One of them died that weekend. ... You could see the thrashing on the snow where the horse had died.

"The horse died during the snowstorm. The other had already started to decompose."

Pfouts said the foals were adequately cared for and died from a "failure to thrive."

"They were actually brought in and fed the day before they died," she said. "... I care a great deal about these horses. It may not look like it right now, but I do," she said.

Mardell Rogers, who lives across the street from Pfouts, said she visited the farm to consider taking ownership of a pony.

"There was no shelter. I was sort of stunned," she said. "Everybody knows you should have shelter for your animals. We have terrible winters up there."

At the beginning of the hearing, Whitacre denied a request by Bean to dismiss the case. Bean argued the hearing was not scheduled quickly enough.