It happens to horses, too!

Although I write about rescued dogs and cats with a lot of frequency, horses are abandoned, neglected and abused as often as dogs and cats. Horses are also much more expensive to maintain, need more room and generally can be in a neglectful situation for months before anyone reports it.
In this case, the neglect was once again, someone trying to help and getting in over their head. Unfortunately, two horses had to be euthanized because they were so emaciated and starving.
In another case, the owner got 6 months of jail time, 5 years probation and $10,000 in fines.
And in this final news story, someone simply unloaded a horse on a woman's property and drove away.
This is the recommended requirement for a horse from an agricultural extension agent. It is pretty interesting how much land is needed for the horse to actually thrive and be a horse.

The horse requires a minimum level of forage in the diet to maintain normal gastrointestinal function, as well as, normal behavior. There has been little research done on the space requirements of horses. One and one-half to two acres of open land per horse is the recommended starting point to supply adequate acreage for a pasture forage program. The one and one half to two acres is actual pasture area and does not include land for any type of buildings, barns, arenas, etc. One acre of land is 43,560 square feet or approximately 210 feet x 210 feet. Obviously many people keep horses on smaller amounts of land and do not depend on the land to provide any forage. The optimum land amounts per horse then is two acres for pasture and then whatever is desired for barn space, hay and equipment storage and riding area. The next question then is what is the minimum area needed for a horse for a turnout (exercise) paddock. In other words, the horse will be maintained solely on harvested forage (hay) and no pasture land will be provided. Again, little research has been done to determine the minimum area needed for a turnout (exercise) paddock. The Guide For the Care and Use of Agricultural Animals in Agricultural Research and Teaching recommends a minimum area of 0.1 (one-tenth) of an acre of open land per horse. This is approximately 4500 square feet. In most cases horse owners fall somewhere between the optimum and minimum open land levels for maintaining horses.

John D. Atkins
Extension Agronomy/Livestock

So before you decide you can give a horse a good home, check out how much land you have to work with, how much supplemental food you will need, how many vet visits will be needed. Please don't subject the horse to no pasture, poor food, no vet care etc. Then they end up being euthanized, once again because of a human's inhumanity.

If you would like more information on horse protections, check out this website and see what the Horse Protection Association of Florida does. It is a great group which does great work.