The town of Westbrook, Connecticut, has filed an animal cruelty complaint against a woman whose horse was so weak and thin he had to be euthanized after falling into a pile of debris and struggling for 24 hours to get up.
According to the complaint filed Dec. 11 in Middletown Superior Court, animal control officers and veterinarians were called to the home of Kristin Calabrese and her husband Nick at 145 Green Meadow Drive in Westbrook on Nov. 30.
One of their horses, a 13-year-old Standardbred gelding named Killian, had wandered into a room full of junk and knocked over a paint can, falling to the floor. He never got back up.
Witnesses whose accounts are included in the complaint said the horse had apparently been lying there for a full day before the owners sought help. Officials said Killian was half his healthy weight.
“I have had many neglect cases over the years. This one was one of the worst,” one witness said in the complaint.
According to the witnesses, Killian’s stall was so full of manure he was able to climb over the rope keeping him in and ended up in a cluttered section of the garage, where he fell.
There was blood on the floor, and Killian was kicking his feet trying to get up. His body was covered with sores and he thirstily lapped at glasses of water the witnesses poured down his throat, according to the complaint.
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“It was very sad to watch this horse try so hard to lift his head,” a witness said. “This horse was extremely dehydrated and was suffering.”
A vet who responded to the home said Killian was so weak he wouldn’t have the muscle mass to stay on his feet if they were able to get him up, so she opted for euthanasia.
Jeff Blaschke, owner of Connecticut Horse Cremation, said Killian's condition "just brought tears to [his] eyes."
An inspection of Killian’s stall revealed no food and water. Dust had collected on the bottom of his water bucket, and the one container of food in the barn was almost empty and had two dead mice at the bottom, according to the complaint.
“I noticed that the outdoor paddock was loaded with feces around the perimeter as well as twine used around hay bales everywhere,” one witness wrote. “This is dangerous as the horses can ingest the twine by accident and choke.”
The couple also had a pony in the barn, who was malnourished and full of parasites. According to the complaint, there was no food or water in her stall either and the floor was covered with excrement. Chloe, the pony, was taken into custody and brought to a rescue barn to be nursed back to health.
"It was a little rough for a while. I think they had been having a tough time with money and I think they were having issues, you know, getting the horses fed," explained neighbor Christa Diaz, who said she'd buy apples and carrots for the animals to eat. "I'd say at least a few years, I noticed the horses getting thinner and thinner."
Investigators checking the family home noticed a strong smell of ammonia and said the floor was littered with garbage. Two dogs and four cats living in the house seemed to be in good condition, but witnesses said they were worried about the safety of the couple’s 12-year-old daughter.
“I am concerned that if they neglected the horses so badly it may happen to the child,” one wrote in the complaint.
Kristin Calabrese has been charged with two counts of animal cruelty and has been issued a summons to appear in Middletown Superior Court on Dec. 18. She said she's been dealing with health problems but admitted that the situation got out of control. Calabrese said she will not own horses again.
"As an animal lover myself, it's tough, because, you know, animals sometimes have diseases which cause them not to gain weight and things like that," Diaz said. "So I was trying to give them the benefit of the doubt hoping that they could figure it out, because I have seen vets here and there."
Nick Calabrese has not been charged because the horses are in his wife’s name, but witnesses said he “knew what was going on in the stable with both horses and did nothing to help them.”
"It was really upsetting. It really was," said Blaschke. "It's one of those things, when I came home, I had problems sleeping from it."
