Frail and cut up, with a look of confusion and terror in their deep, dark eyes, abused horses from Dinwiddie County are in terrible shape.
"I've seen it before and it never gets any easier. It's always hard to see any animal starve," said Amy Woodard, with the United States Equine Rescue League.
Woodard is trying to find homes for the 50 horses that were seized last week.
Many of them are too weak to travel far and the number of horses that need homes keeps growing.
Eight of them are pregnant.
"They were living in the herd, and of course, horses have a hierarchy, so the ones in the better shape, you know, they're eating more of the food than the ones in weaker shape," Woodard said.
Their hooves haven't been cared for, making it painful to walk and causing leg injuries.
The negligence of leaving these dozens of horses on their own has left half of them severely underweight.
"When you look at it, it's just such a huge number to even fathom and see all in one picture," Woodard said.
Woodard would like to take all of them in, but that's not possible.
Her resources are stretched too thin and she's already taking care of more than 20 horses herself.
But that doesn't have her feeling hopeless.
"The longer time goes on with them being under the care of Dinwiddie Animal Control, the better shape they become because they're eating twice a day," Woodard said.
