A moving video released by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office in Florida shows the horse happily running after being confined for years in a small stall.
The animal was rescued on Sunday (June 1) by agents from the Polk County Animal Cruelty Investigations Unit. The horse, named Thunder, was kept in unhealthy conditions on a farm in Lake Wales.
The video, no longer available on the Sheriff’s Office page, shows Thunder trotting and jumping happily inside the enclosure.
“This is the first time in his life experiencing a pasture and being able to run freely (well, relatively freely), and he is loving it,” the office wrote in a Facebook post on June 3.
“He was kept in a very small stall, in a dark barn, and was never let out to the pasture,” they reported.
The horse was seized as part of an animal cruelty investigation following reports that two horses were starving on the property, according to authorities.
Only Thunder survived; the other horse did not withstand the abuse. It was found with “visible ribs and hip bones” and “lying on the ground, amid its own feces.”
The operation rescued a total of seven horses, eleven goats, and two rams.
The farm owner, Joemanuel Nunez-Suarez, 40, was charged with aggravated animal cruelty and three counts of keeping animals without adequate food, care, and sustenance.
Suarez said he was caring for the animals for other people and that feeding costs had become too high.
Barbara Suarez, Thunder’s owner, was charged with animal neglect and resisting arrest.
Photos: Polk County Sheriff’s Office. This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.
