Maine news, sports, weather from Waterville Morning Sentinel

CLINTON

Complaints prompt probe of horse farm

By Scott Monroe smonroe@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer

CLINTON -- Glory will probably never fully heal, but he can be cared for and have a home.

click image to enlarge

UNDER SCRUTINY: Brett Ingraham stands with one of his horses, Glory, at his Clinton farm this past week. Glory is a former race horse who came to the farm with his two front legs broken and several hundred pounds underweight. Ingraham says his farm has been unfairly targeted by critics who initiated a state investigation into the conditions there.

Staff photo by Scott Monroe

Select images available for purchase in the
Maine Today Photo Store

The 11-year-old former race horse from Florida arrived at the Fair Play Farm last November with its front legs broken and was several hundred pounds underweight, according to farm owner Brett Ingraham. Glory has since gained 200 pounds and is walking around with tape wrapped around his front legs for support.

And Glory, Ingraham said, is representative of a misunderstanding of his farm that has in recent months resulted in a bevy of complaints, an inquiry by state animal welfare officials and a criminal investigation.

Ingraham said he and his wife, Alexis, have done nothing wrong at their Tardiff Road farm, despite allegations of mistreatment that have been prominently featured on an equestrian website for months. In fact, the Ingrahams say they been taking in injured or malnourished horses that otherwise would be euthanized. They currently have about 50 horses, he said.

"It takes months to turn horses around," Ingraham said this past week. "We take in unwanted horses."

But even as the Ingrahams continue their work at the horse farm, investigators said this past week that they're still gathering evidence on the complaints and have not yet determined whether any action should be taken against the farm.

"Information is being gathered and we're compiling that, so we're looking at everything and will shortly be meeting with the district attorney to discuss everything, and I'm not sure at that point what will happen," said Christine Fraser, a veterinarian with the state's animal welfare program. "It's still an open case and we'll take the evidence where it goes."

District Attorney Evert Fowle said his office would be meeting soon with animal welfare officials, with whom he has already had "periodic contact" about the case.

"I can't comment until the results of the investigation are complete," Fowle said. "Once we have all the information we'll be in a position" to act. But, he added, "no action has been taken yet."

Even so, Fraser said that her program's investigators have been "out there regularly" during the last several months working on issues of "compliance" with the Ingrahams, though she declined to be more specific because the investigation isn't finished.

"Our first goal in any case is to educate and get compliance and if that fails, then prosecution, so we're still trying to get compliance," Fraser said. "It's safe to say that in most of our cases, if we keep going back there are issues we're trying to work on. There are certainly things we've requested of them and their veterinarian, getting where we need to be with these horses."

The Ingrahams, Fraser said, are "doing what we're requesting and we give everybody every opportunity to comply and hopefully things will happen that way. But if things fail, it will go to the next step."

A flood of complaints started soon after the website NickerNews.net, of Brunswick, began posting photos and articles about the farm, also imploring fellow horse enthusiasts to contact local and state officials to complain.

In the site's first posting, "Starving Horses in Desperate Need," by Maddy B. Gray, the Ingrahams' 40 horses were alleged to be "emaciated, without adequate shelter and in need of immediate medical attention." Gray couldn't be reached for further comment.

"To date, the dozens of horses still have not been seized or surrendered and many continue to stand outside, visible from the roadway," the site claimed. "It is clear this farm has too many horses per acre, not enough shelter and inadequate feed."

Ingraham said the farm is financed by buying, selling and boarding horses, while also offering riding lessons and breeding.

Brett Ingraham said he never paid much attention to the website's allegations because he's too busy working on the farm "and I don't have time for the Internet." Still, the complaints have hurt business -- he used to get five to 10 horses per week, but in recent months that has slowed to five a month -- and he thinks that "people are afraid to give them up now."

Fraser, the state veterinarian, said the NickerNews Web site and people's complaints have helped investigators as they seek information, but they have also spread "misinformation" and allowed the situation to be "portrayed unfairly."

"When people are in a frenzy, that can be a problem," she said.

Ingraham believes his farm has been unfairly targeted by a small group of people who have not come to his farm to see conditions for themselves.

"I'm not going to give in, because I've done nothing wrong," Ingraham said.

Scott Monroe -- 861-9253

smonroe@centralmaine.com