Two horses that were boarded at the Ag Academy at Goshen High School died recently, one during spring break in March and the other over the weekend.
One was a rescue horse that a student was trying to nurse back to health and the other was a privately owned horse that was sick and being cared for by a veterinarian.
Dr. Mark Bazzell, superintendent of Pike County Schools, said the rescue horse was in extremely poor shape when it was brought to the Ag Academy in Goshen.
“It’s commendable that a student would want to take on the responsibility of caring for an animal like that,” Bazzell said. “A veterinarian worked with the rescue horse but it got down, then back up for a couple of days. But, when the horse got down again, the veterinarian said there was nothing he could do for it and he put it down.”
The privately owned horse that died over the weekend had been under the care of a veterinarian for about three weeks.
“The horse was in the Christmas parade at Goshen but then it got sick. It would eat very little and lost weight and continued to lose weight,” Bazzell said.
“The horse was fed during the weekend and, when the student went to feed it Monday morning, it was down and dead. An autopsy is being done to see what caused its death.”
Bazzell said it was unfortunate that two horses that were boarded at the Ag Academy died and so closely together.
“But one was a rescue horse that came here in really bad shape and the other just got sick,” he said. “Things like that happen. It’s unfortunate but it happens.”
Bazzell said the Ag Academy does not own horses but students are allowed to board their horses at the facility at no charge.
“The students are responsible for the feeding and care of their horses and they are responsible young people,” he said. “We just had bad luck and lost two horses in a month.”