Goshen Farmer Gets 2 Years for the Death of 9 Horses

Update (9/6/18): The Goshen farm owner convicted of starving nine horses to death — and the near-starvation of a tenth — will serve two years in jail.

Jeanne Ryan was sentenced on Thursday, Sept. 6, to the maximum penalty after being convicted of 10 felony counts of aggravated cruelty to animals and 10 misdemeanor counts of failure to provide sustenance. Judge Robert Freehill had ordered her held in Orange County Jail since she was found guilty in July.

A Goshen farm owner has been charged with animal cruelty and other charges after the remains of 11 horses were found on her farm.

Jeanne Ryan will be arraigned Sept. 13 on the cruelty charge and five charges of failure to properly dispose of dead animals, according to several sources.

Acting on a tip, officials with the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals raided Argus Farm, at 132 Gate Schoolhouse Road in Goshen, earlier this month. There, they found the skeletal remains of four horses and a foal inside a barn, and six additional remains in the woods. A 10-year-old stallion was found alive but severely malnourished, to the point of chewing wood off of his stall for nourishment. He was taken into protective custody.

Ten other horses were found alive and in relatively good physical condition. By law, they cannot be removed from their quarters, but SPCA officials said they would check on their welfare regularly.