MOULTRIE, Ga. — Colquitt County sheriff’s deputies responded to a report of animal cruelty that included the deaths of at least two horses.

Deputies were called Jan. 24 to a location on Weaver Road, where a resident had contained some horses that had been running in the road. They found six horses there, three of which appeared extremely malnourished, the sheriff’s office report said. The reporting deputy said their ribs and hips were visible and their hooves were damaged.

The resident told the officers the horses belonged to a man on Sumner Road.

The neighbor said the man works horses on a trail riding ranch out-of-state, and she said she believes he brings the older horses from there to the Sumner Road property and forgets about them.

The deputy reported that a horse had died at the Sumner Road property on Jan. 22, and the Weaver Road resident said neglect of horses had been an issue for years at that location.

The deputy went to the property on Sumner Road, where he found a place that looked like the dead horse had been buried in accordance with orders from Jan. 22, but he also found the remains of another horse that he estimated had been dead for several weeks. Another horse on the property was alive but showed signs of malnourishment, the deputy said.

He said a water trough on the property had been tipped over and was empty. Except for grazing in the pasture, there was no visible source of food, and there was no shelter big enough for livestock, he said.

The owner of the property was not charged after he agreed to surrender the surviving horses to a horse rescue organization in Thomas County, according to the deputy’s report.