[embed-1] In a sequence straight out of a country music song, a man from Greenwood, S.C. has been arrested while riding his horse to the Florida Keys after he lost his wife and wrecked his truck.
On Wednesday last week, Chris Emerson was charged with animal cruelty in Miami after local media reported on the man’s journey to South Florida from South Carolina on the back of an emaciated horse he called Trigger. A local rescue stable reports that the horse is tired, sore, and undernourished, but is being nursed back to health. Laurie Waggoner, leader of the South Florida SCPA told the Miami Herald that horses like Trigger can eat 25 pounds of food a day. Emerson reportedly only had some grass clippings on hand and appeared to be homeless himself, traveling without shoes and trying to use donations to feed himself and the horse.
Emerson apparently set off for a life in the Keys after things took a turn for the worse back home. “I was married. Had a truck … Got a divorce. Wrecked my truck,” he said. But a few days before Thanksgiving and before he was arrested, Emerson found some solace in his long trip, “I rode a horse from South Carolina to Miami, Florida. The things I’ve seen between here and there are priceless. It’s more than I’ve done in my whole entire life.”
The SPCA posted on Thursday that Trigger, estimated to be about 20 years old, was enjoying “a very happy Thanksgiving.” A man matching Chris Emerson’s name and description remained in custody today, according to Miami-Dade County online records. [embed-2]
Cover photo from @HelptheHorses
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