Robin Brownie Floyd, 53, and Lynn Livingston Floyd, 42, both of Gilmore Road, Century, turned themselves in at the Escambia County Jail Thursday on charges of confinement of animals without sufficient food or water. They were released from jail on $6,000 bond each. They are due back in court in early November.
Panhandle Equine Rescue received a tip that several thin horses were being moved by the Floyds to Santa Rosa County, according to PER President Diane Lowery. She said the horses were being transferred to a Santa Rosa County residence and then moved out of state to a horse rescue in Georgia.
When PER investigated in September, they found three emaciated horses still on the Gilmore Road property.
“While this may seem like the right thing for them to do, we felt that the Floyds needed to be held accountable, since this is the second time that they have neglected their horses and then given them away”, Lowery said.
“This seems to be a pattern for them. Mr. Floyd is a local trainer and farrier and has owned horses for over 30 years, so he should know better. There is no excuse for someone with his knowledge to allow his horses to get in this condition.”
Business tax receipt records on file with the Escambia County Tax Collector’s office show the Floyds do own an equine services business operated from a Gilmore Road address.
REPEAT OFFENDERS
PER investigated a similar complaint about the Floyds in 2006, Lowery said.
Lowery said Robin Floyd transported nine of his horses to Santa Rosa County where one was in such poor shape that by the time it arrived, it had to be euthanized by a veterinarian.
She said six horses, including one carrying a foal, remain on the Century property. The Georgia group Horse Rescue, Relief and Retirement Fund, Inc. has offered to take the horses.
“We would have taken in the horses, but the other rescue had already agreed to take them. It would have been difficult for us, since we are at full capacity with little donations coming in, but we would have found a way to help them had it come to that,” Lowery said.
(NorthEscambia.com - October 16, 2009)
