The animals were taken into police custody and the owner, 64-year-old Marl Steinbach, was taken to jail.
FOX 17 has learned this isn't the first time, Steinbach has been charged with animal cruelty.
Annie Meek is Steinbach's neighbor on Morgan Street in Nashville, Michigan.
Whenever Meek left her home she passed by the horses kept in Steinbach pasture.
"The were getting worse and worse and worse," she said of the horses she saw from the road. "One of the mares had all her ribs showing, her spine was really bad, you could see her hips, her backbone."
At first Meek said she tried to help the animals herself, "We'd pick a lot of grass and feed it to it and them some hay that was sitting there."
Then Meek said she tried to help the owner, "I said maybe you should surrender some of them. And she said no. And it went around and then when they came and took them away she said, she should have listened to me."
Meek called the Barry County Sheriff's Department to report what she said was animal neglect.
With the help of animal control, 17 cats and 7 horses were taken from the property and Steinbach was arrested.
Sheriff Leaf said he knows that people are going to want to help these animals but adds they are now in his control.
Sheriff Leaf said, "They are under veterinarian care. And they are evidence of a crime. So we don't want people to come up and get involved that way."
A look at Steinbach's criminal history shows an arrest in 2003 for cruelty to animals. Neighbors say that charge also involved multiple horses.
Meek said the decision to call the sheriff's department came down to saving lives.
"I felt bad for Marl, but those horses come first," she said.
(Fox17 - Sept 13, 2012)
