Horse shows improvement after being rescued from Miami Gardens property

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – A day after being found on the ground at a Miami Gardens property and too weak to even move, a small young horse is now standing, walking and eating again.

Despite the improvement, the young horse still can't get up off the ground on her own.

"We have to actually pick her up to get her on her feet. There's no muscle left," SPCA spokeswoman Laurie Waggoner said.

That horse and four others were found on a property off 159th Street and Red Road Wednesday in Miami Gardens. Authorities said all of them were unhealthy and malnourished and were taken in by the SPCA.

Miami-Dade Animal Services also removed a dog and her litter from the property.

The owner of three of those horses Nathaniel Henry, 64, was arrested on animal abuse charges.

He told investigators that he had run out of food for the horses, though SPCA officials believe the horses hadn't been fed in quite some time. 

"One of them couldn't even stand on its own. That's pretty sad," a Miami-Dade County judge said in court Thursday.

SPCA officials said the next two weeks will be critical for the horses' survival.

"A lot of times when you start re-feeding them, the body shuts down after 10 days," Waggoner said.

But if they make it, SPCA officials hope they will be adopted into loving forever homes.