El Paso County deputies seize emaciated horses from Yoder ranch

Thursday, officers with multiple agencies searched a property in east El Paso County after a report of horses being underfed and emaciated.

When deputies arrived in the 4100 block of Ramah Highway, they found 11 of 17 horses in poor condition and severely underweight “because of continued animal neglect,” according to the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office.

The sheriff’s office, along with the Bureau of Animal Protection and the Pikes Peak Humane Society, found that the conditions on the property “were not acceptable, and there was not an adequate amount of feed on the premises to provide nutrition for all the horses.”

Deputies questioned the caretakers, Tiffany Phillips and Jaden Hahn, and Hahn was cited and released for 11 counts of animal neglect.

The horses were taken to a boarding facility approved by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. It’s not clear if the other six horses remained in the custody of Hahn and Phillips.