LOVE COUNTY, OK ― Some Love County residents say they are concerned about possible animal neglect. Photos of the animals may be disturbing, but are these horses truly mistreated? Daniel Armbruster has more.

First News was called to Realy Road north of Marietta to investigate why so many horses appeared to be sick and not receiving adequate care. When we arrived, we discovered two horses were dead, and we started questioning officials.

Ernest Mullins says he was working with a friend outside on his property just north of Marietta when they saw a horse die Saturday morning.

"Well the horse went to get a drink. It took a drink and stood there for a minute and just kind of collapsed and struggled to get it moved back up and I’ve never seen it move since," Mullins says.

Mullins says this is not the first horse he has seen dead on his neighbor's property and is concerned about possible neglect.

"I’ve called the sheriff's department three times, twice on this horse and once on the last horse that I’ve seen, and the only response that I got was, ‘Okay we'll do something about it.’"

Shortly after the interview with Mullins was filmed, another neighbor who did not want to be on camera notified First News of another dead horse on the same property. We contacted the Love County Sheriff's Department.

Sheriff Joe Russell says he questioned the property's owner.

"They advised that they had a vet out with that one mare in the round pen, she was trying to have a colt and the colt was too big, so they lost the mare. She'd been down several days, and they had to have a vet out there at least once, maybe twice, and the other one said a stud horse kicked him and knocked him into the tank and they drug him out of the tank," Russell says.

Dr. Doug Knightengale, a veterinarian in Ardmore, says while the horses appear to have plenty of hay something is definitely wrong with the them, although it's hard to tell exactly what without examining them.

"If the horses are being properly fed they still have to be dewormed, vaccinated, and they still have to be housed properly."

Dr. Knightengale says he has examined several sick horses in this area. None of them appear to be in as bad condition as these horses.

"A hundred and twenty to 150 days to bring these adequate care, adequate calories, and a good deworming program to bring these horses back up to an acceptable level."

Dr. Knightengale says even if neglect is the problem, finding a place to take the horses once rescued is easier said than done.