GRAYSON CO., TX - The owner of dozens of seized horses appeared in court today for the first time, six months after authorities rescued the animals from her ranch in Ector. Bells police found more horses she had in her possession that appeared to be too skinny and emaciated.

After the seizure in August, Kim Dotson was left with six healthy horses that she promised to the Fannin County Sheriff's Office that she would take care of and keep in good condition.

"It's ludicrous when you see the condition of the horses, one is advanced in a pregnancy,” said Deanne Murillo of Habitat for Horses.

But last week, on February 2, the Bells Police Department found two of those horses in worse condition than they were six months ago and seized those as well.

"We found two horses that appeared to be emaciated, they seemed pretty skinny,” said Bells Police Chief Chris Hoppe.

Dotson appeared in a Grayson County Civil Court Monday afternoon to determine if the animals had been treated cruelly. And in a surprise move, her attorney requested a trial by jury instead of by a judge.

"Both horses were treated very well, and the current allegations that they're trying to make are false and we'll prove that on Thursday,” said Dotson’s attorney Don Bailey.

Murillo said she’s been monitoring Dotson and the remaining horses left in her care and says that's simply not true.

"I say look at the pictures, you're not supposed to have protruding bones coming through flesh on horses, and the veterinarian concurred,” said Murillo.

She said Dotson moved the horses out of Fannin County, where two are on another person’s ranch, two were on Dotson’s property in Bells in poor health and the other two are missing all together.

"I understand if animal cruelty is not on the top of the list, but the laws are there, and even if it's not on the top of their list it needs to be somewhere on their list and it needs to be pursued,” said Murillo.

The Fannin County Sheriff's office said because Dotson originally gave up dozens of horses willingly in August and moved the others out of Fannin County, they won't file any animal cruelty charges.

"The horses speak for themselves, what happened in Fannin County doesn't really affect us as far as Bells doing our job. But given the situation and the circumstances, the horses being thin they were, you know that's the decision we made to do,” said Hoppe.

But Dotson's lawyer says they're not backing down.

"The allegations were that they mistreated some horses by under feeding them and that's absolutely not true,” said Bailey.

A trial by jury is set for Thursday morning at 10:00 a.m. at the Grayson County Justice Center. Habitat for Horses says they also plan to subpoena the veterinarian who looked at the horses to appear as well. So far no criminal charges have been filed yet.