Veterinarian sues to keep horses

    Franklin – The saga of Janice Dockery’s horses is not over yet.
    Whiskey River Large Animal Veterinary Services, which had been providing medical care for the seized horses for the last year, is the plaintiff in a lawsuit filed Sept. 27 to keep Dockery from getting her horses back.
    Dockery twice had criminal charges dismissed after being accused of mistreating and neglecting seven horses. The animals were supposed to be returned to her within 10 days of Judge Roy Wijewickrama’s signed order on Sept. 19.
    However, an injunction was granted after the filing of the civil suit. Four of the horses remain housed at Double 00 Farm in Robbinsville, while the other three are in Macon County.
    Annette Ensley of Double 00 Farm said the rescue operations are absorbing the costs of taking care of the horses since Cherokee County is no longer paying for it, as it was obligated to while the horses were wards of the court in a criminal case. The bills for the last year were more than $26,000, with some still pending.
    Dockery said last week her ideal desire is to have her horses back and be given a chance to care for them on property she says has been upgraded since the testimony by deputies and veterinarian Brittany Beil that their living space was inadequate.
    She added that she is willing to partner with someone who has a larger pasture and can house them in exchange for one or two baby horses in the future. One of her horses is a rare Appaloosa, and Dockery said in a guest column on cherokeescout.com last month that she believed some people in the community wanted to breed her horses to have some of their own.
    “If people wanted this kind of horse, I would have told them where they could buy them so they could leave my horses in peace,” Dockery said. She would also like peace from the sheriff’s office and Facebook agitators.
    Beil said she brought the lawsuit to allow the animals to find new homes, where they will be properly cared for.
    “We ultimately feel that the horses deserve justice and better care, and it’s about giving a voice to the horses,” she said Monday after a hearing in which the judge allowed the lawsuit to progress and be heard in December.
    Beil expressed frustration that the trial in September resulted in a dismissal on a technicality over wording of the warrant.
    The suit asks the court to terminate Dockery’s ownership of the horses permanently, while also enjoining her from ever owning more horses in the future. It also asks for her to pay all the costs of caring for the horses during this interim time as the hearing is awaited.