Unstable conditions: 4 horses rescued from Strawberry Mansion properties

Hell for horses.

That's how one officer with the Pennsylvania SPCA described living conditions for four horses taken from two properties on Fletcher Street near 26th in Strawberry Mansion late yesterday afternoon.

Crumbling walls, cramped makeshift stables fashioned together from wet, wooden board, and horses' coats blackened with caked mud and manure were just some of the makings of the urban hellhole officials found yesterday.

PSPCA officers originally visited Fletcher Street with officials from the city's Department of Licenses and Inspections to reinspect stables on the same block that previously had been cited for violations, according to George Bengal, the director of law enforcement for the PSPCA.

"This down here has been an ongoing problem for years," Bengal said of the area where in 2007, the rotting carcasses of three dead horses were found.

Yesterday's squalid conditions were similar to those found in other stables on Fletcher near 26th last March, when the city razed stables housing about 40 horses that were illegally built on city-owned land.

Regarding yesterday's raid, Bengal said that once they were at the scene, they received information that led them to horses being housed in poor conditions down the street.

Officers went around to Dauphin Street and could see a horse in the vacant lot behind one of the Fletcher Street homes because it was standing on top of a mound of trash, debris and feces.

Officials obtained a search warrant to remove the horse, and when they returned, they found the others. The PSPCA took three of the horses from the scene, two of which were seriously underweight, Bengal said.

They all needed to have their teeth cleaned, to be dewormed and to have someone care for their hooves, an important part of horse care, said Rachel Lee, a veterinarian with the PSPCA.

The fourth horse was not in as bad of shape as the others, she said. It was released to another neighborhood horse owner.

"They had no food or water back there that we could see or at least nothing worth eating," Lee said.

The owner claimed that about six months ago, he suffered a stroke and thus was unable to care for the animals properly any more, Bengal said.

But the owner should have called the PSPCA or another horse owner in the area when he could no longer take care of the animals, Bengal said.

The owner is expected to face several charges, including animal cruelty, lack of veterinary care and unsanitary confinement, Bengal said.

PSPCA officials did not release his name last night.

When officials came to the owner's house with the warrant to take the first horse, they also saw a pitbull trying to wriggle through a broken basement window.

"The dog almost hung himself trying to get out," Bengal said.

Officer Tara Loller described the conditions in the basement as being similar to a sewer.

"There was at least about a foot of water, feces, and the dog was standing on wooden planks trying to stay afloat," Loller said as she held one of the horses while Lee listened for its heartbeat.

Loller said the dog looked OK despite the conditions that he was living in but, "there was obviously a lot more going on."

Fletcher Street has a long history with horses.

The Fletcher Street Urban Riding Club, whose Web site says it continues a riding tradition on Fletcher Street that stretches back more than 100 years, petitioned the city in September to use the land to stable horses.

Martha Camarillo, a member of the club, said last night that the owner of the horses in yesterday's case was not affiliated with the club.

The owner declined to speak to a reporter when he left the house yesterday.

"It's extremely horrible," Loller said, as she tried to calm one of the horses by petting it above its nose.

"Horses are beautiful, smart animals and they deserve a lot more than that type of care." *