By David Purtell 

david.purtell@salisburypost.com

A judge said Thursday a horse can stay with its original owner until she makes a final ruling on a temporary restraining order issued against the facility that was using the horse.

Judge Jane Harper said Cee Mee Streak, a male horse in his early 20s, can stay with the Inge family until she makes her decision. Up until last week, the horse had been at Highland Hill Stables since June 2014 — but in fear that the horse was being neglected, Robert Inge obtained a restraining order against the facility and took the horse back.

Inge is an attorney and represented himself in court on Thursday.

The Inges said they made an agreement with the owner of Highland Hill, Lisa Young, that she could use Cee Mee at her facility, which offers horse-riding lessons for children.

Inge has maintained that he owns the horse and that no transfer of ownership has ever taken place. His wife, Tracy, made the arrangements with Young to have the stable use the horse.

The Inges decided to let Young use the horse after their daughter went to college and Cee Mee wasn’t being ridden very often.

In court, Young said the Inges donated the horse to her and she owns it — though she has not produced any paperwork showing she owns Cee Mee.

Young said she had an “oral agreement” with Tracy Inge, who Young thought owned the horse.

Cee Mee was healthy when the Inges took him to Highland Hill last summer, the family said. But in late April, after seeing pictures showing a very thin Cee Mee on Facebook, the Inges tried to get him back from Young. Young refused to give the horse back, which led to the restraining order being obtained.

The Inges say Young neglected Cee Mee.

In testimony on Thursday, Young said Cee Mee had lost a little bit of weight during the winter. She said that in early to mid March, she noticed the horse was losing a lot of weight. She said she tried to fix the problem by changing his diet and feeding him larger amounts of food. She also said she took him out of the riding rotation at her stables, located on Old Mocksville Road.

Her husband, Joel, also said steps were taken to try to help Cee Mee and that the horse was never neglected.

Young said she did not call a veterinarian to see Cee Mee until April 27. Robert Inge said the only reason she called a vet was because he and his wife had contacted her about their concerns that day. Young said she called a vet before she first heard from the Inges.

Young accused the Inges of threatening her and her business. After the hearing, Robert Inge said the allegations of threats being made are “absolutely false.”

Young declined to talk to the Post about the case after the hearing.

“We call a vet anytime something is wrong (with our horses),” Robert Inge said. Whatever happened to Cee Mee, Young wasn’t doing anything about it, he said.

Robert said Cee Mee is “getting better day by day.”

Dr. Andy Gardner, the Inges’ veterinarian, said during the hearing that Cee Mee was between thin and very thin when he examined him last week after the horse was taken from Young. He said if the horse had been left in that condition without any change in treatment, it could have died within a month.

Gardner said he did not find any medical reason for why Cee Mee was losing weight. In his opinion, he said, the problem was nutritional.

Young’s veterinarian, Dr. Jay Moore, said he found signs of parasites in Cee Mee, which could be a reason for the weight loss, during his examination April 27. Young treated Cee Mee for the parasites, he said.

Even though Cee Mee had been treated for parasites a few days earlier, Gardner said, he still should have found signs of parasites during his examination, but he didn’t.

Late last week, Rowan County Animal Control cited Young for animal cruelty, regarding Cee Mee. The Inges contacted Rowan County Animal Control, and an officer visited Highland Hill Stables early last week before the horse was removed.

Due to liability issues with her business, Young said she never would have taken the horse from the Inges if she did not own it.

Young is “not allowed to borrow horses,” she said.

Young said she tried everything she could to help Cee Mee, but admitted she failed by not contacting a vet earlier on in the process.

Contact Reporter David Purtell at 704-797-4264.