The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office has charged the manager of Chaparral Ranch’s Bear Creek Stables in Los Gatos, a popular South Bay horse riding ranch, with criminally failing to care for a horse that died from malnutrition and heat stroke last year.
Honey the horse was found unable to stand, badly emaciated, and filled with intestinal worms – a condition experts concluded could have been prevented with proper care.
Jennifer Bryant, 25, was arraigned Monday in San Jose Superior Court on a charge of failing to give proper care and attention to an animal, a misdemeanor.
If convicted, she could face up to one year in jail. The timing of the charging was due to extensive follow-up investigation by the DA’s Office and County Animal Control.
“Honey the horse didn’t have to die like this – emaciated and malnourished on a hot day in July,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said. “Proper care in line with a veterinarian’s recommendations could have prevented this outcome, but Honey wasn’t given that chance. All animals deserve a life free of abuse and neglect.”
Chaparral Ranch is an organization that provides horseback rides and riding lessons with hundreds of horses at multiple locations around the Bay Area.
In March 2024, County Animal Control officers responded to complaints about abused horses and inspected the property at Chaparral Ranch’s Bear Creek Stables in Los Gatos. One of the horses officers saw was Honey, who had lice and was sickly,according to prosecutors.
A veterinarian came the next day and, among other things, suggested the ill horse have a special diet of alfalfa hay. He told the ranch that there should be a follow-up appointment to check on Honey.
There is no evidence the manager ordered a follow-up appointment, allege county investigators. They said evidence shows Honey was simply moved to a pasture at a different location and not given the alfalfa hay.
On July 12, 2024, County Animal Control was notified of a “downed” horse at a Chaparral Ranch property on Weller Road in Milpitas. The officer found Honey on the ground, unable to get up, and very thin. Bryant said she had noticed Honey losing weight two weeks prior, and that the horse’s condition was due to allergies.
Honey was euthanized that day.
