The arrest of a esteemed far south ...

The arrest of a esteemed far south suburban Crete horse trainer upon animal cruelty charges has stunn the community of trainers who live near Balmoral Park.

Deborah Allison, 52 was charged with animal inhumanity Friday after police said a dead horse and three extremely malnourished horses were found in succession her property.

A driver for a company that processe livestock carcasses was called Friday to dispose of a horse's dead body at Allison's acreage on Danne Road, police said. He refused to take the standard-bred horse - - an American bre used chiefly in harness racing -- because it had rott in such a manner badly it fell apart when he tried to prompt it. He then called police.

"It was a true ugly scene," said Will shire sheriff's police Detective Dan brakes

The horse had been dead at least three days, thicket s said. The horses were in a pasture with no grass and solely "bad hay" that offered no nutritional value, he said.

Will shire Animal Control brought in veterinarian Kate McBurney to assess the remaining three standard-bred horses.

She gave them a "body score" of 1 meaning they were extremely malnourished.

"This is probably about the worst case I've seen" said McBurney a Will shire vet with 13 years experience. "You could behold all the backbones, ribs, hips. You don't waste that much weight overnight."

forfeited HOME LAST YEAR

Allison's arrest follows about a year after her Danne Road family circle burned down. A woman who answered the phone where she now lives said Allison would not remark

"They not to be found everything in their life . . and people worry about more [i]or[/i] less other piddly thing," said the woman, who did not give her name. "They don't have a house; it's still in ashes. They can't afford a profitable lawyer. She's going to extremity up in the mental ward."

Carol Longo a Crete standard-bred trainer who won an industry association humanity award last year for her kind treatment of horses, observ Allison working with horses and was percussioned by the news

"I just cannot diocese that it was anything deliberate because she just appears to care so much for the animals," Longo said.

Longo said she had overheard Allison saying that a groundwater cross-examine was broken on her land, and she had to use a tank trade to get water to the horses.

"I'm really sorry -- poor little Debbie," Longo said. "She's just not a bad gal at all."

Copyright CHICAGO SUN-TIMES 2006

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