WINCHESTER — A Stephens City woman was convicted Tuesday in a bench trial in Frederick County General District Court on five counts of animal cruelty after evidence showed she failed to properly treat multiple starving and unhealthy horses on her farm.

Janice Thiem, 81, had been housing 13 horses on her farm, located on the 1500 block of Salem Church Road, when investigators discovered in September of 2023 that several of the horses, which belonged to her son, had major health problems and needed to be looked at by a veterinarian. 

Just over two months later, police returned to the farm to seize 11 of the remaining horses after it was revealed that one of them had died following the initial visit and multiple others were still in critical condition.

Thiem, and her son Chad, were each charged with 12 counts of inadequate care of an agricultural animal and five counts of animal cruelty.

On Sept. 29, 2023, Frederick County Sheriff's Office Deputy Christina Tasker responded to Janice Thiem's farm to do a welfare check of the horses. 

Tasker said that when she got to the farm, she observed two areas with horses in them, a large pasture that made up most of the farm's 40 acres and contained a pond and running stream, and a much smaller "dry lot" that was barren of almost all grass besides some weeds.

She noticed multiple horses with "poor and worrisome body conditions," including "several horses in the dry lot that "you could see the skeletal impressions of," according to her testimony. 

Tasker said she told Janice Thiem that three of the four horses in the dry lot looked malnourished and that 12 of the horses needed veterinary attention.

On Oct. 4, Tasker reached out to Chad Thiem to follow up on the horses' condition. He told her that Lucky, one of the horses that Tasker testified looked extremely thin a month prior, had died the day after her initial visit. 

Tasker said she then attempted to reach Chad Thiem twice in the following weeks but could not reach him. 

On Nov. 4, after getting in contact with the horses' veterinarian and learning that he had not assessed any of the animals since January of that year, Tasker obtained a search warrant for 11 of the remaining horses. 

The next day, Tasker and Dr. Anna Russau, a veterinarian based in Fauquier County, arrived at the farm to assess the horses. 

Frederick County Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Robert Vernail provided photos taken by the pair during their visit, which included images of empty and dirty feed bowls and troughs, as well as empty or nearly-empty bags of feed.

"I wouldn't drink that water, so I don't think the animals would want to either," Tasker testified.

The duo also took multiple photos of 11 of the horses on the property.

Russau pointed out that many of the horses were suffering from some sort of medical issue and that five of them had unhealthy body conditions scores (BCS).

BCS is a method of estimating the amount of fat on a horse's body. It is used by veterinarians and equine owners to evaluate the nutritional status of a horse.

A BCS score between four and six is recommended for most horses, Russau testified. 

Of the 11 horses Russau and Tasker observed, only six had a BCS within the recommended healthy zone, according to the complaint. Star — an extremely thin chestnut mare — had a BCS of 1, which indicates very poor health. Another mare, Dixie, had a BCS of 9, indicating the horse was "extremely fat," according to the BCS scale. 

Tasker noted in a written criminal complaint that all 11 horses were in need of dental care and hoof trimming, and that three of the horses — Star, Coffee and Spirit — were blind. 

She also wrote that Skittles, a black and white appaloosa-type mini gelding had uveitis, a type of inflammation in the eyes, and that two overweight horses, Dixie and Patchy, were at risk of laminitis, an extremely painful condition that causes inflammation around the main bone in a horse's hoof.

Russau pointed out three of the four horses in the dry lot had a BCS of under 4, indicating that they were malnourished.

The 11 horses — a stallion also owned by Chad Thiem was not part of the search warrant — were seized by the Frederick County Sheriff's Office that same day, with the help Shenandoah Valley Equine Rescue Network (SVERN).

Basic veterinary, dental and ophthalmic care were provided to the horses in critical condition immediately following the seizure, including the removal of one of the horse's eyes.

Russau told Judge Mary Costello Daniel that she had visited with some of the horses remaining in a shelter prior to the hearing Tuesday and that their condition was much improved.

After the commonwealth rested, Janice Thiem's attorney J. Michael Solak issued a motion to strike the evidence on the basis that she did not actually legally own any of the horses. 

Daniel granted the motion to strike the 12 counts of inadequate care of an agricultural animal, noting that there was no doubt that the horses belonged to Chad Thiem, but refused to throw out the animal cruelty counts.

Following the decision, Janice Thiem began her testimony and denied any wrongdoing on her behalf.

She told Daniel that she began helping her son tend to the horses after he got divorced 

Thiem said that her son and his ex-wife would usually take care of the horses together and that she didn't want Chad, who lives in Winchester and works in Manassas, to have to do the work alone following their divorce. 

She said that her job was to check each evening to make sure that the horses had enough water and food, as well as lead the three blind horses to water.

Thiem said that she provided the horses with 80 to 100 pounds of hay bales each day.

She testified that none of the horses had any problem eating and that some of them became so thin because of the drought that hitFrederick County in the final months of 2024. 

Thiem said the drought prevented any grass from growing in the dry lot that contained some of the horses. She maintained that the horses were healthy but that they didn't look that way because the grass is what "filled" them up.

Vernail then asked her why she did not seek out medical attention for the horses despite being told by Tasker to do so. 

"That's not my problem. It wasn't something I was supposed to do," she said. "Just because they were thin doesn't mean they were unhealthy, they were walking around and we were feeding them."

Daniel disagreed and said that even though Janice Thiem did not legally own the horses, she still had an "independent direct responsibility" to take care of them, which included bringing in a veterinarian to check up on the animals.

"Even if they [the horses] were getting enough feed and water ... the failure to get a vet out is sufficient evidence for a conviction of the charges," she said.

Vernail asked that Janice Thiem's sentencing be delayed until June 7, when Chad Thiem is set to face trial.