A group of rescued horses has a new home after being rehabilitated and donated to the Florida Sheriffs Boys Ranch.

Hillsborough County, Fla., Sheriff's Department Public Information Officer Cristal Bermudez Nuñez said sheriff's department personnel took custody of five allegedly malnourished and maltreated horses belonging to one owner in Wimauma in January. Among those horses was a pregnant mare. The horses' owner relinquished the animals to the custody of the Hillsborough Co. Sheriff's Dept., she said; charges in the case remain pending, Bermudez Nuñez said.

On April 1, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office turned over those horses, including a healthy 1-month-old colt, to the Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranches, Bermudez Nuñez said.

“The horses were transported to the Florida Sheriffs Boys Ranch at Live Oak,” Bermudez Nuñez said. “The horses will be cared for by youth at the Boys Ranch and will become part of their equestrian program.”

The Sheriffs Youth Ranches is a network of residential child care campuses located throughout the state of Florida, Bermudez Nuñez said. Each campus serves needy and neglected boys and girls residing in that state.