Equine rescue operators in Florida are seeking the most recent owner of an Arabian racing mare originally registered to a high-profile global breeding organization.

Law enforcement authorities discovered Virikis Sis, two other mares, and a filly on June 8 after a farmer reported seeing the animals wandering in a field in rural Hialeah. The horses were placed with the South Florida Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, where they are being treated for malnutrition. Virikis Sis is also being treated for multiple deep hoof abscesses and a potentially life-threatening rear leg wound possibly caused by a septic tendon, said agency President Jeanette Jordan.

"Virikis Sis is not responding well to treatment, but the other two mares and the filly are doing fine," said Jordan.

Rescuers used a registry tattoo to identify the mare which was registered in 1996 to Darley Stud Management owned by HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, ruler of Dubai. After the mare was determined too small to race, Darley managers gave the horse to a Williston, Fla., breeding farm operator, Jordan said. The farm's owner later gave the mare to a man described as a landscaper from Miami in 2009