Bamberg County, SC (WLTX) - On July 18th, Bamberg Deputies responded to a call about a sick horse off Highway 321 near Denmark.

"They responded out there and were trying to give the horse water and it ended up dying," said Chief Deputy Ben Hay.

Hay says the responding deputy got in contact with the owner,  Benjamin DeHay, and discovered that he owned two other horses.

"One was in distress, and one was looking pretty good."

Police say the horses were found in the yard with no food or water and tied to a tire. The brown horse's ribs were showing and a large gash on its neck.

Hay says if you're going to own a horse, be prepared for the expense of taking care of it.

"They are very costly; it takes a lot of medicine, a lot of food and water. You have to have the right resources, the right shelters and people get into horses not realizing what it takes to get them going."

And Hay says cases like this are not out of the ordinary in Bamberg County.

"We get 8 to 10 calls a year probably."

Despite DeHay telling deputies that the large wound on the horse came from it being attacked by a pit bull, officers say he is not taking full responsibility for the horse's condition.

"He admitted some guilt but not total guilt."