How Did No One Know? The Haunting Questions Behind the Pure Gold Stables Investigation
“[H]ow, in 2025, did this level of neglect — of alleged suffering — stay hidden long enough for four horses to be left starving behind closed doors, so desperate they tried to kick and chew their way out?”
If you’ve been on social media at all lately, you’ve likely seen the horrors of the neglect case documented a Pure Gold Stables in Salem, OH. If you’ve seen any of the photos of the horses’ remains, it’s horrifying. We’ve all heard neglect cases. We all know of “that barn” that has a bad reputation, or the owner who doesn’t do for their horses what we all would like done.
However, Pure Gold Stables wasn’t that barn — or it didn’t seem like it. It was a Hunter/Jumper facility described as having “all the bells and whistles” by someone who used to frequent a neighboring facility.
Four horses. Four sets of remains. Seven more horses in poor condition removed from the property. Found hidden behind locked doors and boarded-up windows at Pure Gold Stables — a facility that, according to its Facebook page, hosted shows, clinics, and lessons as recently as this spring and late last year.
Not some remote backwoods property. Not a small, private barn where one person quietly slipped through the cracks. A boarding and show barn. A place with visitors. Students. Farriers. Trainers. Judges. People walking the aisles, cleaning stalls, tacking up horses, posting pictures of smiling riders beneath the Pure Gold banner.
So how, in 2025, did this level of neglect — of alleged suffering — stay hidden long enough for four horses to be left starving behind closed doors, so desperate they tried to kick and chew their way out?
“Would anybody have known?”
Those words, spoken by farrier Christian Milhoan to 21 Weekend News Anchor Corey McCrae in a one-on-one interview, echo like a challenge to every one of us who has ever said, “Someone should have seen something.” Milhoan discovered the remains while helping a friend who was considering leasing the property. He describes walking into the round pen and being hit first by the smell — then by the sight: decomposed bodies of four horses, some so emaciated they appeared to have chewed the wood of their enclosures to survive.
It’s chilling. But what’s worse is realizing that this wasn’t happening in secret isolation. There were public posts from the stable — promoting events, hosting clinics, and advertising a show series. People were there. So, again, how did no one know?
The uncomfortable truth: we often don’t look too closely.
In equestrian culture, we rely on an unspoken trust — barn owners know their horses, boarders mind their own business, and everyone assumes the “official” people are keeping an eye out. We see what we’re shown on social media — happy riders, tidy aisles, horses in turnout — and we believe that’s the whole story.
But behind those curated posts can exist a far darker reality. A locked door here, a boarded-up window there — brushed off as “storage” or “repairs.” And when someone finally asks questions, it’s often too late.
Where were the checks and balances?
This case raises serious questions not just about individual accountability, but about systemic oversight. How many people visited that property — to deliver hay, trim hooves, drop off students, or attend an event — and didn’t have access to one locked building? How many of us, in our own barns, would think to ask what’s behind a closed door?
The cruelty of this neglect itself is horrifying. But the silence that surrounded it? That’s almost worse.
The reflection we can’t avoid
Maybe the scariest part of this story isn’t the discovery itself — it’s the fact that it took a leasing inquiry to expose it. Not a tip. Not a wellness check. Not someone noticing missing horses. Just chance.
We owe it to the animals — and to the integrity of the equestrian community — to ask harder questions. To check in on barns that seem “off.” To push past polite boundaries when something doesn’t feel right.
Because if four horses can die unseen in a facility that still had people coming and going, we can’t keep pretending this kind of neglect only happens “somewhere else.”
Image from Google Maps.
The investigation into Pure Gold Stables remains ongoing. If you have information relevant to the case, please contact the Columbiana County Humane Society or Sheriff’s Office.
