Lifestyle and homemaking media mogul Martha Stewart has provided a “forever home” to two Friesian gelding horses seized from a Vermont farm as part of an ongoing animal cruelty case, according to an animal rescue director.
The state has confiscated 74 horses from the Friesians of Majesty horse farm in Townshend over the course of two years, and horse owner Robert Labrie is facing charges related to animal cruelty and violation of his conditions of release.
First reported by the Brattleboro Reformer, Martha Stewart took in the two horses — named Ulysses and Stewart — last Friday at her estate Cantitoe Corners in New York.
“Two young, handsome Friesians have joined my herd,” Stewart wrote in an Instagram post Sunday. “Three-year old Ulysses and 10-year-old Stewart, were removed from a neglectful facility and brought to Dorset Equine Rescue in Vermont where they could get the care and attention they needed until they could be properly re-homed.”
Stewart’s barn manager contacted Dorset Equine Rescue after the first seizure of horses in 2023 expressing the celebrity’s interest in adoption, but the organization could not make the arrangement at the time due to pending litigation, said Jen Straub, executive director of the rescue.
Ulysses was adopted outright by Stewart after the Friesian gelding was taken in the first seizure and had been forfeited. The second Friesian horse, called Stewart, is being fostered by his namesake, Straub said.
After the forfeiture is sealed, Stewart intends to adopt the 10-year-old gelding, Straub said. An “animal lover,” Stewart already had four Friesians, five miniature donkeys, dogs and cats on a farm in Katonah, a hamlet of Bedford, New York, Straub said.
Ulysses was a yearling when the rescue first received him, but he was small for his age, emaciated, feverish, dehydrated and displayed signs of colic, said Tiffany Vittum, the barn manager for Dorset Equine Rescue.
After Ulysses was sent to the hospital, the horse was diagnosed with a condition called pyloric stenosis, an intestinal issue that prevents feed from properly passing through from the stomach to the intestine.
“He would have died from this,” Vittum said. “The vets did not think that this was ever going to change. It was just going to be a lifetime diagnosis, but with a couple of years of proper treatment and proper feeding and just lots of growing and proper nourishment, he actually was able to overcome it.”
When seized earlier this year, the horse Stewart was emaciated and hospitalized due to several dental issues where he received treatment for several weeks, Vittum said.
“He was born with poor jaw conformation, but the neglect only enhanced it,” Vittum said. “He’s going to need routine, more regular dental work than the average horse. But once we got that taken care of, he was able to go on a pretty normal horse diet of grain and hay, and his weight improved immediately.”
Dorset Equine Rescue has helped with recovery, care and placement of the 74 horses seized from Friesians of Majesty horse farm in the past two years, and facilitated the adoption of over a of the dozen horses since forfeited, Straub said.
Steven Brown, Windham County state’s attorney, said the forfeiture of horses seized in 2023 has long since been completed. Brown said Windham County Superior Court Judge John Treadwell ordered the forfeiture of 19 of the 20 horses seized in 2024, reported by the Brattleboro Reformer in August. That means the adoption process may commence for those 19 horses as well, Brown said.
The next step in the case is the forfeiture hearing for the 39 horses seized in June this year, and then Labrie will stand trial for the animal cruelty charges against him, Brown said.
Brown expressed gratitude to Dorset Equine Rescue for assisting the state and law enforcement during the seizures and caring for horses while the forfeitures are litigated.
“They’ve been an outstanding partner to us, and have gone way above and beyond what we ever could have asked for in terms of care they’re providing and their work in this case,” Brown said. “The public should be aware that they are not receiving any public funds for this work. It’s all based off of donations, and we really appreciate what they do.”
