CHAPARRAL, New Mexico -- Four horses in Chaparral, N.M. were penned up in triple-digit heat Friday with barely any food or water. The ribs and bones of some, visible beneath the skin. One could hardly stand.

When KFOX tried to get answers, our crew was met with a locked gate and it didn't appear anybody lived at the property. Neighbors said they've tried for a year to get help for the horses.

"My mom has called animal control, and nobody's come. They never even bothered to call back," Chaparral resident Janette Chacon said.

So KFOX waved down an Otero County Sheriff's deputy to show him the horses.

The deputy, shocked by what he saw, immediately got a search warrant to get the abused horses removed from the property.

"This is definitely going to become a priority for us to look at immediately," Deputy Kenneth Figueroa said.