Alex Paez and wife Milagros Cowan charged with starving horses and animal cruelty

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Miami-Dade Agricultural Patrol officials seized the three animals on May 27
Hooves had not been trimmed in at least a year and were very overgrown
Alex Paez, 48, and wife Milagros Cowan hit with four animal abuse counts
Cowan reportedly said the horribly emaciated horses were just 'a little thin'
South Florida Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has them

Published: 13:38 EST, 25 October 2015 | Updated: 00:22 EST, 26 October 2015

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Two married bodybuilders have been charged with animal cruelty after Florida authorities found three 'horribly emaciated' and starved horses at their ranch in a rural area of South Miami-Dade.

Miami-Dade Agricultural Patrol officials seized the animals on May 27 and Alex Paez, 48, was hit with four misdemeanor counts of animal abuse and issued a promise to appear in court.

His wife, 50-year-old Milagros Cowan, was arraigned Friday on the same charges as her husband.

Alex Paez, 48 (left) and his 50-year-old wife Milagros Cowan (right) are both facing four counts of animal abuse

Miami-Dade Agricultural Patrol officials seized three starving horses from their Miami-area ranch on May 27

It appeared the horses' hooves had not been trimmed in at least a year and they were severely overgrown

After the hungry horses were seized in May, they were handed over to the South Florida Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SFSPCA) to be nursed back to health, the agency reported.

Paez and Cowan faced similar charges before

It appeared the horses' hooves had not been trimmed in at least a year and they were so overgrown that one of the animals was having trouble walking and almost toppled over while being rescued.

SFSPCA director of ranch operations, Laurie Waggoner, called the stalls where the horses were being kept 'filthy' and said they 'looked like they hadn't been cleaned in a very long time'.

Cowan reportedly said the horses were just 'a little thin' and their hooves were 'not that bad'.

A volunteer who was assisting Waggoner, John Garcia, said: 'There was trash and dangerous debris everywhere, all over the ground, making it almost impossible to find a place to walk without stepping on something.

'There was absolutely no place to turn out the horses.'

Paez and Cowan, who participate in competitions around the US, had similar charges dropped four years ago after completing a pre-trial intervention program, the Miami Herald reported.

Their lawyer called the new charges 'no big deal' on Friday.

The couple have previously posed with their horses to show off their own muscled torsos. It is not known if the horse in this set of pictures from last year was among the emaciated horses, but it looks similar to one of them