This may be the most devastating animal cruelty case our cameras have ever caught on tape.

Earlier today, a viewer's phone call tipped us off to a vacant lot in El Cenizo with two horses.

According to that caller, one of the horses was lying dead in the open, while the other appeared to be headed towards the same fate.

According to neighbors both horses had been abandoned. They'd give them water and the horses would eat the vegetation from the lot, but when they woke up this morning and saw one lying on its side, they assumed it was dead.

Our cameras arrived at what we thought would be a dead animal, instead we got a heart-wrenching twist; we found a horse fighting for its life.

Once the young horse sensed our presence she began kicking in tremendous pain, failing at every attempt to stand herself back up.

You can see the marks her hooves have made in the dirt, exhausting her efforts to rise.

She's clearly been here for quite some time, the young horse is lying in her feces, and flies consume her watery eyes, and keeping her company is another horse in the same danger.

“Neighbors say the owners of this vacant lot have abandoned the horses here. They say they can’t afford to give them any food or nutrients but they do give them water."

All of the commotion at 607 Hernandez was something neighbors saw coming.

Reluctant to speak on camera, for fear of retaliation, no one would reveal the owners of this vacant lot, but one lady admitted off-camera that no one ever comes to check on these animals.

“Yo no lo veo comida, no mas comiendo sacate."

She says she's never seen food out; all they eat is grass.

City Commissioner for El Cenizo Reynaldo Vasquez was able to identify the owner of this vacant lot.

"Eres el dueno de este...NO."

The owner denies owning the property and evades our cameras.

"So because of our cameras she didn't want to go and even check on her horse? Apparently not, that's what it looks like."

And later she tells sheriff's deputies that she has been out of town.

"In this case we're gonna get all the info we can from the owner and neighbors surrounding this property. What will happen is we will present all the evidence to the district attorney and see if they approve a warrant and then see if we can prosecute the owner."

Livestock investigators with the Webb County Sheriff's Department are currently investigating the case.

Dr. Sandra Leyendecker arrived on the scene to examine both the horses and will be filing a report for animal cruelty.