http://www.scsun-news.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20...0319/1081/SILVERCITY

15 rescued horses arrive in area
By Levi Hill SUN-NEWS REPORTER

It is that time of year again and Serenity Acres Horse Rescue has once again saved a small batch of young horses from becoming a main course at a European restaurant.

Each year the rescue makes the arduous journey to North Dakota where they bid on and purchase as many young horses as they can afford, horses who have no future save the slaughter house. The colts and fillies are offspring from Premarin farms where horses are kept pregnant year round so the urine can be used to make Premarin, a hormone replacement drug for women.

This time Larry Hyde and Becky Ferranti, owners of Serenity Acres, a 501 C3 non-profit, were able to bring back 15 horses, a very small sampling of the hundreds who still need homes.

"We were able to go to the ranch this time and we saw what felt like a thousand horses," Ferranti said. "There were horses on 15 pastures spread over 80 miles."

Ferranti said that in the last three years, 80 percent of the Premarin Ranches have closed and more than 40,000 horses have been left with nowhere to go except slaughter. Ferranti said she and Hyde got to see one of the Premarin Farms up close and saw large barns were as many as 300 pregnant horses were kept at any one time attached to large catheter like devices that harvested their urine.

"The owner of this farm was very humane. We were very impressed," Ferranti said. "He knew every horse by its number and could tell you who its parents were and where it came from."

The couple bought 15 horses from the farm and brought them back to their rescue here in Silver City two weeks ago.

Six of the horses already have homes waiting for them and the rest need good homes to go to.

"Anyone can come out and look them over," Ferranti said. "We have paints, buckskin paints and just about anything you could want."

If a person doesn't find the horse they want at the rescue Ferranti can show them photos of more than 50 other horses still in North Dakota that need homes.

"It is almost to the point you can design your own horse," Ferranti said. "If you want a horse with a black circle around its eye and a white foot we can probably find it for you."

Hyde said the current batch of babies will be ready to take home by the end of the week and said all are doing well.

"This was the healthiest group we have saved so far," Hyde said.

Craig Simmens and his family have adopted four of the Premarin babies already and are giving them the run of the family's 50-acre property northeast of Silver City. Simmens is also the new vice president of the Serenity Acres Board of Directors and said he is happy to help save horses.

"When we moved our here from Pennsylvania we sold our horses and then decided we wanted to have some again," Simmens said. "I came across Serenity Acres' horses and they were rough and needed love and we are just the ones to give them all that attention."

Simmens said he wanted to make a difference in rescuing horses and donates his time and energy to helping the rescue by also giving the new horses their shots, helping feed and clean and by storing hay for the rescue.

The horses are available for adoption at a cost of $700, which covers the cost of purchase from the farms, transportation and medicine, Ferranti said. She added that anyone who cannot adopt a horse can still help by donating to the cause.

"We really need donations because we have all these extra mouths to feed and we hope to go back soon for another 15 horses if we can get these adopted out," she said.

Anyone who can't visit the rescue can still see the horses, and many others, online at www.pmurescue.org, a national website for rescuing Premarin horses. Serenity Acres is located on Highway 180 east in Silver City, NM., and can be reached at 388-2315.

Levi Hill can be reached at lhill@scsun-news.com