NEW HOME: Montana is a saddlebred horse Lisa Ponke has at Day Dreams Farm in Cottrellville Township, where she rescues and rehabilitates horses that otherwise would be sent to slaughterhouses. (Times Herald photos by LINSEY TAIT)

SAFE DESTINATION: Lisa Ponke stands with Missy, an Arabian mare that was rescued from a show farm in Pennsylvania, at her farm in Cottrellville Township.

SECOND CHANCE: Susan Boyd of Clinton Township brings Kit, a thoroughbred, into a barn Sunday to be groomed at Day Dreams Farm in Cottrellville Township. Boyd started volunteering in February at the farm that rescues horses such as Kit from kill pens.

Effort aims to rescue horses: Farm diverts animals from slaughterhouses

She has seen horses -- former ribbon winners, baby sitters of 4-H participants, race horses and backyard pets -- waiting to be slaughtered.

Some of the animals have spent years serving their owners, while others are young and never got a chance.

"It sucks. You look at those faces and there's nothing wrong with any of them," Ponke said. "It's really hard when you only have the money or the room to pick one out of 100 really nice horses with great potential."

She said most are friendly and walk up to you, looking for a treat or a pat.

The Cottrellville Township woman -- who founded Day Dreams Farm Therapy and Rescue Inc. in March -- is working to keep those horses from crossing the Blue Water Bridge, destined for meat-processing plants in Quebec.

There, they are slaughtered for human consumption overseas.

Ponke said local residents have no idea how many horses are hauled through Port Huron on their way to be slaughtered, being sold per pound rather than per ability or potential.

A large number of horses have been hauled to Mexico and Canada from the United
States because stateside slaughterhouses were shut down under the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. That federal law went into effect in 2007.

Still, according to a report from the American Veterinary Medical Association, 88,276 horses still were slaughtered in North America in 2009.

The United States Department of Agriculture and Canadian Food Inspection Agency spokesmen said neither group collects data on the number of horses that crosses the Blue Water Bridge bound for slaughter.

"Closing the U.S. slaughterhouses just made it worse, and God help the horses shipped to Mexico," Ponke said.

The Times Herald contacted the owner of a pen in Peck, who declined to comment for this article on the record.

Ponke declined to identify
her contact at a local kill pen or divulge details about the operation.

Between 400 and 500 horses go from a local pen to Canadian slaughterhouses each month, she said. And the pen isn't short on supply.

The operator won't take skinny horses, Ponke said.

She bought two horses directly from the pen and has raced the pen owner to a few that were headed there.

Ponke said the pen operator once called and told her about a horse that was coming to the pen after becoming "ring sour" -- balky and uncooperative.

That horse, a 20-something saddlebred named Montana, now lives at Ponke's farm and is available for adoption.

It's part of a horse-rescue operation Ponke has established as a registered nonprofit organization.

She also is starting a therapy riding program to bring together children and horses who have had troubled lives.

Ponke said she's mostly
self-funded but is looking for donations and people interested in sponsoring or fostering horses.

Ponke doesn't want to see any horses end up in slaughterhouses, but she said shutting down the processing plants in the United States just made the situation worse for the horses.

Now they must be shipped to another country, many in questionable transportation conditions, she said.

TEAM EFFORT: Lisa Ponke, right, talks Sunday at her Cottrellville Township farm about her rescue efforts to save horses from kill pens, while Susan Boyd of Clinton Township grooms Montana, a saddlebred horse.