Rescued Horses Find Sanctuary In Calvert

Nebraska Rancher Faces Cruelty Charges

Cinderella and Taint are a little scruffy, to say the least. They look to be no more than skin and bones. Their hooves have been neglected and resemble elf shoes. Their teeth are dangerously sharp and cutting the insides of their mouths. They could use a little tender loving care.

The two mares are the newest additions at Freedom Hill Horse Rescue in Owings. They were among the more than 220 horses and burros found starving and near death last month on a ranch in Nebraska. Authorities found about 70 carcasses.

The owner of the 1,900-acre ranch, Jason C. Meduna, had billed it as an area where horses could run free. He bought about 200 mustangs from the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management for $10 to $50 per head, said Cindy Wentz, a spokeswoman for the bureau's Wyoming office.

Meduna and his wife had adopted six other horses and burros from the bureau, Wentz said, and Meduna was taking in horses from other people.

After receiving complaints, a bureau inspector went to check on the six adopted animals. Four were found dead, and a fifth was presumed dead, Wentz said. The other horse was starving, she said.

"We took our horse back, and that horse has gained about 120 pounds" in three weeks, Wentz said.

Meduna was charged with 150 felony counts of animal cruelty. He is to be arraigned this week.

Habitat for Horses, based in Texas, and other rescue groups worked to get the remaining horses to a fairground in Bridgeport, Neb., where they started the adoption process and found owners, said Jerry Finch, president of Habitat for Horses.

The animals were taken to ranches and rescue groups in Texas, California, Colorado, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland.

"It was a case that brought a lot of people together," said Melody Parrish, president and founder of Freedom Hill Horse Rescue.

The Calvert County group requested tamer mustangs so that their volunteers, many of whom are just learning about horses, could handle them. They also asked for pregnant mares, to give other animals a chance to survive, said Sharon Hancock, Freedom Hill's barn operation manager. She and volunteers built a pen for Taint, 5, and Cinderella, 3.

Hancock and other members Freedom Hill try to cajole the animals into eating cookies, and they're trying to get them familiar with bridles.