BELLEVUE - At the Bellevue Triangle ranch on July 2, two horses were paying no attention to the dogs barking to warn of visiting vehicles.

They were too interested in the grass in front of them, working their way methodically across the green carpet to fill bellies so thin that every rib could be counted. The weekend before, the two mares, along with two similarly emaciated fillies, had been purchased at a Twin Falls auction by members of Silent Voices Equine Rescue, a recently formed nonprofit organization in Blaine County dedicated to finding and preventing the neglect and abuse of horses.

The group was created in reaction to what members say has been a lack of proper response by Blaine County authorities to several recent cases of alleged abuse and neglect of horses. No citations have been issued in those cases.

"Most of the time it's not anybody's fault, they're just not educated," said Doro Lohmann of Hailey. "The problem is not that we don't have strong animal cruelty laws, it's that there's not strong enforcement behind those laws."

The group says it is not interested in conflict with the owners of these horses; it instead hopes to educate owners and offer help if the horses are found to be neglected by state Department of Agriculture inspectors or county animal control officers.

"We're not an organization that wants to blame or shame or judge, we just want to give these horses a voice," Lohmann said. "This is not our voices, this is the horses speaking. We're here to represent, because they can't speak for themselves."

The group is restricting its assistance to cases when the state or the county has responded because it doesn't want to get into the business of regularly feeding or caring for other people's horses.

But members will invest time and money into owner education and the purchase of horses that would otherwise die or be slaughtered. If the county seizes the animals due to neglect, for example, the group's members are willing to pay for their foster care and treatment, saving the county money and other resources.

"Keeping a horse is a huge commitment," said group member Karl Poston of Bellevue. "Food is expensive, fences are expensive, and you have to be there seven days a week." The group recognizes that across the country, the weak economy has priced some owners out of horse ownership, and the horses no longer have the market worth that they used to, making them more difficult to sell. Group members say they have been hearing stories everywhere, but especially in the West, of increased abuse and neglect in the past year or so.

"This is not a Blaine County issue, it's an Idaho issue," Silent Voices member Julie Lawson, of Bellevue, said. "We're getting calls from all the other counties asking 'How can we do this too?'"

Silent Voices hopes to work with local lawmakers and law enforcement, perhaps coordinating volunteer veterinarians to go out with animal control officers to provide a more educated opinion on horses' conditions.

That's an idea Blaine County Commissioner Larry Schoen is interested in pursuing.

"I would like to address it this summer, so going into the winter season when these animals can be most stressed, we've given it some thought and have some planning," Schoen said, saying he plans to set up meetings with the county prosecutor and sheriff to discuss how Silent Voices can help prevent equine neglect and abuse. "I've assured them I'm open to a working relationship with them to address the issues they've raised. I'm not an expert in this area, but I do care a lot about animal welfare."

Schoen said he's aware of the private property rights issues in these cases, and wants to give owners every opportunity to do the right thing for the horses before any confiscation or punishment is applied.

What Silent Voices wants is assurance: that when complaints are called in, they're logged; that after a first inspection turns up signs of neglect, a second is done; that owners who are abusing or neglecting horses be educated instead of ignored. Fundamentally, they want those in the position to protect horses through legal means to do so.

"We're just trying to help horses," Lawson said.

Ariel Hansen may be reached at ahansen@magicvalley.com or 208-788-3475.

HAILEY - It's been a frustrating few months for the members of Silent Voices Equine Rescue, a nonprofit group formed this spring to combat what they see as an increase in the cases of severe neglect and abuse of horses.

They've had some successes and rescued several animals, but other attempts to help have been met with indifference and inaction by both owners and responsible officials, they say.

On Thursday, the group invited many of those officials to a public meeting at the Community Campus in Hailey to hear from members and concerned citizens. Attendees included Blaine County Commissioner Larry Schoen, Idaho District 25 Rep. Wendy Jaquet, D-Ketchum, Idaho Depart-ment of Agriculture Deputy Attorney General Angela Kaufman and Idaho Department of Agriculture investigator Kelly Mortensen.

The meeting was intended to spur communication between Silent Voices and the agencies and individuals responsible for enforcing animal cruelty and neglect laws, said group founder Doro Lohmann. It worked even before the meeting started, she said. On Wednesday, group members met with Schoen and Jaquet, as well as Blaine County Prosecutor Jim Thomas and Blaine County Deputy Sheriff Gene Ramsey.

"We've put enough pressure, enough heat on. We have asked for a meeting since May, and nothing has happened until now," Lohmann said.

She said she's now confident, after both the private and public meeting, that the agencies can come together with the support of Silent Voices to change how laws are enforced, and possibly to change the laws themselves.

"I'll believe it when I see it, but I have hope," Lohmann said. "If everybody works together, and the goal is to put a damper on animal cruelty by enforcing the law, we'll have a good start."

Among the ways discussed at the public meeting to achieve those goals included creating or agreeing upon common standards of what neglect and abuse look like, both environmental and in the physical condition of the animal.

Jaquet said she hopes the process for altering laws and enforcement in animal cruelty laws can follow the same alteration that domestic violence laws and enforcement have undergone in recent decades.

"It will be difficult to make changes at the state level," she said, because of horses' status under Department of Agriculture regulations as production animals, similar to cattle. "The reality of the situation is we don't have the money. We need to figure out how to do it locally."

Schoen said that groups like Silent Voices are essential in finding the weak points of a system such as this that balances property rights with animal rights. To strengthen those weak points may involve sheriff's officer training about the law and how to assess a horse, formalizing practices and procedures between the county and the state as to when seizure may be warranted, and possible changes in the language of Blaine County's ordinances, he said.

The framework already in place needs concerned citizens, enforcers and elected officials to, he said, apologizing for the pun, "put meat on the bones - and muscle."

And that, literally and figuratively, is exactly what Silent Voices is hoping to help make happen.