Circle H Ranch hearing to continue (24 horse photos)

Rebecca Hurley will get another chance to present evidence against allegations she neglected horses at Circle H Ranch, the business she owns and operates with her husband, Albert Hurley, on Case Road.

Hurley will have the opportunity to present new, updated photographic and other evidence that shows horses in her care at Circle H Ranch were neither abused nor neglected at a continuation of her Animal Care Review Board hearing next month. 

The hearing, which continues January 21 and January 22, 2013, is Hurley's opportunity to argue against some of the orders issued to her by the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (OSPCA) in relation to an investigation of complaints against her this summer.

She maintains that, while some of her horses were thin, some of the OSPCA orders were unnecessary, and possibly excessive.

"These are all things that could have been done at the ranch, things I had been doing all ready," she said. "You can't put weight on a horse over night. Not safely, anyway."

She said her horses lost weight quickly and she was trying to treat them for what she suspected were internal parasites that are resistant to standard methods of control and elimination.

The OSPCA maintains her horses lost weight because they were not being fed properly, often enough and/or fed quality food on a consistent basis.

Circle H Ranch, is a scenic property of over 100 acres consisting of wooded areas, several large and a few small paddocks, a barn, house, and several other out buildings.

It offers guided trail rides, pony rides, hay rides and winter sleigh rides both on and off the property.

Hurley has been the ranch's major owner and operator at Circle H for the past 16 years.

City Police and Sault Ste. Marie Humane society officials (acting as agents for the OSPCA) went to Circle H Ranch August 24, 2012 and searched the facility after receiving a complaint that there were at least a dozen emaciated horses at the ranch.

OSPCA Inspector and Sault Ste. Marie Humane Society employee Trudy Archibald ordered the removal of three horses  along with a number of dogs and cats, because, based on her investigation and on recommendations from a veterinarian, she came to the conclusion that the animals were in danger at the ranch.

Shown above in a photo Hurley took are Sault Ste. Marie Humane Society employees removing another eight horses on August 31.

About a dozen of the nearly 50 horses on the ranch at that time were obviously showing signs of weight loss, and Hurley was arrested by police and charged with causing or permitting unnecessary suffering of animals.

She was also served with orders meant to remedy the problems at the ranch and alleviate the distress the OSPCA observed in the horses. 

Based on recommendations from Algoma Veterinarian Services equine veterinarian Keith Good, and her own investigation, Archibald made orders that covered specific feeds to be given and methods of feeding.

She also expressed concern about the condition of the horses' feet and ordered they be attended to by a qualified farrier (equine footcare specialist) .

Also as a result of this investigation, Hurley was charged Under the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act with both criminal offences and Provincial offences.

She faces hearings before Criminal Court and the Provincial Court of Ontario in connection with the charges while also, in the same time period, arguing against OSPCA orders to the Animal Care Review Board in concurrent but unrelated hearings. 

The OSPCA ordered hearings are presided over by Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services Animal Care Review Board Chair Rae Slater Legault, accompanied by Board member Louise Menard.

They attended in Sault Ste, Marie to hear arguments from the OSPCA supporting their orders and arguments from Hurley disagreeing with those orders two times so far, the first being in November, 2012 and the second being Thursday and Friday, December 20 and 21, 2012.

Ontario OSPCA Regional Inspector Lynn Michaud and OSPCA officer Trudy Archibald were present at the hearing to argue the validity of OSPCA orders to Hurley.

They were represented by Toronto lawyer, Paula Thomas.

Hurley was present, with SooToday.com Assignment Editor Carol Martin acting as Hurley’s advocate at the proceedings.

Martin said she struck up a friendship with Hurley after taking her daughter horse back riding at Circle H Ranch almost three years ago.

"I was familiar with the accusations against Becky and had taken a number of photos of the horses over the years," Martin said. "She asked me to find some of those photos and help her organize the information for her defense and I agreed. When I went with her to the first day of her Animal Care Review Board hearing I had only intended to observe and advise her from the background but she had no representation and was clearly having difficulty communicating her side of the story, so I asked for her permission to speak on her behalf. So, here I am."

After inspecting the ranch, the OSPCA issued a compliance order against Hurley dated September 17 requiring Hurley to meet OSPCA standards of nutrition, shelter and care, with proof of compliance to be provided by January 18, 2013.

Eleven of Hurley’s horses are now in care at other locations and 29 remain at the ranch under her care.

Hurley told the Board chair the horses involved, as well as other animals, were not victims of neglect, but had been suffering from treatment-resistant internal parasites for which she had been treating them when they were taken from the ranch.

Hurley, when asked to clarify certain details for the Board by Carol Martin, said the horses had been de-wormed and were undergoing a special homegrown feeding program to bring the horses’ weight back to normal.

Hurley stated she had done a considerable amount of research and concluded proper feeding can be done without using commercially produced grain. 

The ranch owner said the feed she is currently giving the horses consists of sunflower seeds, corn, alfalfa cubes, beet pulp, and other ingredients, adding: “Doing your own mixture is better than using commercially-produced feed.”

“The problem with commercial grain is that it has the same consistency for all horses… each horse is individual, you can’t make a blanket feeding.”

OSPCA lawyer Paula Thomas cross-examined Hurley, asking if she could provide validity of her claims.

Hurley replied that she has carried out the feeding program at her ranch, as described to the Board, for many years and it has worked to put weight on the horses with special health concerns, such as older horses, younger horses, horses recovering from an injury or an illness or even horses newly introduced into the herd and suffering the stress of that integration.

When shown photographs by Thomas of several horses at the ranch which appeared under-nourished, Hurley repeated that they had each been suffering from internal parasites, had been “de-wormed” and were on a feeding program to regain weight at a controlled, safe pace.

“The horses,” Hurley said, “didn’t have to be removed from the ranch. They could have been treated at the farm,” adding the 29 horses at the ranch are now in “much better shape.”

Thomas stated Algoma Veterinary Clinic Dr. Keith Good had reported the horses to be malnourished and not provided with adequate shelter.

Hurley questioned those findings, pointing again to the horses’ illness and controlled, individualized feeding programs for each horse and that each horse is gradually regaining weight.

She added she has asked for second opinions from other veterinarians outside the community, but said no other vet will agree to come to Sault Ste. Marie to dispute Dr. Good’s findings.

"He is the only large animal vet in the area and no one else will step on his toes," she said. "He's got the Algoma region sewn up."

Hurley is also in the process of building extra shelter for the horses, even though she insisted there has been adequate natural shelter all along.

Also at issue were allegations the horses’ hooves were neglected.

The OSPCA said local farrier Kevin Palmer stated in a report there were signs of infection in some of the horses’ feet.

Hurley replied Palmer’s report was “biased” against Circle H Ranch and the types of cracks and chips (on the horses’ feet) listed by Palmer “are not serious.”

"It's just like you or I breaking a nail on a cupboard door or something," she said. "Not something that needs to be looked at right away."

Hurley added her own farrier of choice was scheduled to arrive and take care of the horses’ hooves August 30, six days after the Humane Society sent Palmer instead on August 24, the day the first three horses were taken away.

She said she believed Palmer was attending to assess the feet of the horses on the ranch and was surprised when he began actually caring for them as well.

During his testimony in November, Palmer said his assistant had checked with Hurley's farrier as a professional courtesy to make sure it was okay for him to step in and take over care of the horses at Circle H. Ranch and Hurley's farrier had given him the go-ahead, saying he had other things to do anyway.

She said no one checked with her, and she objected to the fact that a farrier unfamiliar with her horses was caring for them when her own farrier of 16 years could have kept his appointment. 

The Circle H Ranch case has caused considerable financial cost for Hurley.

While almost a dozen horses, as well as cats and dogs, remain in care at other locations, fees charged for food and care, veterinary and farrier expenses, boarding costs up to and including December 20, 2012 and “miscellaneous costs” combine for a whopping total of more than $62,000 for Hurley.

The Animal Care Review Board can find the OSPCA orders for the care covered under those expenses were valid and force Hurley to pay for it; it could find that some or all the orders were not valid and Hurley shouldn't be billed for any expenses or, it could find for any option in between.

It could, for example, find that the expenses incurred from bringing in a new farrier were over and above what Hurley would have paid for her own farrier and order her to pay the OSPCA the amount she would have paid her own farrier, leaving the OSPCA to absorb the difference in cost.

At one end of the spectrum of possible findings, the Animal Care Review Board could put the burden of all costs upon Circle H. Ranch and at the other end of the spectrum the OSPCA could find itself absorbing all of the the costs, which are growing daily. 

There is a daily fee of $195 for boarding costs for all the animals still in care and the cost of any other health issues that must be dealt with will ultimately be billed to Circle H. Ranch.

The If the Animal Review Board finds that Hurley is responsible to pay for all care but the animals removed can safely be returned to the ranch, Hurley will have five days to fulfill any outstanding orders and pay the bill in full.

If she fails to pay the bill in five business days, under the authority of the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act and other applicable legislation, the OSPCA has the right to keep and sell, or adopt out the animals to recover what ever it can from those expenses.

It will also continue to take every action available to attempt to collect the remainder of that bill from Hurley.

In the meantime, the OSPCA's representative in this case, the Sault Ste. Marie Humane Society will have to float those costs out of its operating budget and reserves.

Board Chair Legault advised Hurley that if the outcome of the OSPCA hearings in January is not in her favour, Hurley is free to appeal to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.

She also informed Hurley that she did not have the authority to order the animals in care off the ranch back to Hurley's custody because those animals are under an order by the Crown Attourney of Ontario to be held until the conclusion of criminal and Provincial proceedings against Hurley in this matter.

Legault said she is only attending to deal with Hurley's objections to orders covering animals still at Circle H. Ranch.

Please click on the link to the photo gallery below to view photos of many of the Circle H. Ranch horses at various times between August 22 and October 17, 2012.