lately. The programs are sparked by reports such as one this past summer in The Blood-Horse, an industry publication based in Lexington, Ky., that outlined suspicions that Ferdinand, the 1986 Kentucky Derby winner, had met his death in a Japanese slaughterhouse. Old Friends is an organization working to establish a farm for retired stallions, open it to tourists, and use proceeds to care for lesser-known horses who otherwise might be slaughtered. But Stubblefield saves horses on a much smaller scale. For her, it's been just one or two at a time. As a single parent, the idea of trying out a horse that a neighbor had bought cheap at auction for the slaughterhouse seemed to meet her needs perfectly 15 years ago. She knew how to pick out a good horse and had the skills to turn it into a competition horse for her three children to compete on in the Wasatch Pony Club, a youth group for English riders. Before she knew it, she was picking up horses regularly. "He never made me pay up front," she said of the meat handler. "He would let me keep it for a couple of weeks and see if it would work." With 100 acres for horses to graze at the ranch, Stubblefield said it really didn't cost anything for her to start taking in these horses. "It was a labor of love." Soon, she was training the horses to sell, occasionally for a profit. "People started calling me because it was a way for them to get cheap horses," she said. Barbara Progess of Kaysville is one who called. "Karen's genius is in her ability to match the personality of the horse to the personality of the rider," Progess said. "When a horse walks up to you and licks you all over, you know that this is the one for you." Progess said when she got her horse, Sanka, home from Stubblefield's place she put her two young daughters on the 2-year-old and they rode around with just a halter. Progess later discovered that her horse had never been trained. "The thing about rescue horses is they will be eternally grateful for as long as you own them; they never, ever forget," Progess said. Stubblefield was surprised to find that sometimes even the most talented horses could fall on hard times and make their way into the meat dealer's pens. Two horses she's saved have gone on to top-level English riding competitions. One horse became so respected a few owners down the line from Stubblefield that it ended up being sold for more than $25,000. Stubblefield said she's looked up the paperwork on a number of thoroughbreds by using the identification tattoos on their lips. "Some had won up to $36,000," she said. But when their usefulness wore out, their owners had sold them at auction where at between $500 and $1,000, a meat handler bid the highest. "I think people tend to not think a lot," she said. "That's fine to find a place for them but people need to maybe be more aware of who is bidding on them." She's struggled through her own feelings toward the man she gets her horses from and she's realized it's not his fault he can make a living that way. "It's just like the people who put the cats and dogs to sleep at the shelter," she said. "It's too bad there's a job for them, but there is." Usually, there are 20 or ROBERT JOHNSON/Standard-Examiner Karen Stubblefield walks her horse at her home in Marriott-Slaterville Friday. She works to save horses from the slaughterhouse and tries to find homes for them. more horses on their way to slaughter each week for Stubblefield to pick through. She wants people to realize that she's talking about the pickings of only one of a number of handlers in the area. "The worst thing is you take one or two home and you're looking at 15 or 20 that you can't do anything about," she said. And sometimes, she doesn't even know if she can help. Grace is a horse she sold to the Pioneer Horse Farm that is now used as a brood mare because she has characteristics that English performance riders want. "She was in such bad shape, it was hard to leave her there," Stubblefield said. She and her daughter, Ana, found her lying in the mud. "I didn't know if she was going to make it," she said. But the horse did survive and now is one of the most beloved on the ranch. However, there were other rescues that didn't turn out so well for Stubblefield personally. She lost money on one horse because after she had taken him in, she discovered he needed surgery to his windpipe to repair overstrained airways damaged in horse racing. "He was so grateful for everything we did," she said. "I just could not take him back. Sometimes it has to not be about the money." You may leave a message for reporter JaNae Francis at 625-4228 or jfrancis@standard.net