Becky Montanya-Davis rescued her first horse about six years ago while living in Egypt with her husband who was in the Navy at the time.

She rescued a horse that was used for tourists and had been starved and beaten.

Her first rescue led to more and after her husband retired from the military and moved to the island, she found herself devoting more and more time to horse rescues. She eventually established her own non-profit organization — Whidbey Island Rescue for Equines.

Montanya-Davis, who’s been the CEO and vice president of WIRE for about a year now, has the simple goal of “eventually we’ll no longer exist.”

Kim Olmstead, owner of Hollow Road Stables in Greenbank, raises quarter horses said she has previously received literature about WIRE.

“I think its wonderful and support them wholeheartedly,” Olmstead said.

Groups like WIRE are needed because people often don’t know what to do with their horse during tough times and often think just keeping them in a pasture is enough, Olmstead said.

She pointed out that desperate horse owners have fallen victim to disreputable buyers that end up selling horses to slaughterhouses.

Montanya-Davis said WIRE’s focus is strictly on rescuing horses that are neglected, abused or starving and added that most of the tips come from the Sheriff’s office or from concerned neighbors.

When she rescues a horse, she works to restore its health and tries to find it a home.

She has modest facilities to house horses. She can care for two to three horses at her home nestled in the woods on north Whidbey Island.

“I don’t want more than a few horses at any given time,” Davis said. She added that other horse rescues often fail because they take too many horses and become financially overextended and go under.

Currently she is housing two horses, Spider was rescued by WIRE when its owner couldn’t afford to pay mounting veterinarian bills. Cat is a 27-year-old thoroughbred that WIRE is trying to find a good home for.

To deal with her limited space and money, she is locating foster homes to take and care for rescued horses.

WIRE is run by volunteers and through donations. WIRE recently held a tack sale to raise money and is set to receive money from a pub crawl fund raiser in Ballard.

Davis added that WIRE volunteers attend horse shows and events to distribute literature and information about equine rescues.

Help out horses

For more information about WIRE, call Whidbey island Rescue for Equines at 360-675-9252 or on the Internet at www.equusworld.net/WIRE.