A week and a half after Hurricane Ike slammed into Galveston, Texas, horse rescue groups working the scene are scaling back their involvement as horse owners return to reclaim their animals and start the long rebuilding process.

Jerry Finch, president of Habitat for Horses, an equine protection organization based in Galveston County, played a key role in an effort to triage injured horses and support those left behind when their owners had to flee.

Finch’s crew included about 30 volunteers, all with incident command system training, who worked along with local residents and law enforcement to care for the animals. Their work included supporting around 90 horses corralled and maintained on the island, as well as removing 27 injured and ill animals to a staging area on the mainland, where they received veterinary attention and supportive care.

“All in all, I’m real proud of our volunteers and what we did here,” Finch said. “And I’m real proud of the people on the island for taking care of (the horses there). There are some dedicated horse people there who took care of not only the horses, but the cattle too.”

Bonnie Marquette (formerly Bonnie Clark) was the organizer of the Lamar-Dixon Expo Center equine staging facility in Gonzales, La., following Hurricane Katrina. She and Finch worked together in the aftermath of that storm, and they have kept in touch to offer assistance following subsequent storms, including Hurricane Gustav just a few weeks ago. When Ike changed course before landfall and focused its power directly on Galveston County, Marquette hooked up her horse trailer and headed west