Pregnant, neglected, and stuck in a hurricane.

That’s the situation Precious was in when she was adopted by Kendra Bond of Wareham. Precious is a miniature horse, and the first animal to benefit from the new Peace for Ponies shelter at her home in East Wareham.

“She was stuck in the hurricane in New Jersey,” said Bond.

Peace for Ponies is a newly-established 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to rescuing ponies and small horses from auction houses.

Bond will be appearing before the Zoning Board of Appeals on December 12 to apply for special permit to use a residential property to keep stables.

According to Bond, horses are shipped to auction houses, and those that are not sold drop in price. As the price drops, the likelihood that they will end up in a “kill pen,” like Precious was, goes up.

“If they don’t get sold at auction," Bond explained, "their price goes down and the kill-buyers buy them.”

“Kill buyers” is the term Bond uses to describe people who buy horses for the sole purpose of turning a profit off of turning them in to meat.

From the kill pen, the horses are shipped in overcrowded trucks and train cars to processing plants in Canada and Mexico, according to Bond.

Bond has network of people on Facebook who are dedicated to raising awareness about the plight of these horses. She chose to raise mini horses and ponies because, in a suburban setting, its more practical than attempting to house full-size horses.

“They don’t poo much," Bond noted. "She’s the size of a Great Dane, really."

Precious – the name all rescued horses will get until they reveal their personalities – is originally from Amish country in Pennsylvania. She ended up in a kill pen at an auction house in New Jersey. Her hooves are ragged, and there are rings on them – sort of like rings on a tree – denoting times in her life when she was malnourished.

“It’s not so much that they go to slaughter, it’s that it’s done inhumanely,” said Bond. “They suffer for days.”

Precious is skittish around people, but has made some progress since coming to live with Bond a couple of weeks ago.

“She just started nickering, which is talking, to me,” said Bond.

She finally let Bond wash her top half, and the next step is getting Precious to allow humans to touch her belly so they can perform an ultrasound to check on the foal.

Bond says she’s helping horses now in part because when she was at a low point in her life, horses helped her find her “power.” Working in a local stable, she learned how to care for horses, and how to stand up for herself.

“You can’t be weak around a horse, or they’ll push you around, because they’re herd animals,” said Bond.

Peace for Ponies is trying to raise money to fund this and future rescue efforts. For more information, or to donate, go to www.earthlodge.org.