COQUILLE — The horses and their owner had lived in North Bend for only a few weeks. But it didn’t take long for neighbors to notice the animals’ bony sides, filthy hides, and unusually long hooves.

“There were nine horses that looked too skinny and neighbors were concerned,” Assistant District Attorney Shani Krumholz told six jurors, during the first day of Cikanek’s trial in Coos County Circuit Court.

From March through the first week of May, animal control officers met with owner Bobbye L. Cikanek, a longtime breeder, who told her the animals needed better care. One neighbor even offered to help. But conditions worsened, Krumholz and her witnesses told the jury.

And when a two or three-day-old foal nearly died in a muddy field, Coos County deputies and animal control officers seized the baby and its mother, soon taking the remaining animals as well.

Police charged the defendant with 10 counts of first-degree animal abuse and 10 counts of second-degree animal neglect. On Wednesday, Krumholz argued that the jury should find Cikanek guilty of the A and B misdemeanors, because she didn’t properly care for her animals.

“I’m trying to show what is expected when you own a horse. What’s the standard for appropriate care versus what was actually in existence,” Krumholz said.

Defense Attorney Allen Goldman contends the state doesn’t have enough evidence to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt. Plus, Cikanek had no motive to abuse or neglect her animals. The horses were underweight after Cikanek moved them from Winnemucca, Nev., to North Bend in mid-March, he added.

“Essentially, these horses were her old age and retirement,” Goldman told the jury. “She had every reason to keep these horses in good condition.”

Before Judge Michael Gillespie, Krumholz called four witnesses, including Animal Control Officer Rick Hoover, neighbor John Beckmeyer, veterinarian Karl Jernstedt and farrier Wade McKinley, who all described the horses’ conditions.

Meanwhile, Cikanek, a short woman with bobbed brown hair dressed in a white sweater detailed with Pepsi logos, occasionally shook her head and took notes as she listened to testimony.

Beckmeyer, a ranch hand who lives next to Cikanek’s property in the Kentuck Slough area, said he reported his concerns about the horses to animal control officers after regularly witnessing poor conditions. He became especially concerned after the mare dropped her foal, and he saw her lying in the mud.

“They were doing nothing for this poor foal. It was going to freeze to death,” he said.

The horses were underfed and tried to find other food, he testified. That included eating skunk cabbage, buttercup and even wood. Beckmeyer explained that they tore chunks of wood from a small lean-to and chewed. Most bored horses spit them out.

“They were chewing it and swallowing it,” Beckmeyer recalled.

A retired police officer and horse ranch owner, Hoover tried to help. He visited the property repeatedly, made phone calls and gave Cikanek lists to help her improve conditions for her animals.

Hoover said the minimum requirements to maintain a horse are sufficient food, clean potable water and shelter. But since he first met with Cikanek at her home on March 18, those things weren’t provided. He said the horses drank from a small stream, but downstream from where they defecated.

Also, while Cikanek gave the horses high-quality hay, Hoover said they didn’t get enough and were being fed in the mud.

He also was concerned about the horses’ hooves, including one that earned the nickname “Ski Feet” or “Skis” from rescuers, because her hooves curled about seven inches past her feet.

 McKinley, who trimmed the horses hooves before and after they were confiscated, said one horse suffered from an abscess in one foot, which he and Cikanek cleaned out, but said the owner failed to keep the infection clean and dry.

“I’d never seen feet let go to that extent unless the horses had been abandoned,” Hoover said.

Despite conditions, Hoover said Cikanek wasn’t ignorant to horse care. She knew “everything you’d expect of anyone with a breeding program.”

Still, he gave her directions, including providing another source of water and hiring a farrier. He said she did get a 90-gallon container of water for the animals, but on one visit, he saw only a half-inch  of water inside.

The trial continues today.