BENTON CITY -- It's been two months since of pair of horses were rescued from near starvation.

But it will likely take three times that long to nurse them back to health.

The horses returned back to their Benton City home this week, eagerly eating alfalfa pellets, hay and grass from their owner Lisa Mars.

In January, Benton County Sheriff's deputies rescued the animals from a home on Ruppert Road, after an investigation revealed the horses were emaciated.

Deputies charged the woman boarding them, with animal cruelty while Mars fought get her horses back.

She did, but Tuesday she told Action News, the horses are still bone thin.

Mars said the animals are about 200 pounds underweight.

Her horses should weigh between 1,200 and 1,300 regularly.

When the horses were rescued in January, vet said the horses were not in immediate jeopardy of dying but needed to be fed.

Mars is feeding the animals regularly, even using a little trick to pack on some healthy pounds: bread.

Despite her concerted efforts to retrieve the critters, Mars wasn't prepared for when she would finally pick them up.

"I cried," she said.. "just cried....after I got them loaded up and on the road."

Local animal control confirmed, nursing horses back to health is a slow process indeed.

Owners cannot just start power-feeding; they have to start slow and build up their food portions.

Mars expects it will take anywhere from three months to a year before they're in full health

Cally Jo Adams is the woman facing one count of animal cruelty.

She plead not guilty and was back in front of a judge Tuesday.

The case is still winding it's way through the courts.