WESTMORELAND COUNTY, Pa. -- It was a happy homecoming in Westmoreland County on Wednesday for two dozen horses.

The premarin horses were adopted by local families, who might have saved their lives.

The mares were being used by drug companies for their urine, and some said, were thrown away like garbage afterwards.

After the 31 hour drive from a farm in canade, 20 baby horses, foals as they're called, and three pregnant horses made their way from a truck to a stall at the Westmoreland fair grounds to meet their new owners.

Their pregnant horses' estrogen-rich urine was made into premarin, a hormone drug for menapausal woman.

Barbara Waterhouse, of Irwin, adopted three of the horses through the Pegasus Foundation, a non-profit group who rescues and transports the horses to people who want them at a cost of about $500 apiece.

"Too many of these horses are the byproduct of an industry that's gone south, so to speak," said Waterhouse.

Waterhouse and the other folks adopting the horses were able to pre-adopt the horses. Before they arrived by looking at their photographs online, a new program the Pegasus Foundation has tried.

For more information on the adoption of the horses, visit www.unitedpegasus.com