SANDPOINT -- Charlie Ann Becker thought they were gone for good.

The two quarter horse mares were stolen last March, just nine months after Becker's mother died of cancer.

But on Thursday afternoon, 17-year-old Becker was reunited with the mares, Sweetie and Janie.

The suspected horse thief, Joshua J. Churchill, 24, was in jail, after making his first court appearance Thursday. He's being charged with nine counts of grand theft, a felony.

Becker is one of several victims who had horses or farm equipment stolen in a modern-day version of horse rustling.

Ten horses missing since early last year from farms in Montana and Idaho turned up this week in Churchill's possession. Other stolen horses are still missing.

"I can tell they're thinner," said Becker, as she ran her hand across the back of Sweetie, standing in a corral with other stolen horses at the McGhee stockyards east of Sandpoint.

After losing her mother, "the horses were family to her," said her uncle, Bob Williams. "This is a very important event."

Becker figured the mares were stolen as brood stock. The thief left her two geldings. While she posted fliers at auction houses, placed advertisements in newspapers and on the Internet, she never really thought she'd get them back, she said.

"I didn't want to get my hopes up," she explained.

Now she has the mares, plus two foals on the way.

Most of 10 stolen horses that deputies and brand inspectors recovered Wednesday appear to be pregnant. They were pastured off Camp Bay Road in Sagle with two stallions, said Dick King, the stockyard manager who helped round up the horses.

The sheriff's department also recovered a $60,000 John Deere tractor, a livestock trailer, a 1998 Polaris ATV, a Coleman air compressor, a homemade trailer, a battery charger and various tools during a search Wednesday afternoon.

Search warrants were served on the Churchill ranch on Sagle Road and on the nearby Camp Bay Road property where the horses were found. Sheriff's detectives brought brand inspectors from Montana and Idaho.

Idaho brand inspector Dan Kerstiens said one horse had a very faint brand that he knew about, but the thief wouldn't have noticed.

"If they know a horse is branded, they won't steal it in the first place," Kerstiens said. "We knew what we were looking for."

Some of the horses had been missing for more than a year. Kerstiens has been collecting brands and descriptions of missing horses for months. This case is the first horse rustling case he's had since becoming a brand inspector four years ago, he said.

Churchill lives with his parents at the Sagle ranch. He worked for Clark Oil since 1999, delivering fuel until he was fired Thursday -- shortly before his court appearance.

Detectives believe the thefts are tied to Churchill's deliveries.

"Most of these instances are connected to his employment," noted Magistrate Judge Debra Heise Thursday.

Churchill's attorney, Scot Nass of Coeur d'Alene, asked that Churchill be released on his own recognizance. Nass said his client was not a flight risk because of his extensive ties in the community.

As Nass spoke over a speaker phone, Churchill appeared on video from the county jail, sitting with arms crossed.

Heise struck a compromise. Instead of the $75,000 bond requested by the deputy prosecutor, she set it at $25,000.

"The magnitude of these charges is very serious," Heise said. "The combined value is enormous."

Jan and Gene Gilbert had three horses stolen from their Clark Fork Ranch, where they operate Idaho Outdoor Adventures. Gene Gilbert thinks Churchill cased the ranch while delivering fuel to neighbors.

The horses disappeared between 7 p.m. and midnight on May 9. Two are now at the stockyards, but one is still missing -- a valuable paint and the only one that was branded.

"It's a relief to have them back, but this other one is worth so much more," Gilbert said.

Tom Suttmeier, a county commissioner who owns the Cocolalla Creek Ranch, said he had a close call last summer. One evening, as he and others at the ranch left the barn, they saw a pickup with a flatbed trailer on the ranch property.

Once they spied it, the pickup turned and sped away at top speed down the driveway.

"They didn't come to visit and they didn't come to turn around," Suttmeier said.

Detective Sgt. Howard Burke had visited Churchill's ranch early last week, pointing out the stolen tractor, which belongs to Bill and Debbie Jensen in Heron, Mont.

The Jensens lost the tractor in August and three horses last spring. All three horses were recovered with the rest of the stolen horses Thursday.

Churchill told Burke he was leasing the tractor from Jeffrey Michaels in Rathdrum, but police haven't been able to locate Michaels, and Churchill wasn't able to produce an address.

Clinton Jensen, Bill and Debbie's son, said Churchill delivered their fuel from Clark Oil.

"I never suspected him," Clinton Jensen said. "I like him a lot. He's a really nice guy. I still hope it wasn't him. It's kind of sad. He's kind of come up with stories that are dead-ends."

On Thursday evening, Bill Jensen was in Sagle looking for the family dog. It turned up missing three weeks ago, and detectives saw a dog while rounding up horses that fit the description.

The rustling case isn't closed yet. Other animals are still at large.

"There's a lot of work that still needs to be done," said Burke, who's leading the investigation. "I've just explored one strand of this."