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Across the U.S., the number of horses whose owners won't or can't properly care for them is mushrooming.
Spurred by retiring Baby Boomers and their penchant for second homes in the country, horse ownership boomed in the U.S. over the past decade. Americans own more than nine million horses today, up from just over six million horses in the mid-1990s, according to the American Horse Council, a trade association.
More than two million Americans own horses, and more than a third of those owners have a household income of less than $50,000. As the horse population soared--and the economy ceased to gallop--selling the animals became more difficult. Some owners could no longer afford their investment.
The price of hay, the main source of horse nutrition, has more than doubled over the past year because of drought and record-high costs of fuel needed to grow and haul the crop. Though horses naturally graze on grass, they need hay and other feeds, especially in winter months when the growth of pasture grass slows or stops. A 50-pound square bale of horse hay, a two-day supply for the average horse, costs more than $6 in most states, up from as little as $2.50 in 2005. Even a small horse farm must buy hundreds of bales each winter.
Now, some unwanted American horses wind up at Mexican and Canadian slaughterhouses. But others linger and starve, often ending up at rescue homes and other charities. "It's scary," says Jennifer Hack, the executive director of the U.S. Equine Rescue League, an Indiana-based organization that shelters horses in five states and is struggling to accommodate them all. The group took in 186 horses in 2007, up from 56 in 2006.
Source: The Wall Street Journal, January 7, 2008
