Horse enthusiasts fear about the rising cost of hay

Horse enthusiasts say they fear the rising cost of hay could lead to a higher number of horse neglect cases throughout the country.

In 2007, the government outlawed horse slaughtering, and now horse owners are saying there is a increased surplus of horses.

Also, many farmers have changed their hay fields to wheat fields, all making a drastic change in costs for domestic horse owners.

In just three years, the cost of a ton of hay has nearly doubled, leaving some families and other domestic horse owners with no options when they can´t afford to feed their horse.

Mary Mathison has been around horses all her life. She owns four horses outside of Sisters and is now facing a different challenge than those who own other animals.

"Just for the cost of hay alone, which is going up each year - probably about $800 per horse, per year," Mathison said Tuesday.

Mathison says she fills up her small stable with hay in the early fall, and come summer, the stable is bare.

" I usually buy nine tons of hay and that fills it up," she said.

At Black Butte Ranch, stable manager Virginia Loomis says the cost could be catastrophic to any horse owner.

"There´s also a lot of unwanted horses now, and people are unable to afford to take care of the horses, and there is no place to ship them," Loomis said. "So they are stock piling up all over the place. People are turning them out."

For a major operation like Black Butte Stables, they go through almost eight tons of hay in one day.

"Back three years ago, if you bought large volume like we do, because we feed 300 to 400 horses, we would probably get (hay for) $80 to $100 a ton. Now we are looking at $250 to $275," Loomis said.

Mathison buys her hay in early fall - any later than that, and it´s just too expensive.

"I try to get all my hay for all four of my horses preferably by September, because that´s when it´s the cheapest," she said. "As the year goes on, it gets more and more expensive, and then it gets really hard to find."

Loomis at Black Butte Stables says they are lucky because they can put their horses in the pasture to feed half the year.

That does save them money, but she said she has heard of many domestic owners who try to give their horses away, because they can´t afford to feed them.