Drought, high cost of hay prove difficult for some horse owners to cope with

Rising hay prices have left some horse owners unable to pony up the cash to adequately feed their animals.

Careen Cain says she hears probably five to 10 times a month from people trying to find new homes for horses.

Cain, the founder and president of Wakarusa-based Shooting Star Equine Rescue, said this past week that the most common reason people cite for giving up their horse is they can no longer afford to take care of it. Such owners have told Cain they have problems with such things as job losses, personal medical bills — and the rising cost of hay.

The price for large round bales of hay in this area rose from $35 or $40 each in 2011 to $115 or $120 each last year, before falling to the current rate of $40 to $60 each, Cain said.

The price hike was precipitated by drought conditions this area has seen over the past two or three years, which meant less hay was grown, said Marty Bloomquist, who owns Dancing Star Ranch near Tecumseh with her husband, Joe Scranton.

The National Weather Service reports Topeka received 32.89 inches of precipitation, which is 3.57 inches below average, in 2011; and 23.06 inches, which is 13.4 inches below average, in 2012.

The city so far this year had recorded 29.75 inches as of Friday, which is 2.35 inches below the amount the city receives on average by Oct. 18.

Bloomquist said the land on her ranch has produced significantly more hay this year than last, and she is having no trouble feeding the roughly 15 horses that are generally present.

“You won’t see any ribs here,” she quipped.

Still, Bloomquist said, pastures in this area need time to recover.

She added that rising hay prices seem to have put the most pressure on the horse owners who have the least money.

Bloomquist recalled seeing four horses get progressively thinner as they were kept this year in a lot east of Topeka.

She said she is pretty sure the owners didn’t have enough money to buy the horses sufficient hay.

Bloomquist said after the Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office convinced the owners to give up the tallest of those horses — a former thoroughbred racehorse, which was getting particularly thin — he came to live at her ranch.

That horse initially was so weak he could barely walk up a hill, but Bloomquist said she fed him sufficiently that now he is in good shape and being ridden at a ranch in the Flint Hills.

Sheriff’s Capt. Phil Higdon told county commissioners this past week that three horses were recovering at Kester Animal Clinic here after being impounded from a Silver Lake man who was charged with three counts of cruelty to animals, a Class A misdemeanor. The agenda indicated the horses were impounded because of negligence.

Higdon said the horses had been in “really bad shape,” and would need to be boarded at least three weeks. The case is pending, and authorities won’t say anything more about it.

Russ Brown, co-owner of R Bar B, an equine supplies store northeast of Topeka, said he hopes horse owners won’t make decisions that are detrimental to health of their animals.

But he said he could understand how — just as consumers adjust their priorities when grocery prices rise — horse owners might cope with rising hay prices by purchasing poorer quality hay, or finding other ways to meet their feed needs.

Cain said a lot of people don’t realize just how much hay a horse needs.

She said Shooting Star Equine Rescue — a non-profit organization that can be reached at (785) 249-1760 — has been able to stay open despite the increase in hay prices because it has received generous donations of hay.