The LA Times is reporting that some average horse owners in Southern California are struggling to support their animals in the sluggish economy in the region.  Hay prices have skyrocketed and associated costs have risen with them.

Struggling owners have taken their horses to local livestock auctions, selling the animals for a fraction of what they originally paid.  And those auctions carry the risk that the animals will wind up in a trailer headed for the border and a slaughterhouse.

Other owners hang on to the animals, but can't afford to feed them - those horses are the sad ones who end up on the 6:00 news as humane officers remove racks of bones from filthy and squalid conditions.  

Probably most desperate are those who simply turn the horses loose to forage for themselves:   

"Up until two or three years ago, we'd find maybe two abandoned horses a year. It's a horse a week now," said Allan Drusys, chief veterinarian for Riverside County's Department of Animal Services.

Horse rescues are struggling to cope with the flood of animals needing help, but in many cases they too are overwhelmed. 

Read the full article here:  www.latimes.com/news/science/la-me-abandoned-horses