Rising feed costs hit horse owners

TULALIP, Wash. (AP)--It's not just human food prices that are going through the roof. Increasing numbers of horse owners want to leave their animals with a rescue group on the Tulalip Indian Reservation, but most are turned away for lack of space.

Vel Moore runs the nonprofit Equine Rescue Association. She says the group's stables are full with 29 horses, so she refers callers from around the state to other rescue centers although most of them also are full.

Equine Rescue leases an old Marysville School District agricultural education site at nominal cost, relying on donations and lesson fees to cover $3,500 a month in expenses.

She says many horse owners are struggling to pay for feed, veterinarian bills and gasoline. She says hay prices have increased nearly 30 percent the past two years.

In her words, "Every person who has a horse faces these problems. These people have to figure out how to save their horses."

Date: 5/21/08