Horses in Trouble

continued

Owning a horse is expensive in the best of times. But when your house is foreclosed, you lose your job, or your pay is cut, that horse can become an intolerable burden. As pastures freeze over, the specter of starving steeds again worries local horse experts. "It's probably going to be a whole lot worse this winter," says Barbara Baker, who runs a shelter for abandoned horses in Howell.

Baker's rescue group, Horse's Haven, has no more space: there already are fifty-five horses on the farm and another twenty-five that she has placed in foster homes. Still, Baker says, she gets 400 to 500 emails and phone calls a week from desperate people--and law enforcement agencies--looking for a place to put unwanted horses. "I get calls from sheriffs all over the state. There's no place to put 'em."

At the Humane Society of Huron Valley, cruelty and rescue personnel are undergoing extra training, and staffers are trying to locate possible foster homes. Last winter, says director Tanya Hilgendorf, there were some "pretty severe cases of starved horses." She, too, expects the crisis to deepen this winter.

"This is a dire situation," she warns.