(Photo credit: Flickr user kajvin)
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Some Kansas horse owners are looking for new homes for their animals because they can't pay rising hay prices, while in a few cases the owners have simply stopped feeding them altogether. Careen Cain, founder and president of Wakarusa-based Shooting Star Equine Rescue, told The Topeka Capital-Journal that she hears five to 10 times a month from people who can no longer afford to keep their horses. She says many people don't realize how much hay a horse really needs. Drought conditions over the past three years have cut sharply into the region's hay supply, sending the price for large round bales from $35 or $40 in 2011 to $115 to $120 last year. It's now about $40 to $60 per bale.