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"Recession and rising hay prices have made it harder for rescues to get animals adopted. Tiffany Offsteader carries a pocketful of carrots and wears a smile to her reunion with Montana, an 8-year-old quarter horse that she bought for her daughter five years ago. But it&amp;#39;s a bittersweet meeting as Offsteader reaches across the fence to stroke the nose of her companion who has been living at a Bend horse rescue and adoption facility since August.\nMontana is one of the many pets orphaned by the ongoing recession and owners faced with increasing costs for food and care. Horses have been particularly hard hit by the recent downturn, which has come at a time of near-record prices for hay. And the problem is expected to only grow worse with the onset of winter as cash-strapped owners wrestle with costs of feeding animals that are no longer able to forage in pasture. Montana is one of the lucky ones, he landed at Equine Outreach, a non-profit ranch where he will be fed and cared for until a new home can be found. But some owners are going to extremes to rid themselves of their animals, leaving them at training facilities along with unpaid bills, abandoning them on public lands, or, worse."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.bendsource.com/bend/rescue-me-cash-strapped-owners-are-ditching-horses-and-not-always-humanely/Content?oid=2132461>