04/13/2025
The possibility of a recession from a very micro-viewpoint……….
If we go into a recession, horses will die.
Some people will not be able to afford the monthly costs of keeping their one, two or three horses. Normal, regular people who have their horses for pleasure, be it regular riding, some small shows & events or simply because they love them. People who sacrifice creature comforts, now, so their charges are well cared for.
I know this from experience.
During the Great Recession, from 2007-09, we (Tierra Madre Horse Sanctuary) took in a number of those very horses. And each & every one of them came in with a sad story – a story of financial distress, a foreclosure on their home, their people having to move to other places to take whatever job came their way.
I was fielding numerous calls every week, sometimes two or three a day. For months & months & months.
And, because my heart is probably larger than my brain, we maxed out at 33 horses on the ranch. Too many, really.
Because each & every one of those horses came with a price tag: feed, supplements, medical supplies, farrier work, more manure that had to be paid for to be hauled away & more. It got to the point where I lay awake at night, staring at the ceiling, wondering whether we’d survive or not. I was buying two days’ worth of hay at a time because that’s all the money I had. Naturally, donations had dwindled & we didn’t have the number of donators that we do today.
To stay comfortably afloat & to give our existing herd the best we possibly can, we are – for all intents & purposes – full. We can take in no more.
And I know that I’m not alone in feeling this way. I know that there are hundreds of rescues & sanctuaries all across this land that are feeling the same way I am: that our phones will be ringing off the hook & that we’ll have to deliver bad news. And, just like with us, every dollar taken in is precious & none of us have vast stores of money to pay for all of the added expenses that would surely come our way when horses find themselves without homes because desperate people will no longer be able to keep their loved ones.
Yes, I realize that our very, very little tiny part of the world that is the rescuing of & caring for horses is but a small pittance compared to the overall damage that a recession would bring but it’s our world. The world we live in.
And my heart breaks for all of the horses that may find themselves in the most challenging times of their precious lives. And for those who won’t be able to find shelter & solace.
And for those who didn’t need to die.
