H.O.P.E.

Roger Norris runs a business, not a charity, but it’s hard to be unsympathetic when a desperate horse owner is on the phone.

Norris, who boards horses and runs trail rides, has taken in four horses in the past two months.

Recently a woman wanted to give him all five of her horses, including two thoroughbreds.

Norris, owner of Georgia Frontiers stables in Canton, has become part of a distressing trend. Horse ownership, never cheap, has become much costlier in a time of severe drought. Although horse advocates say abandonment is rare, more owners are feeling pressed to unload beloved animals they can no longer afford to feed.

"There’s not a week goes by that I don’t have someone wanting to give me a horse," Norris said.

Driving the downward trend is a drought-induced doubling to tripling of the cost of hay, a staple of the horse diet.

With a tougher economy, many families have found their personal finances strained, and are now selling their animals, if not giving them away.

For some, it’s a business decision. For other owners, parting with their horse is traumatic, akin to giving up the family dog or cat. Nationally, humane societies have already started reporting sharp increases in abandoned dogs and cats, and other small pets, and have cited burgeoning foreclosures.

Along with desperation, Norris sees sheepishness. Many of the horse owners, particularly new ones, didn’t know what they were getting into, he said. "In every instance, it’s been shame," he said. "They realize their ignorance."

"Save the Horses" in Cumming, one of the largest horse rescue operations in the Southeast, reports being "overrun" with horses this winter. The 50-acre farm has about 70 horses, most of them available for adoption. Another 20 are with their owners, waiting for space.

About half of the horses were given up for economic reasons, said Cheryl Flanagan, director and founder of the non-profit rescue.

Sometimes the owner loses a house, or a job, or simply gets too sick or too busy to care for the horse, Flanagan said. In the past year, she’s taken in horses from an owner in south Georgia whose pastures dried up, and from college students who could no longer afford to support their animals.

"I’ve taken in horses temporarily for people, just until they can get back out of a bad situation," she said.

The enduring drought in the Southeast and new demand for grain for bio-fuels have contributed to what is now a regional shortage in feed.

Hay is harder to find and much more expensive. Grain costs have increased too, but not as much, report horse owners and local feed stores.

Much of the hay eaten by local horses is now coming from Canada and the Midwest, said Scott Rucker, owner of the Rucker Horse and Pet feed store in Cumming.

Because horses are such big eaters, consuming at least 15 pounds of hay daily, the increased feed costs are wreaking havoc with budgets. Norris said he is paying triple what he paid for hay two years ago.

And cost isn’t the only problem.

"You can’t find hay," he said. "There’s no hay to be found."

Horses typically eat 12 bales of hay a month, Rucker said. So hay alone costs about $150 a month per horse. Boarders who pay stable owners to house and feed their horses are feeling the pinch. Although fees vary, horse owners say it is common to pay about $650 to $1,200 a month to board a horse in Atlanta’s northern suburbs, or a minimum of around $8,000 a year.

Those who decide to sell are confronted with a buyer’s market.

Rebecca Edwards, a horse owner and dog breeder in Powder Springs, recently sold three of her five horses. An 8-year-old Belgian mare named Julie sold for just $500. Eighteen months ago, Edwards said, she’d bought the horse for about $3,000.

The decision to sell was basic economics. Edwards had five horses and a pasture with no grass. With the run-up in hay and grain costs, the family budget was getting squeezed, she said.

"They can’t earn their keep," she said. "With the drought, my fields don’t have any grass."

All around Georgia, the story is the same.

In Cumming, the Save the Horses rescue farm is a last stop for many horses. Flanagan takes in all kinds, from former rodeo and summer camp horses to also-rans at the racetracks. Many are working horses who’ve had a succession of owners. Others have been with the same owner most of their lives.

The rescue works to adopt the adoptable, and promises a permanent home for those that aren’t. It is an alternative to auctions that may eventually land a horse in a slaughterhouse.

The rescuer typically gets a modest fee from people adopting horses, $300 to $1,000.

Flanagan recently put out a bulletin on the rescue’s Web site, www.savethehorses.org, asking for help in covering hay and grain costs.

On a recent afternoon, she stood by as one of her charges, Belle, stood uneasily for a vet inspection. The visit ended well for the 1,500-pound draft horse. The vet found no obvious signs of infection in a tender rear hoof.

Belle, who started out on an Amish farm, came to Save the Horses recently from a farmer in north Georgia who could no longer care for her. She’s a little thin, but otherwise healthy, Flanagan said.

Flanagan has hopes she will find a new home for her —despite a dried-up market.

Sometimes, even the saddest cases enjoy happy endings.

People have come to the rescue and adopted horses Flanagan thought no one would want. She recently placed two older horses, including one with cancer, with women who live south of Atlanta.

"They just want to take care of them."