KILGORE - Some say owning horses is a luxury...while others don't agree!

Horse Farrier, Phillip Owens said, "Someone might have one for a pet but if you have a pasture full of them, you can't afford to have them for a luxury."

Regardless of what they are used for, they are an expensive animal to care for.

The price of hay is now at seven dollars a bail and when you multiply that by about four bails a day to feed horses...it adds up!

And without fertilizer there is no hay.

Hay producer, Ross Kinney said, "One month ago the quote was $10,918.14 on 80 acres."

And that doesn't include the price of feed...

Owens said, "Right now we probably spend about $200 a week on grain"

Ross Kinney bails hay for a living and says its definitely taking a toll on the business.

Kinney said, "its something that effects all of us from the bottom up and we're at the beginning of the food chain for all these animals."

Owens said, "As the cost of all this hay continues to rise some people are being forced to sell their horses and cattle."

Kinney said, "We're seeing people pull a number of cattle because they can't afford to fed them the way they need to."

Owens said, "You just have to do what the pocketbook tells you to, if you can't afford it, you're gonna have to rid of them."

But selling a horse in today's economy may be tough.

Owens said, "If they are just out there a riding horse or something not useful, you can't hardly give them away."