An Indiana-based movement is helping local horse owners and boarders get enough hay for their animals for the upcoming winter season.
While much concern during the drought over the effect on crops, horse owners and those who board horses have been worried over hay production. With the lack of grass growth, hay production has been greatly decreased and with the winter months approaching, some are worried about getting enough for their horses in the winter. And with increased demand comes increased price, with some who usually pay about $3 a bale now having to pay about $7 a bale for as many as 200 bales.
“Not only is the cost high, it’s hard to find,” Marry Morrow, a certified natural horsemanship clinician, said.
Enter Indiana Hay Group, an organization created this year by Sara Busbice in Indianapolis that has bought 35,000 bales of hay from suppliers in Oklahoma, Wisconsin and New York to distribute to horse owners and boarders throughout the state. About 130 had taken advantage of the program to feed about 750 horses and already a waiting list for about 50,000 bales has been taken as well. In Miami County, four semis full of hay bales are expected to arrive Oct. 13 to deliver about 2,400 bales.
“It’s just nice to know there are some people going to big extremes for their horses,” Morrow said. “You see so much about people abusing their horses…there are people who actually care.”
Morrow and Marlene Howell, who own a tack shop in Peru, have taken on the mantle of organizing the Miami County drop that will benefit not only residents in Miami County but those in Huntington, Wabash, Cass and Howard Counties.
“You don’t want to run out, you never know how hard the winter is going to be,” Howell said, adding during especially cold times they’ll give the animals more hay as the eating creates heat. Horse owners from across the state have come together online to help organize drops throughout the state, with Busbice working behind the scenes to make sure everything runs smoothly.
“It’s a community, this is definitely a community helping each other,” Morrow said. “I think it’s something unusual, it’s not something that happens every day.”
It’s that sense of community the local organizers hope will come through to help with the event. Though about twelve people are going to be taking bales from the drop in October, Morrow and Howell said they need as much help as possible to distribute the hay in the two hours they will have at the Miami County Fairgrounds.