Although this article touched on the causal issues, it failed to examine them in sufficient detail for a feature article of this nature. Most notably, the economic downturn has resulted in a huge increase in the number of neglected and abandoned pleasure animals as owners move to smaller quarters or simply run out of money to care for them. Horse sanctuaries, typically dependent on grants and donations to cover their expenses, are operating at or over capacity even as funding dries up. Publicly financed animal shelters and stables cannot afford to take them in, and breeders and brokers are left with an unsustainable inventory -- with a hugely diminished market. Exacerbating the problem is prolonged drought in the America Southwest, which combined with the last decade's extensive conversion of pastureland to housing development, has brought the price of a bale of hay (which sold as recently as 2010 for $9 a bale,) up to $20 or more. The result is a huge glut of unwanted animals too expensive to feed and care for, with nowhere to go-- or to be buried or even incinerated. As horse meat commands a premium both abroad and on the domestic grass-fed meat market, these unwanted animals represent a potential source of both jobs and human protein. Currently, horses must be shipped to Mexico or Canada for slaughter-- arguably far more traumatic and expensive than processing them locally. Reopening horse slaughterhouses, it is reasoned, would address this. Complicating the issue is the fact that Americans typically view the horse as an iconic image of the old west, not as a food source. In times of increasing hunger and poverty, such romantic notions come into direct conflict with the necessity of disposing of these long-lived pet animals ethically and humanely. In this case, practicality appears to have superseded sentimentality.