Morning Star Stables was once full of horses and little girls who loved horses.

Each of the barn's 56 stalls was occupied, and there was a waiting list for open spots. Riders went to horse shows each weekend, and parents spared no expense to give their children the best equestrian training. Some families boarded seven or eight horses at the farm.

But since the start of the recession, things at Morning Star Stables have changed. Half the stalls are empty and parents no longer call in droves to sign up their children for riding lessons. Horse owners who can no longer afford the upkeep abandon their animals at the barn or sell them for next to nothing. Stable owners Chess Renda and his daughter, Bev Coldiron, worry that someday soon they will no longer have a horse stable.

"I've been around horses for 75 years, and this is the worst I've seen it around here," Mr. Renda said. "People don't have money to spend. They're all complaining about board being too high, but I can hardly make a living out here anymore."

Morning Star Stables in South Park is just one of many Western Pennsylvania horse farms that have taken a hit in the recession. As more people find themselves unemployed, luxuries such as horseback riding are among the first expenses to go. The horse market is stagnant and the sale price of the animals has diminished, while increasing numbers of horses are abandoned altogether. Even those who have stayed committed to equestrian sports are now looking for ways to cut back on the price of upkeep and the cost of competitive horse showing.

Bridget Harrison, a spokeswoman for the Washington, D.C.-based lobbyist group the American Horse Council, said every sector of the equine industry has felt the ill effects of the recession in the past nine months. She has seen a nationwide increase in horse neglect, abuse and abandonment.

"With the loss of jobs, additional money that people used to care for their horses has gone down, and there's been an increase in the number of unwanted horses," Ms. Harrison said. "You have to feed your family before you feed your horses."

Western Pennsylvania Humane Society spokeswoman Gretchen Fieser said the agency has seen an increase in the number of abandoned horses in the area. Some people who can no longer afford to feed and care for horses decide to let them loose in the wild. But Ms. Fieser maintained that domesticated horses are not equipped to survive on their own and sometimes starve to death when left to fend for themselves.

Local equine rescue organizations are operating at capacity and can barely handle all the requests to adopt horses that are no longer wanted, Ms. Fieser said.

But the majority of horse owners hit hard by the economy never think to neglect or abandon their horses. Instead, small cutbacks and scrimping techniques are the name of the game, especially for those who are too "horse-crazy" to quit the sport altogether.

Some, like Karen Prawucki of Hopewell, have chosen to lease a horse rather than buy one. Ms. Prawucki's 12-year-old daughter, Paige, is a rider at Blue Ribbon Farms in Independence, Beaver County. Before the start of the recession, she and her husband had considered purchasing a horse for Paige to take to horse shows, but they decided that leasing a horse for $300 a month was more prudent.

"There's no way I could commit to buying a horse at this point in time," Ms. Prawucki said. "I just can't take on the financial responsibility of owning a horse with jobs teetering like they are right now."

By the same token, Ms. Prawucki said, she and other parents at Blue Ribbon Farms have tried to save money by carpooling to riding lessons and bringing their own food and drinks to horse shows. Still, horseback riding is an expensive sport, and if either she or her husband were to lose their job, she said, the horses would be the first thing to go.

Horse owners are also looking to cut back on the "froo-froo stuff," Ms. Harrison said. They are limiting travel to horse shows and choosing shows closer to home -- several barn owners reported seeing a 20 percent to 50 percent decrease in horse show attendance. Riders are also spending less on equipment by making do with old saddles and show clothing, she said.

At Morning Star Stables, owners are putting new shoes on their horses every eight or 12 weeks, rather than every four weeks, Ms. Coldiron said. They are also administering dewormers themselves, rather than calling in a veterinarian to do the job.

Lisa Mathews, the owner of Mathews Quarterhorses in Jefferson, Ohio, said several boarders at her stable are transporting their horses to shows in their own trailers, rather than paying hauling fees to the barn owner. They also are braiding their horses' manes and tails for horse shows themselves instead of hiring professional groomers.

At Blue Ribbon Farms, stable owner Dan McLaughlin said that while most of his clients are boarding just as many horses as they always have, they are looking for better deals when it comes to purchasing new horses.

"People who once were buying $8,500 horses and $10,000 horses are now buying $3,500 horses and $5,000 horses," Mr. McLaughlin said. "The amount people are willing to spend has gone down."

Barn owners agreed that the equine professionals hardest hit by the economy are likely not the stable owners but the horse brokers, who have seen the horse market slow to near-stagnancy.

In addition to the recession, the closure of the last United States horse slaughterhouse in 2007 has driven down the market price of horses. In the past, the price that slaughterhouses were willing to pay for the horse -- the meat price -- determined the baseline value of the horse. Any riding horse up for sale could at least guarantee a sale price several hundred dollars higher than the meat price, explained Elaine Moore, the treasurer of the Western Pennsylvania Quarter Horse Association. But without a baseline floor on the selling price of the horse, owners are gaining much less from selling their horse.

"All those treehuggers think they are out there saving the world with this equine slaughter bill," Ms. Moore said. "But now there is no avenue to humanely get rid of that rogue horse or that 32-year-old horse that is no longer useful to society. And for people with high-quality horses, now that the meat price is not there, you give these great horses away for $250."

Nonetheless, horse owners remain hopeful that the market will turn around. Four generations of Mr. Renda's family have lived on Morning Star Stables, and the riding program has always been a mom-and-pop operation. He would like the barn to stay in the hands of his children for generations. But keeping the farm will require an increase in horse sales and new riders, and that will come only with a stronger economy that leaves people with money to spend on non-necessities.

"It's a combination of everything that's brought us down to our knees," he said. "But I've got a feeling that if the economy gets better, the horse business will get better."