LISBON FALLS -- When Janet Tuttle enters her stables, dozens of horses pop their heads from the stalls, ears pricked up, craning for a pat and a mint candy.

Tuttle operates the Rockin' T Equine Rescue, home to 33 horses, one donkey, four goats, two sheep, nine dogs, chickens and a llama. The horses alone go through $25,000 worth of grain and $14,000 of hay a year. It takes $81,000 a year and a team of dedicated volunteers to keep the horses fed and cared for.

"It is getting real tough. I have monster bills," said Tuttle.

Tuttle is part of the state's fragile network of horse rescue operations, which are all feeling the pinch of the down economy at a time when their services are most in demand.

Horse rescuers across the state report that they are filled, some even beyond capacity, as horse owners surrender their animals because they no longer can afford to keep them.

Just how many of the approximately 35,000 horses in Maine have been turned over to rescue operations in the past year is not known. The state Animal Welfare Program investigated 261 complaints of horse neglect or abuse last year.

With the average cost of caring for a horse at more than $3,000 a year, adoptions have also slowed, and the recession has triggered a drop in donations to rescue operations.

"It's a terrible time for horses," said Meris Bickford, vice president for the Maine State Society for the Protection of Animals.

The Windham society is the state's oldest and New England's largest horse rescue and rehabilitation facility. The shelter provides homes for 90 horses, all of them seized by animal control officers after being neglected or abused, on a $1.3 million budget that is partly raised by 5,000 members and donors. The society finds homes for eight to 10 of the horses each year.

Horse rescue operations face a whole different set of challenges than those faced by dog and cat shelters, said Janelle Tirrell, a veterinarian at Maine Equine Associates in New Gloucester and a member of the Animal Welfare Advisory Council at the Department of Agriculture.

Finding a permanent home for a large, expensive animal is not easy, and horse shelters do not euthanize unadoptable animals, said Tirrell.

"If you rescue a 5-year-old horse, that is a 25-year commitment," Tirrell said.

There are also just too many horses, say horse owners and shelter operators. People advertising their animals for free can't find any takers.

For the past year, Robert Larkin, who keeps 10 racehorses at the farm he owns in Scarborough, has been trying to give away his 10-year-old trotter, TJ, who over the years has won about $100,000 in races.

Larkin said TJ is a pet at this point, and he wants to find an owner who can afford him, won't board TJ out and will let him live out his years romping in pastures.

"Horses are a luxury. It is hard to find good homes," Larkin said.

Tirrell said part of the problem is that the bottom has fallen out of the horse market.

"The only thing harder to sell these days than a house is a horse," said Tirrell.

Horse prices are down not just because of the economy, but also because of the closure of the last of the slaughterhouses in the United States, in 2007. Before then, the lowest price of a horse was based on the slaughter price.

The resulting glut of horses and a string of sensational cases of neglect -- the latest big case involved the seizure of more than 200 starving wild horses from a Nebraska ranch last week -- has renewed a debate that rages in horse circles: whether reopening slaughterhouses in the United States would solve the problem of unwanted horses.

In Maine, the horse community has been looking for ways to raise more money to help solve the problem, but has not been able to come to any agreement. There have been ideas to license horses, much like dog licensing fees help pay for dog control and shelters.

Sharon Secovich, chairman of the Animal Welfare Advisory Council, said the fees the state collects from dog licensing subsidize the Animal Welfare Program's efforts to ensure the welfare of horses. The program has no shelter for horses of its own and relies on private horse shelters, which must be licensed to receive horses from the state.

"They are paid only a few dollars a day for each horse," said Secovich.

Tirrell said educating potential new horse owners about the costs and time associated with caring for a horse could help, as well as convincing the breeding industry to scale back.

Right now, 30,000 to 40,000 thoroughbred horses are born each year, Terrill said.

For now, Maine's horse shelters are stepping up fundraising efforts. The Maine State Society for the Protection of Animals has launched a buy-a-bale-of-hay program.

"We run on faith and prayer," said Mona Jerome, who operates the Ever After Mustang Rescue in Biddeford.

Jerome has 31 horses, located in every nook and cranny at her shelter. Her herd includes two non-mustangs, because she couldn't say no to a single mother who could no longer afford to feed them last winter.

The Open Gates Equine Rescue in Gray, operated by Deborah Hutchins and Linda Walker, holds fundraising events about once a month, including open barns, bean suppers and scrapbooking events.

Despite that, Hutchins said, "Both of us have taken money out of our retirement accounts."