Well actually Miss Z,

the problem is the same in the UK,
if you go to the beeston horse sales (Just Near Delamere) you can pick up a nice lil pony/horse for about anything from 50 english pounds to about 300.
I used to live in the UK and would go every month to buy these poor critters before the meat men got a hold of them, i would then feed them up and rehome them thus saving them from being butchered and sent to france for the table.