I know. And I think it is interesting to look at how much that costs compared to what we do today. It surprised me that animals aren't that expensive, I would have guessed that killing horses would be way more expensive.
Expensive horses take expensive breeding, training, and maintenance. You can get a good draft horse (one bred for real work) for not much. And "hobby horse" isn't just a fun phrase.
Horses used to be plenty, then automobiles pushed them out of their role in the order of things. They're the OG victim of automation at a species level. I imagine at the time they were making those movies, there was still a huge overpopulation of horses relative to the use humans had for them, so you know... supply and demand.
