RAMONA, Calif. -- At the EA Ranch in Ramona, many of the ponies are with their mothers -- or what breeders call mares -- but there used to be many more.

"Farms are not doing well at all and a lot of them are going under," said breeder Leigh Ann Howard.

Howard said the number of farms has dropped by almost half.

"Ten years ago, we had about 400 farms. Now, we have about 250," said Howard.

Out of those 250 that are left, the remaining farms are now feeling the effects of the recession. Business at EA Ranch is down 30 percent.

"Sometimes our clients have to call up and say, 'I'm sorry, I just can't make a payment this month; we just don't have any money,'" said Howard.

Part of the setback is from people having less disposable income. People are buying fewer horses, especially considering experts said only 50 percent of owners break even.

"There are people that have in the past just left and left their horses here and never made payments," said Howard.

Breeders like the EA Ranch bare the brunt because they have to put up money in advance -- many times up to tens of thousands of dollars.

"The total cost from the time the foal was born until the foal is ready to start the initial training is probably in the area of $20,000," said Howard.

Owners spend about $3,000 a month to maintain a horse.

EA Ranch's Cherrie Songer said she is seeing more horses owned by multiple people.

"A lot of people have to get partners on their horses because they can't afford it, so they split their horse three ways and everyone owns a third," said Songer.

For now, as fans gear up to bet big during race season at Del Mar, breeders are gearing up for tough years ahead.

Breeders said they expect fewer horses on the racetrack in the next few years, which means instead of being able to bet on 12 horses there may only be seven to choose from.