5. Dry and Dead Horses

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/19/us/horses-fall-victim-to-hard-times-and-dry-times-on-the-range.html?hp

          Fernanda Santos, the author of the New York Times article "Horses Fall Victim to Hard Times and Dry Times on the Range," gives the readers an idea of how many horses suffered or died because of bad conditions. She starts out the article by giving a description of fields with withering plants and lonely horses that fend for themselves. Santos uses a series of expressions to emphasize the problem: "they have been dropping dead" and "they have been found stumbling." The reason for such a problem was simple; ranchers lacked the resources like money and water to take care of the horses. She lists a number of places where such occurrences are taking place: Navajo reservation, Missouri, Illinois, and Texas. She also gives a statistical fact: drought conditions are affecting 87% of land for corn, 63% for hay, and 72% for cattle.
         Santos uses different methods for her purpose which is to inform the reader about the incidents of horses dying and suffering because of a lack of resources and the necessary conditions. She uses a good attention getter in the first part of her article by giving vivid descriptions of fields and portraying the problem. Then she explicitly states the main idea of the article: horses are dying because people don't have money and there is no water and the weather is just too hot. She gives examples of places where these problems were seen and she supports her view with statistical facts and gives estimates from credential organizations like the Unwanted Horse Coalition and Four Corners Equine Rescue. She uses mostly subjective statements and a mix of both informal expressions and statistical facts.