I'm not exactly sure what one of the action cards says, but I think it says something like this: Take one sheep and one food or one boar or pay one food and take one head of cattle.
You could pay one food to take one head of cattle or one horse (or two food for the horse. Also, when the cattle action card comes out, you could take one horse, instead, player's choice. The problem with the latter, though, is whether to allow horse accumulation.
Another alternative is to make the horse minor improvement an off-board special action, or if you leave it in the deck and someone plays it, another player can pay the owner one food to take one horse.
Brian
You could pay one food to take one head of cattle or one horse (or two food for the horse. Also, when the cattle action card comes out, you could take one horse, instead, player's choice. The problem with the latter, though, is whether to allow horse accumulation.
Another alternative is to make the horse minor improvement an off-board special action, or if you leave it in the deck and someone plays it, another player can pay the owner one food to take one horse.
Brian