For the equations let h represent horses and c represent cats.
The # of horses + the # of cats= 25, so the first equation would be h+c=25
$2(# of horses) + $1(# of cats)= $39, so the second equation would be 2h+c=$39
Get one of the variables in the first equation by itself, so I subtracted c from each side to get h=25-c
Plug that equation into the second equation for the variable h like this, 2(25-c) + c= $39. Solve this using order of operations and you get c=$11. Since the cats cost $1 each, then you know that there must be 11 cat figures. There are 25 figures total, so 25-11= 14 horses.
So there are 11 cats and 14 horses