A Video Montage of our First Rescue - Ace

Get your super cool photo...

Check out the AMAZING photo! Get your copy today, proceeds to HKSR&R.

Miscellaneous

We had a great time last weekend at Tractor Supply! Some great education going on there, and Mr. Cool was a FANTASTIC representative of horses all around as he stood in the parking lot for hours, basking in the attention!

Don't forget to spread the word - Ace is ready for rehoming! He's looking to be a powerhouse in the hunter world, so come take a look at him today!

Can You Afford A Horse?

Now, this might seem like an easy question. You might say ‘of course I can.’ But can you really? What determines the costs?

The first and simplest cost is the cost of the horse. This might not cost anything up front; you can find free horses and pasture pets galore. But what are you going to do with it? These may have no training, and their health status may be unknown. Do you want a pasture pet/lawn ornament/fertilizer or do you want to ride your horse? How much? Will you take lessons or enter competitions? Do you want a horse with training? If not, will you be able to train it or will you need to hire someone? Should you REALLY buy the 9 month old colt or would you be better off spending a little more and getting a well-trained older horse?

So after you sort this out, where is your horse going to live? At your house? Do you have at least an acre of land? Some other grazing animal for the horse to live with? Fencing? A minimum of a 3-sided shelter? Or are you going to board your horse? Pasture or stall? What is included in board? If you don’t board, what are you going to feed? Hay? Grain? How much and from where? What if there’s a draught and hay prices triple? Can you afford that? How much will you have to buy per month? What about shavings for the stall? Riding facilities?

So you have a horse. And it has somewhere to live. Now comes the maintenance. You have to maintain the land if it’s yours. And the vet needs to see your horse (and probably should have BEFORE you brought it home). You’ll need to plan for regular deworming, annual vet checks, Coggins test, etc. Did you plan to breed? That’s even more money and another mouth to feed. Do you have an emergency fund? Would you be willing to put your horse down if you couldn’t afford what the vet recommended? Could you afford the renderer? And don’t forget the farrier. You might luck out at $40 if your horse doesn’t need shoes, but what if they do? Or need specialty shoes?

Do you have a saddle? Bridle? Harness if you’re driving your horse? If not, how long will it have to sit before you can work your horse? Can you afford to repair it? Can you afford to train your horse or take lessons or pay someone to fix what’s broken if the pair of you isn’t working together well?

This isn’t to detract from the joy of owning a horse, because it is a joy. But the harsh reality is that owning a horse costs money, even if everything goes right, and nothing EVER goes right all the time. Sometimes we have to make hard decisions, and the hardest might be saying “I’m not the right home for you right now.” That doesn’t mean horses are out of your life. Monthly lessons are much cheaper than owning, and many facilities offer half and/or full leases that can ease you into ownership. They might even help you find the perfect-for-you horse with the bonus of getting to know each other for months instead of off a Craigslist or Dream Horse advertisement.