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[RC] Lif Strand's Comments on buying horses - Joane Pappas White

 
 
Thank You Lif!!
 
Lif has reminded you all of just the most basic expenses for the care and feeding of the baby distance horse but most of you would also admit that your horses get substantially more than just the minimum  of care.  You all tend to invest many dollars more and huge amounts of your time to get those babies just to their first ride. 
 
After that the cost just goes up----ride fees, shoeing, special diets, special equipment, yada yada yada.  In the archives of Ridecamp should be some posts from a few years back totaling up the real average costs for raising and maintaining an endurance horse and I recall those being around $6000 a year---particularly if you are in a more urban setting.  Even in rural Utah, Lif's estimates are very conservative.  Soooo, like most things in life, I believe you get what you pay for and this day and age, endurance horses are no exception. 
 
A breeder is not making money in most cases.  Breeding is a labor of love---excuse the pun.  As an example, I look at my awesome 4 year old Karahty daughter Kat.  Her cost as of age 4?---A LOT!  
 
The breed fee to Karahty, which I think was between $1000 and $1500 (Dolly help me out here if you see this) was just the beginning.   I also had to transport my CC (Canada 1996 World's at Kansas and a maiden mare at age 14) from Utah to Auburn by professional transport $400.  Then CC slipped the first time and did not settle for about two months so to be safe, she stayed for three months.  You can guess at the vet fees and even with Dolly's reasonable mare care, it still costs money to feed a horse in California.  Then I had to drive over and bring CC home myself as I would not let anyone else handle my pregnant mare.  The price of gas hit $2 a gallon for the first time on that labor day weekend and I don't believe in really long trailer rides, much less for pregnant mares soooooooo, a 1600 mile round trip and an over night stay in Nevada---I would estimate $2500 to just get a pregnant mare bred and back home. 
 
Now we have one year of not only feed but veterinary care, hoof trims, wormer and shots for mom before we even have a baby on the ground. Then we have four years of the same for the baby before we even know whether she has the "right stuff".  Now at age four, Kat definitely has the right stuff but do I want to ride a young horse myself, even my own great babies,  when I ride OT Belle Star who was bred and started by Crockett and Sharon?  What will I do with the 5 others like Kat in my fields since our juniors are no longer competing and there are very few endurance riders in our area for me to even sponsor on my horses?
 
Many of us sell endurance horses because we have great horses who need good endurance homes.  While the stories like Valerie Kanavy's  finding Cash in a field in the mid-West for $500  abound, I think the records will show that breeding and training consistently come out ahead over the long run.  What the records don't show is the number of people who got hurt or quit riding because of the $500 horse.  When I look at the cost of a horse, I also look at the fact that I am a middle aged woman who values her neck and does not want to add medical bills to the cost of keeping horses soooo the original cost of the horse is minor by comparison to the cost of maintaining and riding a horse that is not fit for the job of endurance.
 
Joane Pappas White
Lady J Land & Livestock
Price, Utah