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> My horses come first, my sport comes second, my motto is "Ride to live,
> live to ride." No matter what one does in life, raise a family, golf,
> party, buy expensive clothes, have an expensive car, have a fancy house,
> whatever, there are costs.  So choose what makes you happy.  Riding
> makes me happy, going down trail makes me happy, having a fit and
> healthy horse makes me happy, starting the neighbor kids into my kind of
> riding makes me happy ('Mrs. Miller,' Squeaky chirps, 'are we doing lip
> hill?  quarter mile hill?'  My response, 'how can I say no?') One does
> not have to spend an arm and a leg to do this sport.  WalMart supplies
> tight exercise pants, the saddle one has can work in the beginning,
> almost any horse will do in the beginning, sleeping in the car or the
> tent works, ice chests work, renting a trailer works, having an
> understanding man works, having a great baby sitter works.  I always
> come home with a SMILE on my face. There will be choices and I bet the
> horse and ride win everytime, this from one who managed to get my
> daughter married on an off weekend!  If one wants to do the sport, it
> will get done somehow.  Learning occurs as one goes along.  Go for it
> and don't ever look back.  Jeanie
Jeannie, there have been some great posts on this subject, but yours has
been one of the best.

It is amazing the things in life that are non-essential that can be cut
out to afford the sport.  I have no TV, no magazine subscriptions, no
frills.  I don't eat out.  Many endurance riders (myself included) don't
"shop" to speak of--and when we absolutely have to buy clothes to keep
from being a public disgrace, we frequent the used places and the cheapo
discount stores.

I don't ride with any gadgets--they might be nice, but they are
non-essential.  I try to ride horses well-suited to the sport, so that
they don't encounter difficulties that cost a lot of money to try to
"fix."  By being selective about backs, our Wintec saddles fit multiple
horses in our herd.  Although I HAVE splurged and purchased actual riding
tights, Jeannie is right that there are alternatives, particularly when
starting out.  There are lots of tack items that are unnecessary for most
horses--I've yet to have a horse need a crupper, we've only had one horse
in 30+ years (my dad's horse) that needed a breast collar, and only once
have I had a horse that needed a running martingale, briefly--which I made
out of two rings and a snap from the hardware store and some material
scrounged from other old tack items, rather than buy one.

Over the years, I HAVE splurged and purchased a few items like a pommel
pack and a couple of better headstalls--but again, not essential.

I bought my truck used, and my "living quarters" trailer I bought for
$4000.  It is a home conversion that a high school rodeo family had made
and then "outgrown" when their kids got out of high school.  Before that,
I pulled a well-used 2-horse Miley for many years and had a little
slide-in camper (not a cab-over--just a bit bigger than a shell) with a
bed fixed on slats across the front of it, a picnic cooler, and a
one-burner Coleman stove.  I thought I was in fat city!  (Did briefly have
a cab-over camper that I got well-used for $625, and used that until a kid
ran into my truck and totalled the whole thing.)

The main place where one can NOT skimp is on horse care.  But even there,
fancy and expensive is not always the best.  PLENTY of the cleanest, best
grass hay you can buy is the main ingredient.  Supplements are only
necessary to offset problems in the area where your hay is grown.  Safe
fencing, room to move, and good feed will do a lot to limit veterinary
expenses, as others have pointed out.

And conditioning is not only free--it is fun!

Heidi



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