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RE: [RC] [RC] Cost of horses - there is more to the story - Juli JakubI have to agree that it is costly and to me the reward is more than worth it...that does not mean I want to add it up though!!! We luck out in that our horses are kept on friends land about 10 minutes from where we live. The only thing we pay for is the electricity we use for our fence and our water heaters...so far this has come to....well actually we haven't paid anything as of yet except letting them ride our horses occasionally. Hay is expensive here, but not as expensive as other places. We get good sized grass hay bales of consistent quality for $3.25 delivered. Luckiliy the fellow who does our hay also does it for the school across the street so he gives us a bit of a deal. We have all our horses barefoot and they are all doing well. We rasp their feet every week and the farrier comes in every couple months to make sure they are short enough and still well balanced...often he does not do much...if he does it is $35 a trim. We have started to buy boots for the moe sensitive horse...but no hurry...he isn't an endurance horse anyway! Our horses get limited grain as they hlive 24/7 in a huge pasture, a diet (dirt) paddock, and come this spring they will have another 4 acre pasture or so. We go through a $10 bag of grain....every couple of months maybe. I expect this to go up in the winter a tiny bit as one horse may need a bit more grain and hay to be comfortable. We have blankets...I have collected them over the years so they do not seem to expensive. We repair and re waterproof all the time and they still work. I do have to buy a new one for the new horse...but really they only wear them during the worst of the Adirondack winter so they last a long time!! Tack is a huge expense but once you have it...it lasts forever with good care. We have treeless saddles and I am a featherweight ...I have not yet had any type of sore back..in fact it has solved a sore back problem on my TB. The great thing is I throw it on all of the horses and it fits them all so far! Worming is negligable in my world...we worm on rotation every two to three months. I have never seen a worm and my horses all look healthy and happy. Water is free although we do have to hand lug it...but I like the exercise! Fencing is pricey...we have electric tape with T-posts... my mother gifted us with enough for a large pasture one Christmas...I love my Mom...the other fence we bought ourselves but it was four years ago and I cannot remember what it cost honestly. Wood...well the friends who own the land have their own Wood Miser so when we need wood we tell them and they cut what we need...it is a fun day of work. My one horse gets a joint supplement...expensive but worth it as it keeps her moving freely. Vets...well vets are always expensive. I figure it is $200 per horse when the vet comes but usually that is only twice a year knock on wood! I am not adding this up in any way but it is expensive...it also can be done cheaper than many do it. I once did the show thing where everyone had to have the up and coming blanket color and certain saddle and matching pads/polos/blankets/boxes!! Now that was expensive! And my horse seemed to get hurt more when in a stall and turnout too so more vet bills!Cheers, Juli <html><DIV> <P>Juli Jakub</P> <P>The Air of Heaven is that which blows between a horse's ears.</P> <P>~ arabian proverb</P></DIV></html> _________________________________________________________________ Try the next generation of search with Windows Live Search today! http://imagine-windowslive.com/minisites/searchlaunch/?locale=en-us&source=hmtagline =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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