Horses

[Anonymous]

Don't forget tack and saddles, which often have to be changed out if you change horses, like if you a child who grows.

Monthly smartpaks, lesson fees, horse transportation, even things like holiday tips for trainers add up.

We had some drama llamas in our barn, the head trainer and her #1 assistant had a falling out and the assistant moved to a new barn taking like half a dozen students and their horses to the next one. That was crazy.

[Anonymous]

I can answer this for the OP.
If we’re talking about a happy adult amateur in H/J at the A show level (which is not the only way to do it!)

Figure $50-$350k/horse
$3k/month base expenses (including board, routine care, basic training)
$3k/horse/regional show

Triple everything for Wellington in the winter, double everything for Ocala.

But what will really get you is that horses don’t stay sound. If you get a horse that stays sound for 10 years, get down and kiss its hooves. So the big cost is retiring them. You can decide to not do that, but you have to be okay with the ethics of euthanizing or otherwise offloading a horse that isn’t rideable but could live for another 10-20 years.

Don’t buy a farm! If it hasn’t been your lifelong dream to own a farm, for goodness sake, don’t buy a farm. I mean even if it’s a $10m farm in Wellington and you will never so much as hold a broom, don’t buy a farm. You’re welcome in advance.

[Anonymous]

My SIL used to ride horses, the last one they owned and retired (vs. lease) got sent to a “farm” in the south where MIL said they paid $250 a month and in exchange received emailed photos every month.

$250 a month to keep up an unsound pastured horse for years obviously makes no sense.

MIL said she highly suspected that they took up to 200 photos on the first day because that’s exactly what it looked like, but when SIL was young it was somehow worth a charade because it kept her happy to get a different picture each month.

Horse stuff is not for the faint of heart.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can answer this for the OP.
If we’re talking about a happy adult amateur in H/J at the A show level (which is not the only way to do it!)

Figure $50-$350k/horse
$3k/month base expenses (including board, routine care, basic training)
$3k/horse/regional show

Triple everything for Wellington in the winter, double everything for Ocala.

But what will really get you is that horses don’t stay sound. If you get a horse that stays sound for 10 years, get down and kiss its hooves. So the big cost is retiring them. You can decide to not do that, but you have to be okay with the ethics of euthanizing or otherwise offloading a horse that isn’t rideable but could live for another 10-20 years.

Don’t buy a farm! If it hasn’t been your lifelong dream to own a farm, for goodness sake, don’t buy a farm. I mean even if it’s a $10m farm in Wellington and you will never so much as hold a broom, don’t buy a farm. You’re welcome in advance.

Our barn owner recently decided to retire and go live in Florida with her son. Her barn with residence on premises, 2 outdoor riding rings, an indoor ring and I think like 25 stalls sold for $1.5.

It’s the kind of thing we could have possibly helped our daughter purchase if she were capable of going into that kind of business, but I don’t know who would want to do that because it’s absolutely like being on alert 24/7/365 for everything from fire to colic to who knows whatever else.

I get exhausted just thinking about it. Don’t buy a farm is right.

[Anonymous]

I didn’t have time to read the whole thread, but if she is that good of a rider, someone could want her to ride their horses in events for them. If the important thing to her is the riding/showing, and she is already excellent at it, you can do that without owning a horse.

Depending on the owner you might still have to pay for your coaching but you would not have to pay for horse care and upkeep.

Signed, former horse person who rode some rich person’s horse in hunter/jumper events for a several years when I was younger and more ambitious

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I didn’t have time to read the whole thread, but if she is that good of a rider, someone could want her to ride their horses in events for them. If the important thing to her is the riding/showing, and she is already excellent at it, you can do that without owning a horse.

Depending on the owner you might still have to pay for your coaching but you would not have to pay for horse care and upkeep.

Signed, former horse person who rode some rich person’s horse in hunter/jumper events for a several years when I was younger and more ambitious

Yeah, but that plan needs to come from the rider/GF/fiancée/whatever she is, not from the non-horsey guy who stands at the rail and claps.

“Hey honey, I know you really love Dobbin. But I crunched the numbers and figured we could save so much money if you sell him and just catch ride in Wellington or Aiken a couple weekends each winter,
and the rest of the time just lesson on whatever horses your trainer has available.”

Pitch that idea and Dobbin won’t be the only one sleeping in the barn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn’t have time to read the whole thread, but if she is that good of a rider, someone could want her to ride their horses in events for them. If the important thing to her is the riding/showing, and she is already excellent at it, you can do that without owning a horse.

Depending on the owner you might still have to pay for your coaching but you would not have to pay for horse care and upkeep.

Signed, former horse person who rode some rich person’s horse in hunter/jumper events for a several years when I was younger and more ambitious

Yeah, but that plan needs to come from the rider/GF/fiancée/whatever she is, not from the non-horsey guy who stands at the rail and claps.

“Hey honey, I know you really love Dobbin. But I crunched the numbers and figured we could save so much money if you sell him and just catch ride in Wellington or Aiken a couple weekends each winter,
and the rest of the time just lesson on whatever horses your trainer has available.”

Pitch that idea and Dobbin won’t be the only one sleeping in the barn.