Re: Speaking about horses...

Posted by Billy NY on August 17, 2011 at 09:04:09 from (74.67.3.54):

In Reply to: Speaking about horses... posted by Ultradog MN on August 17, 2011 at 07:47:49:

For us, its the show world, hunter/jumper horses, to be honest I don't know how it exists, because the only ones who can really afford it have to be really well off, literally have money to burn. There are some odd people within the confines of this echelon of equine competition, as I have seen over the years.

It can be insanity to have 30-40 of them, when money is tight and things go wrong, one has to ask ones self why anyone would want to get that far involved. Darned help is always fun, cause your budget does not allow anything but low wages, and you get what you pay for with help for the most part.

The profits are narrow, boarding, lessons, and all the rest is hard work, the only time any money is to be made is after putting 5 years into one, and make a sale, all the while hoping no injuries and or health issues arise prior to, then the economy tanks, no one buying, they're all selling! Makes no business sense at all. Then you get one of these prospects that colics, the trailer is snowed in, tires low on air, truck has a 200,000 miles on it, trans is mis-shifting, and you have 150 miles in either direction to get to Cornell or the other place in Rhinebeck to save the beast, you need to be there yesterday it's 0 degrees F out, you are walking and fighting with a 1429lb animal to keep him up and get him loaded, hope he does not go down in the trailer, and you can't imagine the pain he's in. This can happen anytime, with the best of care, some of them get too big and have a little extra room in there, when they roll cause they ain't been out enough, things get jumbled up in there ! Makes for a long day when you had other plans, like the wood stove and ones recliner !!!! not to mention the thousands of dollars this will cost, and the risk of losing even more if he keels over, and he's your best one !

You have the polo crowd, they're just loaded though.

Then you have the reasonable, 2 horse owner, whom rides and enjoys them often, still costly, can't leave the place unless someone can cover what you do, but at least its a hobby that your job covers, lot of people getting out of this hobby at that level. Lots of these situations around, they do buy a fair amount of hay too. Most of those places are smaller, neatly kept and manageable.

Personally, I would agree, I like to seem them have a job or a purpose, where they are useful, like ranching or other similar work. To have them just to have them makes no sense at all.

Ideally most of ours, are ridden daily, but there are stretches where no rider is available, especially in the winter, though we have a huge indoor arena. Turn outs sometimes are just that arena, snowed in, iced up road to the fields or snow too deep for em like last year, I had to snow blow the pastures for em to get em out on sunny days.

You have the race crowd, breeding farms, sales etc, they are hurting around here.

It has its ups and downs, though I think most are nuts that have em, including us LOL !!!

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