Posted by JML755 on March 10, 2008 at 08:01:30 from (66.184.63.110):
In Reply to: Horse farms posted by Spook on March 08, 2008 at 18:11:41:
Interesting topic. My 3 daughters are equestrian riders (English Hunt) ever since they were 8 yrs old. 5 years ago, my wife and daughters cajoled me into getting our own horse. We adopted a race horse through an organization (CANTER) that seeks to provide a home to race horses rather than have them go to a slaughterhouse. Racing is a business. When we got our thoroughbred, he was sickly, ribs showing and would not earn a dime anymore for the owner. He is arthritic from the rigors of racing at a young age (he is now 9) but we spend thousands of dollars a year on his board and care (vet bills, supplements, shoeing, blankets, tack, cookies, carrots, etc). We wouldn't trade him for anything.
As others have said, a lot of that money goes to FARMERS (Hay) and others in the animal husbandry business. The same people we buy medicine from supply stuff for cattle, etc.
We bought some property (55 acres) and plan to retire there and get another 3 or 4 horses to raise along with some crops. No, we are not full-time farmers, but I'm buying farm equipment, spending money at TSC, etc.
Nearby, a developer is trying to put a motocross track and dragstrip on 200 acres. There would be NO trickle-down to farmers or agri-suppliers with that development.
So, before people start to bad-mouth the "city-folks" who move out to the country and start their "horse farms", consider who else would buy your property? Most people will not buy larger parcels just to put a house on it. So you (or someone else) will end up splitting it. Or a developer will put a subdivision on it, if it's close enough to a town.
As for the original post: Yes, I've noticed the price of hay (and consequently board) rising. I've also noticed the price of horses dropping. With rising prices for gas (and everything else), people have to cut back on the "discretionary" items and keeping horses as a hobby certainly falls in the discretionary category. Unfortunately, it's easy to stop going out to dinner or the movie or cut back on bowling, but it's not so easy to just "quit" owning a horse.
By the way, I live in southeastern Michigan where the economy stinks in general. Anyway, just my 2 cents.
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