Posts Tagged ‘cool horse stuff’
The cost of owning a horse: Calculate if you dare!
I have said repeatedly on this blog that someone should make a calculator and put it on the web to help people figure out what owning 8 or 12 or 15 horses is actually going to cost them, since so many people seem to conveniently ignore this fact until 38 head are starving in their backyard. Horsechannel.com did it:
Very interesting to look at. My horses in California cost a little over $5,000 a year to maintain (I estimated $300 miscellaneous vet annually). My rescue horses in Washington, less than half that, due to the much lower cost of everything from hoof trimming to board.
Give it a try and post if you dare your actual annual cost of keeping horses! (I promise, I won’t share this information with your husband, ha ha!) Mine is over $20,000 which doesn’t really surprise me. It seems like it’s more but I didn’t factor in purchase costs for rescue horses, so that’s a chunk, nor did I factor in horse transportation, which I end up paying for a lot of. I chose to totally ignore the 2010 show season costs, because, honestly, when I think about that bill, I see a nice, shiny BMW convertible flying away from me on Pegasus wings, and it’s just tooooo depressing…(wanders off grumbling about big yellow accident-prone money vacuum…)
East Coasters, check out cutie pie War Action at Mid-Atlantic Horse Rescue! He is the size I like…the size I can get on without pulling a muscle
A site after my own heart!
Someone finally did it! They made a web site to help the old TB broodmares find homes!
You all know that this is a subject near and dear to my heart. I love old TB mares and know that there are like a gazillion of you out there who are competent enough to get one, tune them up and place them in a riding home. It is not that hard. Honestly, if they’re track broke, by the time they’re 15+, they aren’t going to be any harder than riding a school horse who roots. They make great first “projects” if you are a solid rider but have never actually trained before and want to start learning how. And these mares desperately need your help! They get dumped ALL THE TIME. No matter HOW nice they are.
Here is my latest, pictured at the auction on Sunday. This is Show Ticket. Look at that pedigree. Who dumps that? And it’s not like she’s barren. She had a baby last year.
Ticket is safe, but so many more are in jeopardy. Check out the new site — save a life and get yourself a summer project!
For those of you in Maryland…please check this story out about a Morgan Show Horse Shot. It sounds like there’s a real sicko in that area and somebody knows who he is. Please share the story around to your friends and family!
The U.S. Trotting Association just started its own program to help ensure the safety of Standardbreds when their racing careers are over. Check it out!
I’ll be darned if I can figure out if it’s the horse or the little sister who is pregnant, but it’s good for a laugh!
Horse
All right, last minute shoppers!
I usually manage to do this post earlier in the month but, what can I say…it’s been a crazy month! And hey, almost everyone has last-minute shipping and there’s stuff here you can buy instantly so I’m going to plug some fun holiday stuff anyway.
This sweatshirt at Hoofprints cracks me up because it’s SO true. Just some of the things NOT to say to a horse owner:
- Should you still be riding at your age?
- Why do you take lessons? I thought you knew how to ride.
- Riding isn’t a sport, the horse does all the work.
And many more. Hahaha, SO true! Check out Hoofprints for all sorts of fun horse and dog related stuff.
It’s Not For Sissies is a fun site with lots of fun horsey stuff and some other stuff. I personally think this is hysterical and kind of want to buy a bunch and creep around in the night sticking them on certain whiny peoples’ cars…muahahaha!
You KNOW you are thinking about who you’d do this to! Admit it!
Lynn Reardon’s book “Beyond the Homestretch” has become a best-seller, and for good reason. Her tales of what horse rescue is really like, with all of the quirky horse personalities and the good, bad, and sad moments, is a must-read for anyone who loves horses or thinks they might want to rescue horses one day. Lynn tells it like it is and you shouldn’t miss out her stories!
Now, since most of us think of the holidays (and the end of the year) as a great time for giving, let’s go over some good places to send a donation this year.
The Oregon Hay Bank desperately needs your help. What they do is provide short-term gifts of hay to help people suffering temporary financial distress hang on to their horses. They do NOT endlessly fund slackers who won’t get a job. These grants are for people suffering from the poor economy, illness, etc. and they don’t just keep on coming – they’re a helping hand, not a hammock. The economy continues to suck in the PNW and helping the OHB helps ensure that some horses won’t go hungry this Christmas.
Of course, another great way to help horses is by donating to a reputable rescue. If you’re a Thoroughbred lover, check out Angel Acres, Mid-Atlantic Horse Rescue or Second Chance Ranch. These organizations focus on rehoming off the track Thoroughbreds, and all have a solid record of success to show how many of their alumni are in great homes, often excelling in the show ring.
And I gotta say…Jo Deibel deserves a donation just for writing this blog entry about Sue Walrus Wallis. I mean, this line alone: “I got two words for your program their Slaughterhouse Sue Wallis and Dave D. and they rhyme with DUCK SHOE!” WIN. That line was full of WIN. 
Now, if you prefer your donations to go to more of an all-breed rescue, Shiloh Horse Rescue helps a very wide variety of horses outside of Las Vegas, Nevada. One thing I particularly love about Shiloh is the constant stream of riding videos posted, showing us all that they DO NOT merely warehouse horses…even if something comes in unbroke, if it’s old enough to ride, it will GET broke at Shiloh and have a future. Love that! It has obviously been a really tough year for them with the loss of Tony Curtis, but the rescue is back running at full capacity and Tony’s legacy will continue saving horses far into the future.
Obviously, there are many quality rescues out there and this isn’t an all-encompassing list. My advice is always: donate wisely. If you value my recommendations, great. If you prefer to choose a local rescue you can check out, that’s great too. I always approve of GFAS accredited rescues, because it is NOT easy to get accredited. A donation to Habitat for Horses, Horse Harbor Foundation, Front Range Equine, etc. definitely won’t be wasted funds. Be careful, and please don’t throw your cash at someone begging on Facebook, who may be a scammer like Sharon Crumb – that’s all I ask!
I’ll wrap this up by saying that if you have the ability to take on another animal, small or large, you’ll never find a better Christmas to do it. The shelters are overflowing and so are the horse rescues. Your donations are appreciated but if you can offer up a home and create space for one more animal to live instead of die, well, that’s beyond awesome. And I really believe this – if you have kids, there is no better lesson you can give than saying that this holiday, instead of dropping $300 on a video game system so that everybody sits on their butt in the house machine-gunning imaginary people, we’re going to spend that money taking in a sad, neglected animal and feeding it and vetting it and watching it turn into a happy, healthy animal. Or fostering a horse for a month or two. You can teach charity, kindness and unselfishness for the price of a Wii…what do you think is the better use of your money? Now, if you do rescue a new one, I think you know the drill – WE WANT PICS!
Last thing – what are you dreaming of receiving? What horsey stuff have you seen for sale that’s really super cool? I have a green horse that is making me think it’s time to invest in the Kerrits Stick Tight breeches…or some padding for my butt, LOL! Damn ground has gotten HARD!
It’s a good time to repost this…
OK, after the train wreck we had to watch with Linda Parelli…here is a video of a much younger but far more talented horsewoman working with horses who are ACTUALLY dangerous. I will tell you right now, a million bucks wouldn’t get me on any of these horses in their “before” incarnations. I have the utmost respect for her willingness to take on the truly tough cases, that without a courageous young trainer to help them, would surely be heading down an inevitable path to slaughter.
Holy crap, can this girl ride!
This is a great learning exercise for you beginners. Watch this one. Watch how she insists that the horses go forward, DOES NOT EVER GET ANGRY, disciplines when appropriate and then MOVES ON. Note how soft she is with her reins! She always gives the horse a clear “out” – he can do the right thing and the pressure will be completely off.
Watch the results. Watch how bright and happy and relaxed the horses look in the “after” shots. Do you think for a moment those horses don’t love her? I know that they do. Look at the LACK of pissy behaviors you see after she’s gotten them sorted out.
I’ve posted this numerous times before and it’s still one of my favorites.
Linda, this is how it’s done. Maybe you can take some lessons from her, although I wouldn’t blame her if she had less patience with you than she does with these horses.
How technologically advanced is YOUR barn?
I’ve been wanting to write about this for a while! There is a ton of software available these days for barn management, keeping track of work schedules on your training horses, keeping track of deworming/farrier/etc. on boarders, breeding dates and associated vet care, rescue software for tracking adopters and follow-ups and reference checks, etc. I’m curious how many of you are using something and how it’s working for you?
Is there software you love and think is super helpful?
Something you bought and it was confusing and tedious and you don’t use it?
Are you still just using notebooks or the white board in your barn?
I am a record keeping nut case. I still have my handwritten graph paper charts from the early 1990s of my polo ponies, how much work they got each day, when they got trimmed and dewormed, and notes about how their legs looked. I could throw them away but I am kind of proud of my collection, LOL!
I’m still doing it in a notebook, which is funny for me, and one reason I’m curious who has found software they like for tracking rides, care, etc. Is it expensive stuff, only suitable for a profitable training barn? Or do you have some freeware or cheap shareware that is awesome?
Fill us in, complete with links to buy the stuff you like!
