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iBoaterer[_3_]

In article ,
says...

"F.O.A.D." wrote in message
...

On 8/20/13 8:44 AM, Mr. Luddite wrote:

Now she has him spreading and packing about 30 yards of stone dust
on
the trails so the goofy horses won't trip.

Not that I would ever want to own a horse or two, but I've wondered
from
time to time how much work on a daily basis it is to "keep" horses
properly. It just seems to me that the "upkeep" is continuous and
never-ending. And if you go on vacation, do you have to hire a service
to come by and take care of them?

-------------------------

I really don't know how much it costs. It's a big secret around here.
:-)

Judging by the number of bales of hay in the barn loft (and how often
they are replenished) plus the number of bags of oats and wood
shavings she has stored, I'll bet it's not cheap. Then there's the
routine visits by the horse vet, the horse dentist and the farrier.
Of course you also have to consider all the saddles, bridles and
other accessories that I don't really have a clue as to what they
are. A horse can't have just one bridle or saddle. It has to have
several, depending on what type of riding you do, I guess. She has
one saddle that she finally has decided to sell. It's a custom, show
saddle that's worth about $5K. I told her it would look cool
installed on a custom Harley-Davidson.

When she first got them, Mrs.E. used to be active in horse shows and
one of her horses is a National Champion in something. But, as the
years have gone by they have become big, 1200 lb. pets. She's an
animal lover and the horses are dear to her heart. It's ok. She
deserves them after all the years of putting up with me and our
adventurous lives together. Only problem is that they are about
halfway through a normal horse life which means they'll probably
outlive me.

There's a young kid (also into horses) who has lined up a number of
clients and travels around daily to muck stalls, etc. Mrs.E. is one
of his clients.
Plus, she has a number of friends, including the people that bought
the old farmhouse from us (located at the end of our driveway) who
are horse people. They all help each other out and take care of the
horses when anyone is travelling away from home.

Then there's the town government. They send someone out to your barn
for an inspection every so often in order to renew your permit to have
horses. We never have a problem with that because Mrs.E. keeps the
barn, stalls and tack room in pristine condition. Unlike many other
places, our town does not permit spreading of the collected horse
manure, so we have a big, permanent dumpster that is emptied weekly.

In the past 12 years I rode one of them once for about 50 feet. Did
nothing for me. The only things I'll ride must have an ignition
on/off switch or pedals.

Same here, I have a deep understanding with all horses. I won't try to
ride them if they don't try to bite me. So far, so good. It isn't
expensive to keep a horse or three IF you already have a working farm,
but I'll bet in your case, it's not cheap.