Horse Has New Pain In Rump...

[MikePA]

Ditto what cowboydoc said!

All too often in a public forum we tend to talk about problems (this applies to horses and tractors! /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif) and if that's all someone reads they might be dissuaded from either buying a certain brand tractor or a horse. While caring for horses is a lot of work, it's also a great blessing. As with most things in life, you have to count the cost before jumping in. Just like doc, I've seen people buy a horse because it was a neat thing to do (I'm not saying this is your situation). Only after they've bought it do they find out that it's a lot of work. The smart ones (and the lucky horses), either commit to working harder or sell the horse. The dumb ones (and the unlucky horses) decide to only do the work they have the energy or funds (or both) to provide.

 

[dmccarty]

Cowboydoc,

I KNEW how much they would cost which is why I did not want a horse! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

My wife did get a good price on the horse when she bought it and if the StableOwnerThugs had not brutilized the horse we would have made money when we sold the horse. As it was we lost money. My wife did do well to minimize the cost of owning the horse so it pretty much cost us nothing or very little to keep. It really got down to the abuse of the horse by a previous stable owner.

My gut feel is that we could have treated the horse for the latest problem but it was going to be a gamble so we cut our losses.....

I did not want the horse to begin with but my wife was riding horses a couple of times a week when we bought Pebbles. I still did not want the horse but I just got the tractor so I really did not have a defense to mount against buying Pebbles! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

In the long run I think it will work out. She is no longer talking about ME building a pasture, barn, fences, etc! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif So Pebbles cost us in the short term, just by bad luck, but long term its a gain since I won't have to spend the next couple of years working on horse infrastructure! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif I'm just going to finish cleaning up the clear cut and then replant trees.... Much easier and cheaper! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Later....
Dan

 

[cowboydoc]

.... Much easier and cheaper!

You said it all there Dan!!! BTW I hope you didn't take my post wrong. I know you're a good guy and would never do the wrong thing for the horse.

 

[dmccarty]

Nope,

I did not take your words wrong. I'm glad you and the Other Horse People talked about
the cost of horse ownership. No, pet or livestock, should be taken lightly. Its expensive.
Period. And people should not go into the responsibility unless they are prepared to
provide good care....

The irony of the Horse is that one of the reasons to sell was based on dollars. We just
found out that one of our dogs has a tumour in its liver. Which ain't good. The dog has
survived cancer before but this looks bad. We are waiting on lab results. Hoped to have
had the biopsy report Friday but still no word. We needed to stop spending money on the
horse to pay for the dog! We have been trying to sell the horse for 6 months so its nice
to have that item checked off.

But then life hands you another problem to deal with.....

You can either laugh or cry through life. I would rather laugh when I can. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Later....
Dan

 

[gerard]

So how exactly did you talk your wife out of horse ownership?? I count myself ahead of the game if I can just convince her not to add ANOTHER stall to the barn!!!!!!!!!
/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 

[cowboydoc]

You know you guys should really give yourselves a HUGE pat on the back. When this horse deal is the other way around and I know very few woman that will lift a finger to help the guy. For those of you that don't do the horses but help and support your wife I think it's great.

 

[MikePA]

It was my wife's dream to (1) Own a horse and (2) Keep it in her own barn. Ten years ago we were fortunate to be able to do this. Now we have three horses. I'm glad (most of the time /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif) to do the heavy lifting and repairs to help her achieve her dream.

 

[dmccarty]

Gerard,

I don't think ** I ** talked her out of the horse. She did! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif When our
daughter came along the wife's priorities changed. She just does not have
time for riding horses right now nor the money. What I'm AFRAID will
happen is that when the little girl gets to be a few years older I'm going
to start hearing, "Daddy, I want a horse..." mantra.... /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

One of our ideas to generate a little money from the property was to run
a stable. I don't think its right to have just one horse by itself, I have seen
that happen and I think its cruel, so we would have to have two or more
horses once we moved to the property and built the horse infrastructure.
If we had to spend the dollars to build the pasture, barn(s), etc we might
was well build a bit bigger and start keeping other people's horses. Its
just a bit more work right? /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif The idea was the if we did this the
wife could stay home with the kid(s) and manage the stable at the same
time. We have a very good location for a stable.

BUT, I really don't like the idea of people running around my property
so who knows...

Later....
Dan WhoSuspectsThatAHorsesWillBeBackInMyLife McCarty

 

[cowboydoc]

Dan,
I can already tell you that if you don't like the idea of people running all over your place now it just gets worse. You have to remember that you are providing a service to people and they will expect to have something in return. You are going to have people that can only go out there in the morning and others only at night. Most people will want to ride at night after work so that means you at least have to allow people to see their horses until 8 or 9. Then like you've found out you have to deal with everything that happens with the horses, etc. Weekends are also a big time for people to be around their horses. No matter what rules you set they always break them too. That's why I don't train much anymore is because of these facts. I got tired of people running all over my place and not being able to have a little peace and quiet. No matter what they would want to talk forever about their horses and such. Nope I wouldn't run a stables unless it wasn't at my house and I didn't have to be there all the time and had someone else to manage it. It will seriously take more of your time than it is worth.

 

[dmccarty]

Cowboydoc,

Yeah, we have come to that conclusion as well which is why I don't think
we are serious about having a stable. The last time we thought through
the stable idea our house would be before the stable. So we would see/hear
all the traffic. And the house would be easy to access. The house site is
now after where a stable would be built and we would not see/hear the
traffic as much.

Furthermore we could/would gate/fence up the place such that people just
can't walk/ride up to the house.

As I see how much time and the odd hours stable owners have to put
up with I'm not real keen on the idea of running one. On the other hand
I don't think we would be running a large operation either. And it would
be the wife's full time job. It would really depend on the dollars vs hours
and I suspect a big part of the dollar side would be tax right offs.

Later...
Dan