My Adult daughter sent a picture today

[QRTRHRS]

I do like working with horses and the lifestyle. Met a lot of good people over the years and a few with "long arm disease". Riding wise, we are at the point where the horses would be highly indignant about saddling up.

 

[D&D]

Down to three. All 24 years old this spring/summer. Just picked up more meds for the one that has PPID, 160 days worth, $425. She has arthritis in one back knee so a tube of "sleepy time" $35 or $40 to calm her down for the farrier today. Farrier $175 for three trims.

The farrier and I were discussing the one that was recently diagnosed with EPM. $500 plus for x-rays, bloodwork and meds to try out. Plus, he should go to the large animal hospital to have a sarcoid removed from over one eye.

When I rented a back hoe back in January to bury a horse that was one month shy of 33 years old that I had to put down due to colic, I dug an extra hole for the EPM horse in the previous paragraph. It's only a matter of time.

Then there is the third horse. No big issues, just a little arthritis in one back knee. He just gets a joint supplement.

Like people, when they get older, they have their issues.

We used to board. We would have made money but my wife kept bringing home more horses, lol! At least I made money on that facility when I sold it.

Different take on costs. My farrier charges $30 for a trim, $70/pair to hot shoe, $10 for “sleepy time” dose.
EPM is not necessarily a death sentence, kinda depends on your vet and how they choose to help treat it med wise. Marquis is “the best” ~1200 for 30 doses, Protazil is “second tier” ~800 for 30 doses, Decoquinate/Levamisole, 60 doses is ~125.

Yep, like us, they all can have issues.

 

[D&D]

I do like working with horses and the lifestyle. Met a lot of good people over the years and a few with "long arm disease". Riding wise, we are at the point where the horses would be highly indignant about saddling up.

I have a buddy that turned 80 last year and his wife bought him a 2 year old to train for her to ride sometimes life is just about perspective

 

[grsthegreat]

I broke my arm on a 2 year old…..and i was in my late 30s then. I would not be training a green horse if i was 80.

 

[CalG]

We have 4 pleasure horses that we travel with to different places/states to explore/ride. Have met some really great people and gained some new friends along the way. I don’t think the hobby is killing the budget. I probably spend less on the horses, fuel, camping fees, etc in a year than a lot of people spend on their vacation.
Probably all the people that want to talk you out of it are people that would rather be sitting in front of the tv watching life, instead of living it.

That's what I'm hoping for my daughter!

 

[CalG]

I have a buddy that turned 80 last year and his wife bought him a 2 year old to train for her to ride sometimes life is just about perspective

There ARE times I think like that.

Get a horse, get some horse sense. Get real with life!

 

[grsthegreat]

When i got too old and broken down to easily get into the saddle of my quarter horse, i took up carriage driving and bought 3 Norwegian fjord draft ponies. Now its sleighs and carriages, and some combined driving competitions.

 

[Rockbadchild]

I agree with both side of the comments, both can be true.... It is true the set up for horses is expensive but once it's purchase it's done its really well made. The issue I see espicially with the ladies is they get obsessed with taking up, different colors, matching outfits, different saddle and you name it... If you keep that in check it's not bad at all.

 

[D&D]

I agree with both side of the comments, both can be true.... It is true the set up for horses is expensive but once it's purchase it's done its really well made. The issue I see espicially with the ladies is they get obsessed with taking up, different colors, matching outfits, different saddle and you name it... If you keep that in check it's not bad at all.

Yes, there are two sides, from the heart and from a sense of economics. Sometimes it’s a tough pill but is that $100 dollar widget worth it for something that you originally bought for $250?.
I’ve seen/know people that buy saddles left and right because they try after they buy or so and so said these saddles are the best for my type horse. They are then surprised when the horse doesn’t perform well
We buy custom fitted/made saddles (last one was $1300) vs. off the rack “isn’t that pretty or that one looks comfy”. The ROI is actually a lot higher than people would think. Finding a good saddle fitter is tough but well worth it. Who likes wearing anything that is uncomfortable/hurts? One of our saddles is ten years old and is now in the shop to get the fleecing redone (fuzzy stuff on bottom).
Keeping her from buying accessories is tough. We have a rule though of buy one, get rid of two.

 

[QRTRHRS]

Different take on costs. My farrier charges $30 for a trim, $70/pair to hot shoe, $10 for “sleepy time” dose.
EPM is not necessarily a death sentence, kinda depends on your vet and how they choose to help treat it med wise. Marquis is “the best” ~1200 for 30 doses, Protazil is “second tier” ~800 for 30 doses, Decoquinate/Levamisole, 60 doses is ~125.

Yep, like us, they all can have issues.

Ever hear of Toltrazuril? $80 per paste form, four doses per tube, two tubes then evaluate. Another tube if needed then try something else. We are at the wait and see period at the moment.

My go to vet quit working on large animals so I am using a vet that will admit that she is not the best for horses because her practice has been mostly working with cows and small animals.

If money was not an issue, I would take him to Lexington. I was going to do that for the sarcoid over his eye then we got hit with bad weather then he came down with the EPM. He is an Arabian gelding weighing in at around 1200lbs. That's big for the breed so as he ages, I would think that is going to effect his health? So even though the average for the breed is 30 years, I have to be realistic.

My farrier gets 50/trim. He is really good, even the vets will call him. Due to his traveling to get to me, we agreed to split the difference going down one horse. I have had a couple of Amish farriers but both of them have quit due to back issues. They did not drive either and where I live now, I would have to drive a half an hour to pick up one of the other Amish farriers in that area.