I think the time is approaching very quickly that I am going to be priced out of enjoying the horse hobby in the way I have in the past and squash any higher riding goals for the future. Board has skyrocketed but my pay had increased a tiny dribble. I need to find a different boarding situation as the one I am at currently is not going to work out long term for my horses health. 700 per head is the new 500 for boarding and I have been a nice enough places for less than the 500 that many others were in the recent past. I fear that I will be forced to sell my old lady to a trail riding home if I want to have any sort of riding future with my young one. Or I sell my young one and accept that I will never get to the goals I have held on to for so many years held back by my old lady that is a wonderful horse she just sucks at what I want to do. I know there have been price increases on items but the sort of increase I have seen lately is staggering. It truly is becoming the sport of only the wealthy as it seems small boarding barns are getting in on the pricing out of an average joe that probably spends a bit too much on their all consuming hobby. Self care barns are sketchy as heck locally and most don’t even have riding space that is usable if it rains or is dark out. Full care barns at the high prices don’t turn out enough because they don’t have enough space to do so as they have more stalls than land for pasture and the care isn’t great because they don’t even have employees that notice injuries. Nothing to be done about it just needed to vent because dang just it sucks. Mourning the days that you could have a horse or even three at a barn and not be spending more than a mortgage payment on board alone much less everything else that comes with horse ownership. I live in a pretty low cost of living area so my high numbers might sound great to others but it isn’t great when your pay lines up with living in a lower cost of living area.
I am currently living wayyyy beyond my means to keep my mare in the only decent facility nearby. I’ve pretty much determined this is my last horse. She’s 14 so could have another 10-12 years. I’ll keep her going as long as I can, but definitely can’t afford 2. She has health issues that make her high maintenance and I can’t just throw her out on pasture board. 
I hear you. If I didn’t keep mine at home I would be hard pressed to afford 1 ( i have 3).
So many things not even related to horses has skyrocketed in price and wage increases ( if you get any) sure don’t help and bridge the gap.
I have been where you are and as a young 20 something had to sell my young horse that I had raised, trained and brought along because I could just not afford to pay board on 2. It was heartbreaking to me.
Hopefully if you do sell she will go to a wonderful home.
This is obviously very dependent on area but I think horse care everywhere has taken a bit price hike in the past several years. Land costs, gas costs, hay costs. Where I live hay has gone from about $550 a ton delivered to at least $750 and up into the $800 range over the past 2 years. I do self board at a nonprofit riding club so I track those changes buying my own feed. Beet pulp and alfalfa cubes have gone up about 50 % and whole flax has tripled locally.
And yes, pay rates tend to track cost of living. I make more than double in $CAN in a high cost city versus what I made 20 years ago in $USA in a low cost American city, but I can afford much less housing here.
Honestly for most ammies keeping two horses is a stretch if you need to board at a decent place. If the older mare is a sweety but doesn’t fit your current goals, finding her a good free lease situation and keeping tabs on her is actually win win win all around, for you and mare and lucky kid who gets to ride.
I wish that free leasing was an option but girlfriend is still a bit of a spitfire. Would have to be intermediate rider if they wanted to do anything more than walk as she likes to move out. What is super frustrating is that I had 3 comfortably for years and now that I am down to two I am paying more for just 2 than I was for 3! I know having 2 is a stretch for many AA but as this is my only hobby and no kids it shouldn’t be terrible for me but these $100+ price increases are everywhere and too often. I am waiting for the stock market to inevitably crash causing a correction or recession to be able to buy my own place or that it resets the boarding prices a bit when people have to sell their horses left and right and boarding barns start to empty.
I know you were mostly venting, but surely you know that boarding has at best razor thin margins, and many barns lose money on boarding. There’s a reason there are lots of horses on little land: land is EXPENSIVE. And fencing it is even more so. Hundreds of thousands if not even a million, depending on location! Impossible to recoup through boarding, so that’s why you don’t see it.
Carry on 
I’m also going through this acceptance process; I lost my horse almost a full year ago and still haven’t fully paid off my credit card where all of her vet bills had been going, and my salary now is higher than it’s ever been before in my life! But I can afford the same amount of stuff if not less. I’ve been leasing other horses and taking lessons but I’m starting to feel like it’s not worth the money I have to spend on it and I’d rather save up for some distant future where I have more cash to spare for such an expensive hobby. It sucks 
what about finding a self care or field board type situation?
If you can sell a horse, you can free lease it which is basically giving away for free but can’t be sold on. If a horse is relatively low dollar that’s a good way to find a good home, and if you care about the horse it’s the only way to make sure she doesn’t get sold down the river and end up in a bad situation or meat dealer. If your horse is rideable there is an intermediate or better rider who would love a nice forward trail horse and has a field for her to live happily.
I get being unhappy that you find yourself on the wrong side of the big economic changes happening. But the first step is to recognize they are happening and figure out what you need to do to survive. Rehoming one of your horses, getting them off your paycheque, is a very smart move.
If you keep just your young horse will you realistically then have the cash and time to do what’s needed in lessons, training, pro help and pay for competition? Depending on your discipline and desired level you may still not be able to afford to compete.
Be careful what you wish for in terms of your local horse community collapsing. When barn owners can no longer make a profit off horses, they won’t lower their prices. They will just get out of horses, and repurpose the facilities for truck storage or legal marijuana grow op or build condos or keep emus, whatever seems like the get rich quick flavor of the year. And those barns will not come back into horses ever. And if the horse economy crashes in your area, there will be no shows or trainers to help you with your dreams even if you do luck into some repossessed acreage on the cheap.
Remember that life doesn’t owe us anything. And for most of us life is inherently unfair or at least creates choices and paradoxes. Like those of us who finally return to riding in our 40s when we have enough income and then look up 15 years later and realize we are going to age out sooner rather than later.
Anyhow, virtually everyone except Jessica Springsteen and Princess Zara will face some crunch of time and cash that limits access to horses and competition. If we aren’t born into royalty, rock or literal, we will face that.
You are going to have to crunch some numbers and see if you can do what you want even if you get maresy off your payroll.
Alternatively you could start looking for ways to increase your salary substantially which might or might not be realistic.
Do whatever you feel is necessary with the horses and your riding, but do not omit saving and planning for the time in your life when you can no longer work.
I am priced out of owning horses though I own the land I live on (10 acres.)
At one time I owned 7 horses and I could because I have my land.
Then over 10 years ago I saw the human population projections and decided that I would probably not be able to afford to support a horse because the price of EVERYTHING would sky-rocket. I stopped replacing my horses who died, I stopped looking for likely weanlings I could bring along, and I gave up my dreams of breeding Arabians.
I am just glad I can still afford to ride. I once dreamed of introducing my grandchildren to horses but now I do not do this because there is no way their parents can afford lessons, much less owning a horse.
I went back to my original dream of horsemanship, to become the best rider I could be. I’ll never become a great rider (I have MS), I just ride the lesson horses the best that I can.
At 8 million people on Earth a lot of people are going to be hungry and starvation is coming for many people in countries poorer than the USA. Owning hobby livestock will probably be one of the victims of our ever increasing population on our planet. Pretty soon only the rich or extremely well off middle class people will be able to ride at all, much less own several horses at one time.
So now I ride lesson horses. I am just glad I can afford that.
Yes, I have been struggling a bit too. I retired in 2020 and boy the fixed income thing is real, especially in the environment of inflation. I also moved barns in late 2021 form mostly self care to full care and that alone was a shock and since that board has increased almost $200 due to inflation and the hay surcharges.
My girl turns 21 this year. She is with me for life. However, I may need to look at some kind of retirement situation or field board in the next couple years. Bare land is disappearing so fast around here, she may end up 2 or more towns away.
Yep, I used to have 2-3 horses at any one time…no more. The current one needs some $2k dental surgery. Thank goodness I only have one.
Susan
I feel this. I’m in my late 20s, making easily 2x what I’ve EVER made, and paying almost no real bills (SO takes care of a lot on his much higher salary).
Somehow, I can afford less now than I did in college working part time. I could’ve supported 2, or showed monthly on the C circuit. Now, I’m shopping for a first house and land for horses at the same time, because my one NQR gelding is unrideable right now and I’d like to have another. Board isn’t just expensive in my area, it’s non-existent (or just… bad).
I am getting priced out, too. My mare is retired but at a more expensive option just for the full board care and attention to some of her “special needs.” By the time she passes on, I will be even closer to retirement (I am 59 now), so getting another horse seems unlikely.
I am working full time and making almost twice what I did as a part-time but highly skilled worker. And I am less able to afford horses now than I was before.
From when I got her in 2008 to now, board at a “higher end” but not palatial dressage barn (not like where I am now, but like where I used to be) has doubled in price. I’m in a high cost-of-living area, and no, I can’t move. Many facilities have shut down, especially in the past 2 or 3 years, and honestly, I don’t judge the former owners for selling out, when in a lot of places they can get $100K per acre for buildable land, and barn help is becoming impossible to find.
I am seeing a huge number of people looking for part-leases, because that’s all they can afford. But the demand outstrips the supply.
Count me as another who is feeling the pinch more than ever.
I have my horses at home but this past year was TOUGH.
Hay prices increased, although not that badly. But even though it was a mild winter, I seemed to go through nearly 50% more than usual.
Feed prices skyrocketed. I saw roughly a 25% increase in price over just one year. To make matters worse, I’m feeding LESS than before but my costs still increased.
Bedding prices went up $1/bag for seemingly no reason?
My farrier raised his prices. Only $5/horse, but he’s already saying it wasn’t enough.
What really killed me was unexpected vet bills. I had thousands upon thousands in unexpected vet bills with a new horse which tapped out my reserves. If it weren’t for that, I would be able to absorb the price increases better.
So anyway, you’re not alone.
Thank you for starting this thread, I need company to commiserate. I lost my horse 6 months ago and haven’t seriously shopped for another, due to high horse prices. I decided to take it down a notch and look for an all-around horse this spring, no more showing, and maybe a few lessons a month. If I find a horse, my last boarding barn has increased the board $200 in 6 months. This is out of my budget. Like others have mentioned, I, too, am making the most money in my working life (hourly and part-time by choice) but I look at my monthly grocery bill and utilities and think this might not work for me. My parents are 92 and 97 - yikes, I could live that long, and I don’t want to outlive my savings. My husband (retired) and I have planned and followed all our financial advisor’s advice and I’m still very worried. Horses have been a part of my life since childhood and I can’t imagine not having them in my life. I always thought I would be like the queen, ride till you die. This is emotionally hard for me.
If anyone feels like they’ve been priced out and are in the Chicago suburbs, I have horses for you to play with. One super safe one, and one if you’re more ambitious.
I had my horse for 29 years. She was a wonderful horse. We weren’t world beaters but I had SO much fun with her. I didn’t ride as a child, but she was very special to me. She was put down at the age of 35 over twenty years ago. I thought I would save money, but that just didn’t happen. Nothing went up but the extra $250 just disappeared into the maw. I was never able to afford another. I am going to be 70 in a couple of months and I am running out of money! I have probably spent a little more than I should have but I have always been comfortable. I never go to casinos, and I am practically a teetotaler.
If I could offer one bit of advice to the younger ones out there, do NOT sacrifice your future for your present. I do not mean to hoard every penny, but be CAREFUL. I thought I was. I am just grateful to COTH as this is my only connections to anything to do with horses anymore.
I’ve been very fortunate to find a good place for my remaining horse after my two older ones were laid to rest on my former farm and I sold the place. It is slim pickins when it comes to finding a boarding situation that suits me and my horse and my bank account. I do self-care at a place less than ten minutes from me with a perfect set-up for me and my boy. It’s $200/month and I provide all feed, hay, and bedding. The pasture gets dragged and mowed regularly by the barn manager and staff. The farm has been there for over fifty years, but it is getting major upgrades and improvements and is maintained very well.
Still, the price of hay (and of course my guy can’t eat the less expensive coastal bermuda that is common here, he has to get his imported timothy/orchard), feed, supplements, and bedding are nothing to sneeze at. In winter when the pasture is gone, it’s not unusual for me to spend over $500/month for board, hay, feed, supplements, and bedding. And this is with me stripping everything down as much as possible, but still giving the horse what he needs to stay healthy and usable.
The fella that runs the barn said it right when he told me why they do self-care. Full-care places, the first thing they’re going to do when prices for hay and feed rise is cut back on the quality and quantity of what they feed. They either have to do that or raise board prices. Honestly, they probably have to do both in order to make any sort of profit. There’s much more profit in it if you don’t have to foot the hay and feed bill.
My almost 15-year-old gelding has been with me since he was a yearling. He’ll be my last horse. I turn 50 next year and by the time he’s done, I’ll be done too. I will not have horses in retirement, there’s just no way. I’ll miss it, but I’ll find other things to do that I can afford.
This is exactly how it feels for us too. When DH’s salary broke into the six-figures we thought we had MADE IT but now we’re here, we feel poorer than we did back when we first graduated university.
I struggle to comprehend it, sometimes.
