Do you have a source for your Middle Class bracket?
Not disputing your numbers.
The definition has changed radically in the last century, however.
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Thereās a lesson barn in my area. Itās western centric but the basic structure is the same regardless of what type of saddles the horses wear.
They make it work but thereās something like 30 horses housed on 10 acres (5 of which are mud). The lesson horses subsist on sketchy round bales quagmired in mud with 0 shelter. The staff and the students love the horses. Thereās huge demand for the program. Itās the horses that take the burden of making it affordable.
ETA: the horses themselves are brought in questionably broke and the barn rats ride them into āshapeā. Horses that donāt cut it are moved out quickly.
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Pew Research Center! I donāt have the exact link anymore though.
Hereās a fun graphic from 2021. I canāt find the 2022/2023 version but the numbers are close.
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Okay. Thank you.
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Considering my retired horse costs me $7000/year to just exist and get basic vet/barefoot trims, and if I was paying market price for board you can basically double that number, itās easy to see how far out of reach horses can be for a lot of families.
$10,000-$20,000 a year for a sport, not even at the top level, that is not easily unloaded when finances change, is a lot to handle.
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I went to this Pew report and found:
In this analysis, āmiddle-incomeā adults in 2021 are those with an annual household income that was two-thirds to double the national median income in 2020, after incomes have been adjusted for household size, or about $52,000 to $156,000 annually in 2020 dollars for a household of three. āLower-incomeā adults have household incomes less than $52,000 and āupper-incomeā adults have household incomes greater than $156,000.
2020 dollars are already five to nine percent less valuable than 2023 dollars, so thatās already $55,000 to $166,000-ish for three people. Still seems low to me for what middle class should mean. Wages have not remotely kept up for nearly 30 years.
Though I love Pewās thesis about the middle being left behind, and Pew does great work, Iām not crazy about this analysis. They use the median income as a marker without really measuring what it buys.
Through about 1960, the ability to hire others, gardeners, housekeepers, cooks etc., and save for the future were what set the US middle class apart. Though itās nearly a century old, my favorite measure comes from the 1940 (I think ā havenāt seen the document since grad school) US Census. It held that one person in the household earning enough money to hire a full time person to help with the home/property defined middle class. The Census stopped overtly measuring class after WWII, and it seems as if the whole subject became distasteful to most of us.
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I donāt dispute that there is maybe a better definition of middle class. However, when people on this thread are talking about āwe were middle class as a kid and did xyzā, they are probably referring to a āmiddle classā closer to the Pew definition than one from the 40s.
Still, a horse hobby (without some outside resource or luck) is going to cost enough to be financially irresponsible on some level to anyone not considered upper class. Itās up to the individual to decide if that irresponsibility is worth it, or not.
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During the post war period the rise of modern appliances meant that most middle class homes did away with household help. Over the past several decades household help has been creeping back in via nannies and daycare. But in these days of takeout a microwave few middle class families see the need for a cook, which was a huge job in the pre electric 19th century.
Many of the jobs done by household staff have been outsourced including landscaping, house cleaning, daycare, and take out food. Many middle-class families these days use some or all of these services without employing household help on a permanent basis.
Middle class as a statistical definition does show that the buying power of that slice of the population has indeed declined although on the other hand, the 1950s/60s middle class made do with far fewer cars, TVs, vacations, clothes, restaurant meals etc than we feel we need today
Also the two income family is now the norm. That changes a lot of calculations. There are very few couples who can afford to drop down to one salary. And though women statistically earn less than men, many women earn as much or more than many men, and even than their husbands. Womenās lower average rate of pay is skewed by the fact that very very high paying jobs in tech and finance trend male, but many maybe most women in middle tier jobs earn comparable to their male colleagues
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My pony is pasture boarded at a dressage barn with a barn and indoor arena. If someone had enough land to provide grass and dry lots (and additional ones to rotate between), and turnout sheds, and an indoor arena, would it be more affordable to run? Instead of a fancy barn, what about an indoor with an attached enclosed area on one side with maybe just a few stalls for emergencies and some grooming stalls, wash stall, tack and feed room? Of course the fields would need to be maintained, but the horses would probably be healthier and happier living outside. The basics are provided in the enclosed areaā¦what more is needed?
If my barn closed Iād have a hard time finding pastureless pasture board. Grassy turnout is a definite no-no for my pony. An indoor is nice in NJ but I could live without one. Decent care at a safe well-run barn is pricey in my area (even bad care at a dump is expensive) and most places only offer full board. A huge chunk of my paycheck goes to my pony now and I pay about half of what normal full board is around here. I doubt Iād find anything affordable.
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I was trying to buy lesson horses in 2021. I would have had to spend $10,000 + to buy a horse that would be close to ready to go. Compare that to 2008, when I could buy close to ready to go horses for under $2500 no problem. Not only are we competing with amateurs, and grand parents, but also there are less breeders catering to the ālesson horseā market. Breeding is getting very specialized, and there arenāt as many backyard breeders. Add to that we pay more for insurance, and are supposed to be certified to coach (which costs money). Sure, you might think $75 a lesson isnāt a huge investment, but add helmet, boots, breeches, drive time (barns are getting further away), and it is a bigger investment than many other youth or adult sports.
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Iāve worked at places like this, both English and western, and albeit more than 20 years ago. I worked at everything from total beginner camps and trail riding operations to hunter/jumper riding schools that served beginners through A circuit.
I donāt inherently have a problem with some of this.
No, I donāt condone 30 horses crammed onto 5 muddy acres with a lack of nutrition.
BUT, taking cheap horses and making them useful for a program like this using your own people? I donāt have a problem with that. Keeping working horses on small acreage? I donāt have a problem with that.
Maybe because of my past experiences, Iām a little more āpie in the skyā thinking these places could still exist today, especially since I think the demand will increase going forward as horse ownership becomes more challenging.
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I donāt have a problem with these bits either. Small turnouts in of themselves arenāt inherently a problem. Itās the only practical way to keep horses near population centers.
I do think itās questionable to have minor children ride unknown greenies. Thereās a lot of liability in that model thatās likely unacceptable to a lot of programs. But practically speaking, free training rides from sticky kids would be the easiest way to get rides onto these horses.
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That by definition is a fancy barn. 
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One of the board barns on the edge of my area has a similar model. They have a large well maintained center aisle barn but the horses donāt come into the stalls on any kind of regular basis. The horses live in individual paddocks 24/7. Thereās a fair amount of savings in not having to fund labor for turn out / in, stall mucking, shavings.
When I last checked into that barn, the paddocks didnāt have shelters in them though. Itās fairly expensive to build shelters.
Right. I didnāt want to get into the weeds of the advent of the two-worker family.
The early definition of middle class appeals to me precisely because women working outside the home has failed to reduce our responsibilities in the home, and, as you mention, has not lived up to its family budget-doubling potential. Iād love to think that appliances and take-out line items in family budgets have made up for the fact that if it takes two people to reach the Pew definition of middle class. Since we still have to go to court to ensure equal pay, Iām willing to bet it is the rare woman whose pay is comparable to menās, and that doesnāt count womenās unpaid labor. Lots of us have been convinced weāre middle class, even upper middle class, when by far most of the US is working class, especially when compared to other countries with similar financial resources.
Assuring Americans that weāre middle class is handy for employers, since working class people famously unionize to improve their working conditions. Those of us who believe weāre middle class tend to hold ourselves responsible for any financial struggle, i.e. borrowed too much for school; took a job outside our field; married unwisely; interrupted our career for children; slipped on the ice and broke our wrist; or couldnāt quit our expensive anachronistic hobby, rather than systems that seem out of our control, wage theft, banking deregulation, regressive taxation, healthcare costs, etc.
(I promised up thread to make this point in a more political forum, so if this is out of order, please let me know and Iāll delete and start over.)
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Right, and the older I get, the crankier I get about the goal postsā constant moving. The focus on āthe individualā as the problem, or the sole solution, especially stings.
The changes are systemic and unless I hit the lottery (an impossibility since Iād never play) my individual efforts will be defensive against those exploitative systems until the day I die. In my book, thatās not a humane way to run a country.
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I for one have been waiting for that thread.
I suspect the very complicated answer to that question may come to light in that thread. Ultimately this is less about this hobby/sport/lifestyle/life calling being less affordable, itās about the greater trend in the concentration of wealth going to fewer and fewer and the growing gap. Itās about millennials being the first generation to experience a lower standard of living than the one their parents were able to offer, despite being more educated and working more. And when I say working more, I mean that both adults are working full time, whereas previously a stay at home parent was not uncommon.
This also ties in to dwindling affordable local shows and events because of lack of volunteers. Parents working full time barely have the time and energy to keep the household running, let alone devote time to volunteering to help the local horse show run so their kid can participate at an affordable rate.
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Yes, I suppose income is a side of it, as would be urban sprawl, less time in life.
My helper and I were talking about how hard it is to find a lease rider for pleasure type horses though. $200-300 a month type leases, at nice facilities, so not $$$, but we just arenāt see the demand.
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I donāt think there is a way to make horses affordable unless one is a millionaire. Prices are rising for all things.
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Funny, I constantly see people on one of the Massachusetts FB horse groups looking for part-leases, and many of them are looking for a recreational horse, not a show horse. But horsekeeping has become expensive enough here that non-show horses are becoming harder to find.
The part lease of a recreational horse at a nice facility would be more like $600+ here.
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