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Buying first horse

This makes me think leasing would be a better option for you.

Horse ownership aside entirely: How are you going to move forward if you can’t ride as much as you think you should? Take the horse entirely out of the equation, and ask yourself how to find the time you need or how to be content with the time you have.

The way you’ve set up these expectations in your mind, you’re adding stress and anxiety to the idea.

If you can ride 4 days, ride 4 days. Answer some of your questions about level, training, where you are, what you want, while doing it 4 days a week. That’s already more than some and less than others, so you’re not just sitting in an armchair dreaming.

I think you want to have more security in your approach to the whole endeavor without ratcheting in the concerns of ownership. If you were to lease a horse upon whom you could do some consistent work, under a consistent trainer, you would begin to develop a better notion of precisely where you are, what you like in the horse you’re using, what you don’t like (and therefore would like to find in another), and whether you have faith or not in the advice of the trainer. Those things will make buying easier when you are ready.

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Horses are also FUN ! Make the time to just go out and have fun with a horse rather than worrying about “PROGRESS”. You’ll find things look different.

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I am thinking that you might be best to continue your current program right now. Riding different horses under instruction will likely do more for your riding than riding one horse with the same or less instruction (costs!) Unless you have an opportunity for a wonderful, tolerant schoolmaster for part lease at a bargain price try to get the most out of where you are or add another non-lesson ride if you have time. :thinking: Four times a week is pretty consistent riding anyway (and more than many horse owners manage between other responsibilities and horse lameness etc) Consider if you are adding needless pressure to your life with the idea that you must progress at a certain rate and that you should buy a horse.

I suggest clicking off one milestone and stressor and concentrating on the house first. Then learning to let go a bit and enjoy the dressage journey which will always be fits and starts, forward and back!****

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I suspect you are grasping things faster than you think. In my experience, it’s the folks that don’t grasp concepts that think they know and understand a lot more than they actually do!

As someone who “only” rode 2-3 times a week for years yet still managed to get my bronze and silver medals, I believe it’s the quality of the rides more than the quantity. I used my non-riding time to read, watch videos and learned (there’s that passion thing again).

I think jumping may seem more intuitive because either you’re over the jump or you aren’t. I know there’s more to it than that, but I think you get the point. I love dressage because of all the subtleties. As was mentioned by someone else, it’s humbling. If you’ve got your pre-planned play by play checklist and timeline of learning dressage, you’re going to be disappointed. As one big name trainer says, “embrace the suck” that’s how you learn!

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You have only been training in dressage for less than a year - trust me, its a long-term game. Like peeling the layers of an onion, you think you might have a movement nailed, lets say… sitting trot. Then you ride a slightly more advanced, bigger-strided horse in your next lesson and you are bouncing like a sack of potatoes. Turns out that you really developed the body control and core strength needed learned to unlock your hips and not grip with your legs, you just learned on a saint school horse who had an easy trot to sit. This is just a random example of how hard, frustrating, yet rewarding dressage is. Trust me, it happens to EVERYONE at EVERY level, particularly as we go up the levels and refine our cues and string movements along quicker and more is expected out of both horse and rider.

I wonder if your trainer is the right trainer for you. Do they know your feelings if frustration or lack of progress? I’m not sure where you live, but I do know that finding good dressage lesson horses in the US is a challenge. Perhaps you feel like you have grown out of their schooling horses? Have they suggested horses for you or discussed your budget and what kind of horse would be most suitable?

There certainly is much to be said for the benefits of having your own horse. You get to ride in your own tack that will fit your body and preferences, and you get accustomed to the quicks and personality of one horse. You will be able to ride that horse well and have fun out of the saddle with that horse and develop that bond that as horsepeople we all crave. Some of my favorite moments with my horse were time spent just grooming and massaging him, or quiet handwalks.

On the other hand, riding multiple horses makes you a better rider. You learn how to feel and adjust your aids to what the horse needs rather than just having one language you learn many subtle accents. Learning the basics on different horses is a steeper learning curve, but will pay off if you stick with it.

As someone who had to give up their horse to afford a house, I would say that you are wise to be cautious about the ongoing costs of horse ownership. It is always more than you think, and there are no guarantees on the health or soundness of the horse, no matter how well it is managed.

Most horse owners can tell you tales of competition seasons de-railed or promising young horses being sent out to pasture over illness or mystery lameness or just plain unsuitability. Competition seasons and going up the levels are almost never a straight line, there are always setbacks and surprises. Horses are that expensive variable who love to injure themselves and have their own ideas and quicks… Its not like running or weightlifting where A+B =C and its easy to chart a path to a PB, horses tend to complicate things.

Personally, I would focus on the house first. The market in the US is crazy hot and it might take longer than anticipated to find a place. Allow yourself some time to move and acclimate and live with your adjusted home-owning budget. Then talk to your trainer about leasing.

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Here is a point about riding dressage, applicable to lease lesson or own horse.

Almost every dressage horse comes out of the stall needing a more or less longish warmup time to get themselves going optimum. Before they are warmed up depending on individual quirks they may feel sluggish, or tank on the forehand, or feel very rough. It may be difficult or impossible to sit the trot or do lateral work or a flying change etc until they are warmed up. That’s why you can’t go back Tuesday and pick up at the exact place you left off Monday.

Indeed the better and more vigorous your ride, the more likely the horse wont have the energy to do it again the next day.

Pros can warm a horse up much faster than an ammie because the pros have more tools in their kit and better feel. They can say “Fluffy is falling on the forehand in the corners and bulging to the inside tracking right. I need some half halts and counter bend circles and shoulder in (or whatever) to get him straight before we start work.”

Lesson student says “Fluffy won’t steer today, I can’t keep him on the rail, and I can’t sit his trot, I’m being jarred all over the place. What’s wrong with my riding?”

This is doubly true if you have an older school master with some stiffness at the start, or a green horse that finds things hard. And it can be doubly true if you work hard two or three days in a row for diminishing returns or you take a week long break from serious schooling.

Note that at competitions, many riders wsrm up their horse a good 40 minutes or more before the test so they are on point at the right moment.

Right now you are doing 4 rides a week in lessons?? With your own horse I’d suggest 2 days a week lessons as optimal, then 2 days a week schooling on your own flowing the plan of the lessons, then two days hacking out and a day off with turnoout handwalk grass walk etc.

So you aren’t going to be doing more focused riding with your own horse even if you have time to be at the barn 7 days a week. You will need a schedule that gives him recovery days and time for getting to know him outside of arr a work.

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It’s a moot point as it seems horses like to go lame just as we get our finances / schedules in order to do XYZ.

I’m not sure of what types of mounts are available at your training facility, but perhaps a half lease on a horse plus some lessons on another horse might be something to consider

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I event, which means my horse and I have to be competitive in three different horse sports, and I only ride 4 times a week - one lesson (I can’t afford more!) and 3 rides on my own. I’ve kept this schedule for 13 years. I am a professional who works a long way away from where I board my horse. Some weeks I can only ride 3 days because life or work gets in the way. If there is a bank holiday, I might ride 5 times in a week, but I also might not! I also travel for work and fun, so there are times when my horse might not be ridden for a couple of weeks.

Despite this, my horses (and I!) have remained sufficiently fit enough for the level of competition I what to do (I am not aiming for the Olympics!) and I continually progress in all three phases of eventing competition. For many years, I could only afford 1 lesson per month - progress was slower then, but not non-existent.

That said, I did not buy my first horse until after I had purchased my first home and knew I could afford it. I went quite a few years through college and my 20s without a horse and only riding very sporadically. It has taken quite some years to get to the point where I have the money to buy a really nice horse (and by that I mean a $10,000 horse!) and board it at a moderately priced barn with decent facilities. Many compromises were made during the years that preceded this point!

All that to say, do not think that you can’t progress and be competitive riding “only” 4 days a week. However, unexpected bills are part of owning a horse and a horse is a luxury item compared to a home. Either leasing or part leasing might be a better choice now until you get yourself more financially settled and stable.

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I am stuck with lesson horses.

Lately I have found that these lesson horses become MUCH easier to ride if I do two-point for five minutes. I mount, get my stirrups and reins right, get up into 2-point and then I start walking.

My current lesson horse one month ago, when I tried sitting his trot I felt like I was on a jack-hammer breaking up concrete. After 5 rides starting with 5 minutes of two-point at the walk, I could sit his trot today without feeling like I was getting a concussion from my brain hitting my skull. He needs more work, but this technique is working on a lesson horse in his 20’s with so-so hunt seat training, a QH who saw no need to change from being a sort of lazy lesson horse.

If you do this you may be surprised about how much more cooperative, relaxed and obedient those lesson horses are. It is rapidly turning this horse from a sort of dead-head non-reactive safe lesson horse into a much better riding horse who is able to easily obey my aids.

This is probably because his back is not hurting as bad, because he gets to warm up his back muscles before I sat down in the saddle.

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@Jackie_Cochran good example of how an experienced rider can figure out a warmup that works for that particular horse. If you only ride in lessons, the coach will be trying to instruct these things to you but IMHO experience after a while the third party intervention can interfere with figuring out these idiosyncrasies for yourself. Of course a beginner needs a lot of support before they can get to that point. But at a certain point in your riding life the instructor needs to shift more to coaching than step by step teaching.

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Is the barn your favorite place to be?
Do you spend way to much time thinking about selenium levels?
Do you scout out tack shops on vacation?

Silly questions aside, we all ride with unique goals, but I’d bet our common thread as owners is that we’re just obsessed with horses. If that’s not you, don’t burden yourself with the time, financial, and perhaps (hopefully) lifelong commitment of ownership. Instead, enjoy spoiling a lease horse and yourself with lessons, tack, and clothes. Leave the vet bills to someone else. If, like me, you have that horse-obsessed gene, believe me that you’ll find the time and the money.

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haha these are perfect, except for me it as the proper amount of Cu/Zn and vitamin e my horse needed.

Seriously though, you know how iphones bring up a memory of the day? One was of me lunging my horse on a gorgeous warm day - he was working over his back and really balanced. Just a gorgeous shot. The next was a shot from a helicopter tour we took on Kauai though a gorgeous rainforest and coastline (same area was used for aerial shots for Jurassic Park…) Between these two extremes, if I had to choose which of these two moments in time I wish I could return to - I’d choose working my horse. no question.

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Look, we on this board are often guilty of saying nobody will be any good unless they ride 3 horses every day and also go to the gym 5 days a week. It may be true to some extent, but it’s not an absolute.

My dream horse - the most amateur friendly, trainable, easy keeping, sound (well…), gorgeous horse has currently been lame for a month despite everything I am trying to do for him. If it’s going to devastate your type-A personality to have a beautiful dream horse eating you out of house and home that you can’t ride… just wait. It’s heartbreaking even if you don’t have ambitions but if you do, it’s doubly disappointing. I suggest you give your riding career more time until you feel like you’re in a place where you can make progress on your own with help, and you’ve tempered your expectations a little bit.

Every single one of us knows a person with a gorgeous, stunning, talented pasture ornament. Every one.

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Based on what you’ve listed - up to four rides, concerns over finances, new to dressage - leasing makes the most sense IMO. If you buy the horse for you now, you’ll progress past that horse’s training within the next few years.

I’ve been on both sides of leasing. It’s helpful as a owner who can’t ride all the time or with a schoolmaster who needs to step down. It’s helpful as a rider who needs to learn, or needs flexibility. When I leased my 3rd level schoolmaster, I had already transitioned to my then young horse and had no intention of ever showing my old guy again. This is the type of situation I would look for in your position.

My then young horse is now my older guy (17) and still going FEI. Because I am still riding him I would be more particular about who (and charge more) for a lease.

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It may just mean you need different saddle time. Do you ever do longe lessons? That is what will really let you focus on your position, balance issues, limb coordination, etc.

However, I think you’re probably being too hard on yourself. You’re clearly an ambitious person that wants to see progress. If you are taking 3 lessons a week, I am guessing you’ve made more progress than you think - it’s just sometimes hard to see that progress day to day. Do you have video of yourself from 6 months ago that you can compare to today? If so, it might help you see what progress you’ve made.

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I haven’t read all the responses, but here are my thoughts.

First, if you are going to board somewhere rather than have the horse at home, ask around about what board costs are in your area. You can start with where you’re taking lessons. Then start putting that amount away each month in a separate account. DO NOT TOUCH this money. This will accomplish a couple of things.

  1. You will have an idea of how much less money you would have each month to actually spend on other things, like rent/mortgage/food/gas/bills
  2. It starts building a fund with which to purchase/lease said horse.

Throw in an extra $100/month as a starting point for recurring expenses, like shoes, supplements, vet care.

I say a separate account because at least for me, I can keep my spending to my ‘general funds’ account. Other accounts have specific purposes and are not to be touched except for that purpose.

As far as buy vs lease, I’m in the lease camp. Maybe even a half lease. And keep the horse at a boarding facility, not in the back yard. That means there will probably be people around to ask questions of. A better situation for a newbie owner.

Then there are the added one-time expenses of owning, like purchasing your own saddle, bridle, grooming stuff. That can easily cost you a few thousand dollars. If you lease, you can probably use the horse’s existing tack, especially if the horse stays in its current location.

You’re probably already paying rent, so some of that will transition into at least part of a mortgage payment. Start looking at what you can afford for a mortgage, both with and without a horse. Do you have a roommate? Would you consider one who would pay you rent? That would help lessen the impact of a mortgage being drastically higher than what you are currently paying in rent. Use those mortgage calculators. I determined how much house I could afford by how much I was willing to pay each month. Not how much I could pay.

When looking at homes, consider all options, including condos. Weigh the benefits of paying a condo fee each month on top of the mortgage to having to do the exterior maintenance of your home.

This is now a balancing game. When you buy a home, you don’t want to be stretched too thin. What if you lost your job? Could you keep a horse and your home? What if you had extra horse expenses? What if you had extra house expenses, e.g. appliance dies and needs to be replaced, foundation springs a leak, winter heating is more than you bargained for.

I’ll stop for now because you probably get the gist. There are lots of ways to test how the money game is going to play out before you actually have to lay the dollars on the line.

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Based on this, I would say look for a lease on a qualified mid-level schoolmaster type.

You CAN certainly buy your own horse, but it’s not likely that that horse is going to take you from where you are NOW, to where you want to go, and then you would have to decide whether to sell or buy a second horse. A lease on an experienced horse will allow you to progress yourself up the levels and also to be able to move on to a more talented horse when necessary. The consistency of riding the same horse those four days a week will allow you to progress faster and open the door to continuity between lessons, but without the long term risk and cost of owning.

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OK @centaursam,
WHERE do you want to get to?
How will you know when you get there?

I got to go trail riding as a child in Chile and Uruguay over a 5 year period. I had a grand total of 2 lessons right at the start (pull the right rein to turn right, pull the left rein to turn left,pull both reins even harder to stop, and kick hard to go faster.)

For the longest time I thought I had learned NOTHING.

Well as far as good riding goes I did not learn anything, BUT it developed my boldness in the saddle. This has been extremely useful for me as my MS got worse and worse, I felt bold so I adjusted, learned what I could, and went on riding.

I have discussed this with my riding teacher, and she agrees with me. If I had not developed boldness I would never have gotten up on the suitable for an advanced rider Arabian gelding which was the first horse she put me on. I had GREAT rides on this horse, he was even better than my first horse to which I compare all riding horses.

You may have not learned to jump perfectly, but I do bet that you developed your boldness on horseback even when you were super frustrated. Boldness on horseback is different than the boldness one develops by doing challenging sports or past-times because you always have to deal with another being who has its own opinions and often is not afraid to express them clearly to its rider.

One of my weaknesses during most of my riding life came from owning a horse–I just could not afford to ride other people’s horses. I did fine, I retrained, I raised and trained foals from weanling, and I had a few challenging horses. But now I really enjoy riding lesson horses because FINALLY I am filling that gaping hole in my riding, learning to ride several different horses with many different problems and many different gaping holes in their training.

I never got to where I wanted to go (BIG jumps–I stalled out at 3’6".) Right now I don’t care, I have accepted that my case of MS precludes anything like this. I just concentrate on enjoying riding the lesson horses, well I enjoy riding them after I have “fixed” a few of their problems.

Even though I finally realized that I will never be able to jump a horse again. (My riding teacher tells me I might survive over a small jump in an emergency but she agrees with me about quitting that long term goal of mine.)

I really cannot advise you much about dressage. I never wanted to get into dressage because I LOVE riding free striding horses even if it is in a dinky little riding ring. I do read a lot of dressage books, looking for ideas that I can use to improve my riding on free striding horses. Lately I have gotten into Sylvia Loch’s dressage books and have incorporated a few things into my Forward Seat riding, it does help to have a good riding teacher to discuss all of this with nowadays. Sylvia Loch gets deeper into some of the dressage methods than a lot of dressage riders and she has given me a new level of understanding that I will be able to use when I read other people’s dressage books. (I have read at least 50 books on dressage riding and training, my bookshelves groan under the weight of all these heavy tomes.)

The horses are worth every penny I spent on them and every minute I’ve spent around them. During the long years when I could not ride I felt like I was dying inside, life just did not seem worth living.

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My suggestion for you would be to join your local horsey Facebook groups so you can see what’s available for sale and lease. Seeing a horse or lease situation that appeals to you might help you decide what to do, since so much of your final decision will be based on what’s available, not just what you want.

If you’ve developed a preference for a certain type of horse it’s definitely more fun to consistently ride a horse that’s most comfortable for you. I like a forward but not overly hot or opinionated horse, and mine is just that. The few times I’ve ridden other horses since I bought her last year I missed her and realized how much I appreciated her. That’s a great feeling!

I’m glad I finally own my horse after 18 years of desperately wanting one. It’s a goal I’ve had for a long time and I’m happy that I’ve been able to make it happen. In some ways, when you own a horse (or even do a long-term lease), you take some of the focus off your own riding and more on the partnership your forming. Judging by your harsh criticism of yourself, that might be beneficial to you because you will see your horse improving and that’ll feel good. Maybe that will improve your opinion of your own riding also. That being said, I don’t think ownership is absolutely necessary in order to improve your riding and enjoy the sport.

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Another note - just because you buy/lease a schoolmaster doesn’t mean that’s it and you just ride 6 days a week and in a year you’ll have all the skills.

Schoolmasters come with, if anything, more lesson and training bills. Keeping them tuned up to the level they arrived requires professional help, generally, which might mean one or two rides a week aren’t yours anyway.

You might be doing more “learning” for less money right now, depending on what you are riding.

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