Horse ownership in a recession/depression

[Christa_P]

Mine are at home and I could expand my pastures, I have ~5-6 acres fenced for 5 horses (2 are mine, 3 belong to my roommate), I own 25 acres. Unfortunately, turning the rest of the field to hay would be a major project - it’s mostly goldenrod and access can be difficult when it’s wet, Ideally, I would put in culverts and a tractor road, but $$$.

That said, the pasture means I use minimal hay ~6 months/year. I have room to store 750-800 bales in my barn and I plan to pack it this summer. If needed there are several hay growers in the area, I’m in a hay growing area, we don’t import it.

For grain, I buy Blue Seal which is made locally, but I could switch to cheaper feeds if necessary or buy bulk oats. For bedding, I buy bulk from a dairy farm that sources it from a local mill, $65 for a pick-up load that lasts 3-6 weeks depending on the weather. I can stock up on the supplements I use and probably will get some of them in the next few months. I have an OTTB that is a moderate keeper and a TWH that is an easy keeper, though retired due to DSLD.

I mostly trail ride now and I haven’t been riding seriously enough to take a lesson or show in several years so that isn’t part of my budgeting. I can get any repairs needed at one of the Amish shops I frequent and they also do building repairs.

Basically, I think I’m in a good spot if things get bad - low COL area with access to the resources I may need. I also have plenty of water and I’m in an area with minimal chance of natural disasters (blizzards and snow don’t count - we generally get warning and can wait it out)

[Texarkana]

@2DogsFarm

With the exception of hay.
I realize for a boarded horse that might mean an increase in board if supply is impacted.
But I routinely buy a year’s worth of my hay from first cutting.
I’d do the same if I wanted to feed 2nd, or even 3rd.
I have room to store the 300+ bales (small squares) I need, but most suppliers will store hay at their barn if you don’t.
You pay for the whole lot & pick up or have delivered as needed, usually for a minimal additional cost. Around here, storing may be free, delivery ~$1/bale.
If you can do this you avoid the increase in prices after cutting season is over, Winter sets in & hay goes up in price < Supply & Demand.

This is very regional.

I’ve found less suppliers in my area are willing to store hay purchased at low prices when they can sell it all winter long at a higher price.

Delivery is rare anymore unless you are buying large loads for 200+, in which case it’s usually free. The few places that do offer delivery on smaller loads are generally feed stores selling hay at higher prices.

[clanter]

I have been through several ecumenic downturns, every time during those events items that once were priced out of reach became available for a faction of the original cost as owners scrambled to get liquid assets or the item was reprocessed then sold by the lienholder

As hard goods such as blankets many years ago we started buying those as needed from horse rescues that had excessive inventory of donated blankets (one had over 400 many being new in the wrappers) … harnesses we have bought new from horse recues again having been donated, we went to look at a set that was new, it was a $2500 set that the rescue who had no need for asked $200, we gave them $600 as we knew what the harness was worth, they gave us a nice set of working harness as a bonus.

We recently went to farm that was downsizing, they had tons of stuff priced at about 10 cents on the dollar… and that is how we end up with a tack room stuffed full, a garage that looks like a tack store and two form kids bedroom that now are full of tack (one is the show stuff the other is just extra of the extras)

Feed? We have one horse recovering from surgery on feed, the others we have to limit the hay they get. We have one older mare who is on Teff pellets

Just got two tons of Teff hay, the cost has been stable but did go down some from $615/ton to $592.50/ton. A ton lasts us about four weeks feeding four horses. three miniatures and often the goats. (Very. Very little goes to waste as what the horses pull out onto the ground (mainly one who thinks the only good hay is on the bottom) is raked up for the goats

During prior draughts we contracted for a year’s hay with a supplier, this gave them the flexibility to bring hay as needed but gave us a set price

Local hay has been a crapshoot since most of the real producers retired after signing drilling rights contracts with the natural gas drillers… several said they intended to continue, that was until they got their multiple million dollar payday. We did have our round bale supplier for the goats say there is an excess of round bales remaining from last year so he was dropping is price 20%.

[treebeard]

I envy people with big, dry hay storage barns.

I have a small place here, originally built for my retiring Morgan and a companion pony back in 1994.

I’m in a valley and it’s dark here a lot of the time and damp. In the winter I can store up to three months of hay and straw. In the summer I have to get hay and straw bi-monthly or it will go bad in heat and humidity. Thankfully I have a wonderful hay supplier that doesn’t mind driving 1/2 hour with only 20 bales on a truck.

I have about 3 acres of weedy pasture and two dry paddocks within that two acres. The sad thing about my two left is they can’t be out on that pasture all day to save on hay costs. My mare has Cushings and has foundered and my mule is metabolic and has foundered and he gets as fat as a beach ball on very little.

[tabula_rashah]

I think that keeping a couple months of supplies available if possible is never a bad idea if you have the appropriate storage to do so.

I do the same with keeping extra canned and dry goods, etc for people. I don’t go get 5 lbs buckets of freeze-dried mac and cheese but if I’m buying canned tomatoes, I’ll buy an extra can or two. Stuff like that

[SusanO]

The climate here makes hay storage at ground level problematic and I don’t have a hay loft. 6 months - more or less, depending on how often it rains. However, I do have a large fertile pasture that is green from April to October and easy keepers so I don’t have a huge hay expense. And my grain costs are small. So stockpiling would turn out to be a lesson in spoiled or moldy feedstuffs.

I don’t think stock piling Prascend is the answer either. The pony needs it but he has periods of decline and then doing well so who knows how long he will remain happy.

My solution is to keep my expenses to a minimum and keep moving monthly savings into interest bearing accounts and stockpiling cash that way. So if I have an emergency I can borrow from myself.

[Mosey_2003]

You can’t stockpile feed unless you’re only buying whole grains. The vitamins and nutrients in prepared feeds deteriorate as they age, after 6 months there’s serious degradation. I suppose that would work if all you need is some bulk going through the animal but if they’re not getting their perishable vitamins and amino acids elsewhere you’re gonna be sorry.

I don’t think it’s a bad idea to stockpile medicine and dewormer but I wouldn’t be hoarding a large amount that’s going to go bad, either.

[luvmyhackney]

I feed compounded meds from Chewy. I have 6-7 months left for my pony and will do a refill at vaccine time in May. So I’ll have a year of meds put away.

I’m buying round bales, cheaper than small bales. Feed wise is hard, one is on grain and other on beet pulp/California Trace. Grain just doesn’t last more than 3 weeks in the Spring/Summer/Fall here.

Blankets I watch sales and will pick up a couple extra turnout sheets coming up.

My horses are barefoot and technically I can trim their feet and have my farrier come each quarter and touch them up, but I’ll have him come every 5 weeks for as long as I can afford it.

It’s vet bills that are scary. I have a well stocked emergency fund but if it’s a significant injury/surgery Euthanasia is an option. I won’t put my family in a hard financial spot because of an animal as terrible as it sounds.

[SLW]

@moonlitoaksranch

Honestly, if the Prescend supply is cut off a lot of us will be putting our Cushings horses down. Our rescue mare is kept laminitis free on peroglide. If I can’t get it, I won’t let her deteriorate. It’s that simple.

Like you, I have one equine on Pracend. It’s pricey.

I attended a horse owners seminar today and a BI rep was there. I asked him where was Pracend made because the box says “marketed by BI” and “origin Czech Republic”. Would it be subject to increased tariffs? He did not know but took my contact info and will get back to me.

[Amberley]

@Texarkana

Allegedly feral horses became a problem in some parts of the country because people in financial duress were just turning them loose.

Abandoning your horses in the wild during hard times is an American tradition that goes back to the great depression. A ton of horses were hauled out to the boonies and left there in 2008 and again in 2018 and during Covid. There was a free euthanasia clinic in CA in 2018, trying to keep people from just abandoning them to starve. I am also on the mailing list of some group in WV that rescues horses abandoned on old mine sites where grasses are slip pickings and since horses aren’t forest creatures they don’t do too well in the long run. They say thousands have been abandoned there in the last decade, some direct from auctions, and I see not reason to doubt them. I snort quietly to myself when someone talks about how mustangs are direct descendants of spanish horses from 600 years ago.

[4horses]

My plan is to have good credit and a card that charges 0% for 15 months. If there’s some sort of emergency I can put the bill on the credit card and slowly pay it off over time and not worry about interest.

I’m planning on picking up more work and hopefully getting more money in the bank as a cushion.

In a worse case scenario, I can lease out or sell one or two of my horses.

If things get really bad, I’m calling family in Canada and heading to the boarder and applying for citizenship. I’m already thinking of making a big move and if I’m already moving a couple thousand miles, moving to Canada isn’t that much (more) of a stretch.

I’m hoping none of that will be necessary. I do have access to some rather nice pastures if I’m willing to send my horses off property (but I like my horses with me).

I keep a chest freezer in the house for horse feed and keep that full. That’s about all the feed I’m willing to stockpile. I tried metal trash cans and those let humidity in and the feed molds faster then I can use it. I don’t store anything outside in the summer because of mold.

War worries me more then tariffs. We can handle a change in the economy (with any luck).

I do stockpile cat food. It has a long shelf life and if there is a recall I want to hear about it before I feed the cans to the cats.

[4horses]

I will say the thing that breaks my heart is all the dogs and cats in need. It seems like most horse owners can afford to feed and maintain their animals. The dogs and cats on the other hand are left to fend for themselves or get stuck in kennels at the shelter forever. My friend said unadoptable dogs get moved from shelter to shelter and never get adopted. The cat rescue near me, is more like a cat hoarder. Many kittens grow up in the rescue and never get adopted. A life in a cage isn’t much of a life.

[ziggywiggy]

I’m just saving. I may do a small fence project to double my grazing area/invest in some moveable fencing for other areas but I don’t need any more…things at the moment. Maybe get ahead of vehicle maintenance like truck and trailer if you have them. But the hay here is all produced locally so I don’t anticipate a massive spike in cost, at least not beyond affordability.

[ClassyJumper]

@4horses

My plan is to have good credit and a card that charges 0% for 15 months. If there’s some sort of emergency I can put the bill on the credit card and slowly pay it off over time and not worry about interest.

Be careful with this one. In normal times, I agree and have done it. However, in 2008 credit was basically impossible to get & if you already had it a lot of times your limit was slashed almost in half. Hard to predict what will happen this time but I would work hard to have a cash backup plan rather than credit.

[Kyrabee]

I inadvertently stocked up on horse feed. My Chewy order didn’t show up so I contacted them thinking they would have better tracking info than just ‘in transit’. No…we are resending the order. The original order finally showed up Friday and the new order showed up on Saturday . I am set with Medalist Sprout pellets for the next 4-6 months. She gets like a pound and a half a day. Some for her supplement potions and some before I ride topped with some Outlast.

[Calvincrowe]

The first thing I’ve done (one at home with a borrowed pony for company) and one boarded and in training-- with a board increase just last month!) is start carefully tracking costs and saving $$ for the future. I am keeping an eye on hay news out of eastern/central Oregon where my hay supply comes from (as does most of the PNW hay supply). What goes down there will directly affect my budget. Hay is already averaging $400/ton or more, so that is a huge consideration in my yearly budget. I try to put a year’s worth in the barn but I usually have to get a ‘summer’ ton to carry me through to August when I buy the bulk. I am very worried that many hay farmers will switch products, get out of hay entirely or obviously need to pass along any increases to the consumer.

I have made some tack/apparel purchases recently in case the Chinese tariff war jumps those products up (socks, gloves, etc.). I’m debating a new helmet as well as an air vest. I am carefully budgeting for shows-- I’ll discuss with trainer any unforeseen costs that they might need to pass along. I’ll be hauling my own and staying closer to home for shows as well.

[NaturallyHappy]

My hay farmer custom bales for me. He’s already warned me baling costs will go up. I locked in fertilizer prices in January. We also spray for weeds. I’d better ask about that.

[Aussie_2020]

I recently fueled and the price of gas is up 20 cents per gallon from last week! I hope the cost rise is set for a month or two. The last time fuel jumped up I still had my horse. At the barn we changed all our trail rides to local ones. Fun but not as fun as exploring new places. And of course the rise in fuel made the hay and grain go up too.

I never thought I’d be without a horse but those prices worried me, so when I had to let my old man go I made the decision that he was the last.

[freshman]

Agree. Must be regional and/or a very lucky horse owner. It is unheard of here to have a hay supplier that will sell hay to you at a set price once a year, then also store the bulk of it for you at no cost on his property. That scenario PLUS the nominal sounding little fee to deliver to you at your convince is some kind of magic horse hay fairy tale for the small backyard horse owner. Glad for the OP, but that isn’t an option in my area. Local delivery on hay is not always offered, either. Often it is up to you to do or contract yourself. I find it hard to imagine that it’s even a common regional thing? Tell me if I’m wrong? Regional differences can be wild, but this one really stretches my imagination…

[Mosey_2003]

@ziggywiggy

But the hay here is all produced locally so I don’t anticipate a massive spike in cost, at least not beyond affordability.

The problems that could come for hay is not only the fertilizers going up, the good seed for the hay is bred/produced in Brazil, there are places not even stocking it now let alone what it might cost. So maybe not this year, but the next could get really interesting in that regard.