Leasing vs saving for future horse

[fivestrideline]

I really shouldn’t be posting this - I told myself I wouldn’t trust how I feel about life after 9pm. And it’s past 11pm now. Oh well

I’m at a bit of a crossroads in my riding journey. My long term goals are to do the adult medals and jumpers - though I’m not there right now, these aren’t unrealistic goals. My current horse is my chronically NQR gelding that I’m just about done pouring money into attempting to get him riding sound. He’s got a forever home, but I’m close to just retiring him instead of going down the bone scan/MRI/inject everything/EPM??/custom saddle rabbit hole (and trust me, we’ve done SO MUCH digging already).

I reworked my budget with his retirement in mind and have concluded that I have a small amount of leftover horse money. I can

• stop riding entirely and save up for a future horse purchase
• lesson once or twice a week on some nice 2’-2’6” schoolies at my barn (and save up a little)
• continue half leasing and showing the local unrated stuff (and save up almost nothing).

My “fun” budget is pretty small as I am currently saving for a house/horse property, paying off debt, and trying to survive being late 20s without a trust fund in this economy. I’m really unsure what the best course of action is, as while I want to save up as much as possible, I also don’t want to lose my confidence and muscle memory.

So, given a smaller budget, WWYD? Lease and ride or sit it out and save?

[Rumorhasit93]

Are you good enough to do show leases? My friend does this and it’s a great way to avoid paying maintenance on a lease horse AND you get to show!

[Mander]

I’m basically in exactly your situation (minus my own horse).

I chose to lesson 1x/wk and save. Eventually an opportunity came along for me to lease a GP (dressage) schoolmaster, and at that point, I decided that half leasing and saving nothing was the better option. If I didn’t lease him, I would mostly just be keeping my skills fresh and not learning as much, all to save up for a decent, but green horse - certainly not a schoolmaster. It might be a decade or more before I could learn the things I’m learning now, and it would have to be on a horse I made myself - if I even had the skills to “make” them to that level. At least this way, when I am finally able to afford my own horse, I’ll be better prepared. All that to say, it was/is worth it for me.

I also know for me, being a part of a barn, even if only in a small way, is really important for me mentally. Before considering not riding at all, how much extra will you save over a year, and how much “extra horse” will that buy you? Would you rather ride a little and buy a cheaper horse, or not ride at all and buy a little nicer horse?

And at the end of the day, this is a hobby for most of us - you don’t need to make a perfectly optimized plan. Maybe you could progress faster with one option over another, but I don’t think this is a situation where there’s an objectively “wrong” answer.

[fivestrideline]

As far as show leasing - yes I can and have. However, at this point in time I am not lessoning with a “show barn”, so the connections aren’t there anymore. My coach is wonderful and perfect for what I need (lesson horses are available, the leases are reasonable, coach is good and takes lessons themselves to stay fresh). It just isn’t a showing focused program.

As it stands, after my own horse’s bills, trailer payment, etc, I’d have to stop riding (and not pick up any other expensive hobby, lol) for 2-4 years to afford a nice weanling or something in the 3’ greenie ballpark. The daily expenses aren’t an issue, it’s the liquid cash for a purchase that comes out of the same account as lessons/leasing/showing.

It is true this is a hobby. Balance is important, and I have a personality that tends to hyper focus and NEED concrete goals and commitments (and forced social time!) so that I don’t spiral into doing nothing at all. Showing and lessons really help with that, but horses are money pits to say the least .

[dmveventer]

@fivestrideline

As it stands, after my own horse’s bills, trailer payment, etc, I’d have to stop riding (and not pick up any other expensive hobby, lol) for 2-4 years to afford a nice weanling or something in the 3’ greenie ballpark. The daily expenses aren’t an issue, it’s the liquid cash for a purchase that comes out of the same account as lessons/leasing/showing (cause I know someone will bring that up).

Ugh, I know exactly what you mean. It’s a constant balance between being able to enjoy the horse you have today and saving up for the next horse. Honestly it sounds like you have a lot of other financial and life goals happening right now on top of potentially supporting a retiree, and given how long you’d have to go without riding to afford to buy again I would probably go with the half-lease if I was in your shoes. That way you can still ride and show in the meantime while you focus on other priorities.

For me personally, lessoning 1-2x per week would be worse than not riding at all. It’s not enough saddle time to actually learn much and you lose the fitness and muscle memory you’re used to having, which just made it more frustrating than it was worth. I intentionally waited to get back into riding after college until I could go straight into half-leasing with a prospect to buy. I’ve also accepted that there’s no way I’ll be able to buy a house anytime soon if I buy a horse, so there’s really no perfect answer.

[fivestrideline]

Yeah the half lease I have access to is 3 rides a week, including one lesson. Right now I’m just putting fitness on a greenie while I wait for the one made horse to free up for a lease. What is also tough is the barn is an hour away, and thus about $200 a month in gas right now. Which, in the grand scheme of things, isn’t much. But it does FEEL like a lot, and I rarely get out there all 3 days.

The house plan is partially to support said retiree luckily my SO doesn’t particularly like neighbors or living in the city, so he doesn’t mind the idea of some land.

[Gardenhorse]

I would probably drop the lease on the greenie and just lesson for a while until a lease on the made horse is available (unless you have to be leasing something to be in line for the better lease?).

[fivestrideline]

Leasing just gives first dibs on the horse for showing, which I had wanted and signed up for. But yes, I may see when the other horse could free up and make a decision there. The greenie, fwiw, is a blast to ride and very nice. And coming along quickly. Long term, however, I want to work on myself.

[saturnalian]

I was literally in the same spot as you (down to the “late 20s without a trust fund” and your showing goals, lol) - wondering if I could really be happy saving for 2-3 years just to get a horse that probably should have cost $12k 5 years ago and could also be NQR for the rest of its life once it stepped off the trailer.

Personally, I opted to use a breeding program to get something in-utero. I figured that 1. I’d spend just as much time saving as I will waiting for it to grow up, 2. I can get a much nicer-bred horse this way vs purchasing what I could afford at the same price, and 3. they all offer payment plans or deferred payment (usually until weaned) so that helps with not having the liquid funds at the time/having an actual goal in place for saving.

Breeding is a crapshoot, and I’ve been warned by many not to do it and to “just buy a horse instead”. However, I’m excited for it, my friends and family are excited for me, and most people who initially were against it have come around - it’s something I’ve wanted to do and being horseless at this current juncture in my life makes it the perfect time.
If you’re considering a weanling even, look into it! It’s been a fun adventure so far!! I’ve continued lessoning personally but have also considered finding a lease since the payments are so spread out and low. (FWIW, the total I’ve found for most breeding programs is ~$10k.)

[fivestrideline]

The idea of a baby has crossed my mind - I’d probably want something on the ground though. I’m green horse savvy, and after a series of OTTBs I want something without the track wear and tear. And, the more I learn about nutrition, the more I want to KNOW my horses have had the best shot.

The rehab/retirement barn my horse is at just got two draft cross weanlings and the BO is having the BEST time. And they do baby board…

[furlong47]

I would probably go with the second option - lessoning to stay in the saddle, but saving up some money for the next horse. Since this option has you riding less frequently, maybe you could add a little part time work or a gig type job so you can save faster.

[FromTheGalaxy]

Do you have any friends with horses that you could catch ride occasionally to supplement your weekly lessons? I know in my area there are multiple people with an extra horse or two that they could use help riding on a regular basis (me included). I have in the past “free” leased my green young mare to a friend to ride while I focused on my other horse. It was a win/win for both of us. I think especially since your current lease option is a greenie, you might be better served saving that money and catch riding when you can to get the extra saddle time. If you had the option to lease a school master that you could learn from, that might be a different story. But it sounds like since both time and finances are limited (you said the barn is far and you may not get out there for your 3 lease rides every week) then I would likely hold off on leasing for now and save that money.

[touchstone]

@FromTheGalaxy

Do you have any friends with horses that you could catch ride occasionally to supplement your weekly lessons? I know in my area there are multiple people with an extra horse or two that they could use help riding on a regular basis (me included). I have in the past “free” leased my green young mare to a friend to ride while I focused on my other horse. It was a win/win for both of us. I think especially since your current lease option is a greenie, you might be better served saving that money and catch riding when you can to get the extra saddle time. If you had the option to lease a school master that you could learn from, that might be a different story. But it sounds like since both time and finances are limited (you said the barn is far and you may not get out there for your 3 lease rides every week) then I would likely hold off on leasing for now and save that money.

This would be my recommendation too. Though I realize the availability of these options depends a lot on your skill level, region and your network. Riding random horses has some downsides–you probably won’t get to lesson and jump as much, you may have to ride some rehabs and greenies with more antics than a show horse, you need to be super-reliable, even when life gets chaotic–but it’s a great way to stay in the saddle while you save money.

[joiedevie99]

I would switch to lessons for a while so you can work on yourself, and stay somewhat riding fit, but also save up a little bit of money.

[HipNo34]

@dmveventer

For me personally, lessoning 1-2x per week would be worse than not riding at all. It’s not enough saddle time to actually learn much and you lose the fitness and muscle memory you’re used to having,

I’m curious about people’s thoughts on this. I don’t know if I agree. I think it depends on where you’re at right now.

If you want to talk about losing muscle memory and fitness, try a years’ (and years) long break. I sometimes wonder if I’d be struggling less as a returning rider if I had ridden even intermittently over the intervening years. For me, as a returning rider, lessoning every other week then weekly and then maybe 2x/week, progress was glacial and muscle memory hard to maintain. I’m doing better 3x/week but I was starting from ground zero as a returning rider. If you’ve been in it all along, lessoning 1/2x week while you sort the rest isn’t such a bad deal and will keep some of the rust off. If you can find other rides, too, so much the better.

ETA - the first time around, I moved from a program (and having spent more than a decade in a program) to a private situation where I slid (over several years) from riding near-daily on average to flatting 1-2x/week to maybe not even that. At the end, I don’t remember feeling that un-fit or l had backslid that much… on the flat at least. So, I guess I am on Team Something-Is-Better-Than-Nothing.

[fivestrideline]

I have to agree that SOME riding is better than none. I’m blessed to have stayed riding intermittently, and have a decent amount of muscle memory (and green horse ready reaction time ). I don’t want to lose that, and once or twice a week has actually worked well for me so far.

I’d love to ride daily, but the miles on the vehicles, time and gas, just don’t allow for it.

I will mull this all over, but I think if the made horse comes up for half lease I’ll jump on it. He would be very good for me, and fun to boot . Otherwise, once my lease is up on greenie I might cut back to lessons only. I’m not sure, but now I’m inspired to save up and I’m window shopping weanlings (hello sporthorse breeding threads for stallion inspiration).

[Tini_Sea_Soldier1]

If riding is your happy place, keep doing it. As someone in their mid-40’s that took breaks off and on for the past 20 years, your riding tends to suffer and it takes awhile to get your eye back. Even small jumps are better than no jumps.
Some thoughts here…

1. Do not buy a weanling as your next “project”. Young horses are such a crapshoot and if showing is your goal, you’re bound to get the “green horse blues” as it can be a total physical and emotional roller coaster. I bought young and pretty… sat out almost all of the showing for 2 winter circuits, and then ended up selling him when I realized that our goals weren’t aligned and I needed something different.

2. Are you beholden to staying at your current barn? Do they have any options for care leases?
   If not, put out feeler as to whether anyone needs a care lease or care half-lease. In today’s economy and with people going back to the office, more and more people are finding themselves overwhelmed with bills and willing to do an in-barn care lease to help foot some of the cost, especially when trainers are on the road all the time and pro rides aren’t 100% necessary. You may find a kid that’s going to college or an overworked ammy that’s willing to let you half lease for half board. Depending on your trainer’s reputation locally, they may also have some options of care leases available locally, as long as owner and trainer there approves the deal.

3. Don’t panic. You’re doing great. Late 20’s is a huge transitional time. I didn’t meet my husband or buy my first house until my early 40’s. So keep things fluid and if you make mistakes, well that’s what your 20’s are all about and you’ll just make better decisions in your 30’s.

[fivestrideline]

Yeah the weanling is more of a pipe dream - one that would have to be in addition to something else (aka I win the lottery!). One of my long term goals is to raise a foal for myself, but I want to do other things as well.

There aren’t many opportunities besides the (very reasonable) leases at my barn, and no places near me that would be equivalent. I make the drive work because I like the trainer and program, have a ton of fun, and am learning, but I can’t swing much more than I’m doing now at 1-2 days a week. It’ll be different once I pay some things off and potentially get in a house.

[candyappy]

@fivestrideline

I reworked my budget with his retirement in mind and have concluded that I have a small amount of leftover horse money. I can

• stop riding entirely and save up for a future horse purchase
• lesson once or twice a week on some nice 2’-2’6” schoolies at my barn (and save up a little)
• continue half leasing and showing the local unrated stuff (and save up almost nothing).

@fivestrideline

So, given a smaller budget, WWYD? Lease and ride or sit it out and save?

I guess this may appear as cold hearted but if you board and can only afford to board 1 horse on your budget – then that should be a horse you can actually ride/ compete? You have clear riding goals, you are young and I know how much you must love your current horse but he is and will continue to drain you dry.

Having your own place to keep him would change things 100% but you don’t and in reality you may never have that , especially in todays economy.

Being able to put all your horse money into one that can hopefully take you where you want to go is no crime . You are not going to be young and free or able forever to reach your goal. Life , time and age have a way of creeping upon on you.

Somehow we have taken on this mindset of keeping them forever. While I support it wholeheartedly ( if you have unlimited funds or the land to do it) I don’t believe people should be pressured into forgoing their goals to do so.

[FromTheGalaxy]

If you end up getting a horse property, that would probably be the ideal time to get a weanling/young horse. I bought a weanling a few years ago and had to board her, and although I liked the barn, it was not really an ideal situation for such a young horse. And if you’re keeping the ponies on your property, it would not be nearly as expensive to have a going horse, young horse that is growing, and your retired guy (which is what I’m doing now, and it’s pretty nice to have one coming up the pipe while I’m still able to ride!)