Ah ha! This IS something new, thanks!
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I think your post just won this thread 
I have the authority to say that as when I built my barn, a 60X120 attached indoor was a “necessity”.
Even in Year One, I found I vastly preferred riding outside on my acreage.
Best use of the indoor to date was storing loaded haywagons for my hayguy neighbors.
In return, I got hay gratis.
At one point I had 7 loaded wagons in there - including 2 huge Cage Wagons - & still had room to lesson.
Today it holds 3 empty wagons.
Best current use is when I can’t close the rear Dutch doors to keep horses in for vet/shoer (due to buildup of muck 
). They get turned out & removed 1 at a time for servicing 
I think they like this use best.
VID_20250124_100625019
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we have three miniatures who are often used in educations endeavors requiring them to walk on polished hall floors, there are boots made for these guys that cost many of hundreds of dollars however we found that the Build A Bear combat boots have rubber soles that are sold for building a bear fit the minies hoofs and cost less than $9.50 a pair
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Hey that’s I good idea! I bet they’d fit my minis well. My welsh is too big for mini, too small for horse. He needs to grow or shrink!
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those Build A Bear boots wear well and last, they are some cheap throwaway things, just inexpensive
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I spent $400 on a custom sized bridle to go with my show harness for my Standardbred cross who had a ginormous head. Then I ended up selling him before I ever got to use it. It’s beautiful; it hangs in my basement covered with a flannel pillowcase.
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Oh, where to begin?
A longe line (I preferred free longeing so we built a round pen instead)
Grooming tools I ended up hating
Supplements and meds that were supposed to stop one pony’s diarrhea (switching feed worked better)
English saddle and a million pads my daughter wanted (used once)
Bareback pad my daughter wanted (used once)
Lots of bits
Horse that tried to dump me continually
Horses that DH and daughter hardly rode (I stole the daughter’s pony and trained him to drive)
I’m sure there’s more that I’m not thinking of right this second.
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we are in Texas our horse was kept back east to be shown there, there it was more competitive which is what were wanting for the horse to be developed into our kids mount. We were looking for an older aged horse but bought a long yearling who needed the ring experience.
She developed into an outstanding mount which we could have sold for much more than the costs we spent on her, we kept her the rest of her life
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An EquiBand system because tax season be damned I was going to keep the Ponysaurus a little bit fit. (I pull it out every December because this year is the year)
Several bits but we keep coming back to his Herm Sprenger KK Ultra D ring that was gifted to me by a friend.
A grazing muzzle. Not expensive, but nearly brand new from his 45 minutes of wearing it. He manages just fine on his hay net, dry lot and limited pasture access.
4 shoes all around from January-April (see above: tax season). But I am always so hopeful I’ll find 15 minutes a day in December… sigh
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Definitely the 2nd horse I bought.
I was so glad when she was gone, I paid for the transfer fees on her low dollar sale so I didn’t have to see myself listed as the owner online.
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Not my way, but if it works for you 
No Pro Rides or training, he was my For Funsies horse.
A year after I bought him as a 6yo OTTB (never raced, ponied for H/W trainers I bought him from) I was offered 3X his purchase.
3 yrs later, 10X.
I almost took that last offer, but decided my chances of getting another unicorn were Slim to None.
Had him 20yrs, lost to a trailer accident in 2009.
I miss him still.
At his Best:
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Anything with a gas engine. Right now the top culprit is the used Husqvarna riding mower that will not start. I drove all that way to look at it with SUCKER branded on my forehead. Paid way too much for it because I had driven all that way. with my trailer… Bad reason.
So I get it home. Mow with it once and it conks out and won’t start. Replace battery and get it to the small engine repair place, Deck is worn out. They get it running to the tune of $700. But - it needs a new clutch for $250, however it can wait a little while. So now I am in for $2500. Get it home. Mow with it twice. Conks out and won’t start. Put in new battery. Not starting. Notice that the fuel tank is cracked and my gas has probably been running out. So new fuel tank and clutch will increase the price tag to about 3k. And that does not address the issue of it not starting. I am approaching the cost of a new mower with a warranty.
I came to my senses - sell it for whatever you can get on Craigslist- and buy a new mower with a warranty. Quit throwing good money after bad and chalk this up to a life lesson why you have no business buying used power equipment. I do not know why I always have to learn these lessons the hard way.
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My Mini Cooper was the biggest waste of money, but not horse related!
I acquired several dressage saddles over a 4 year period, to find one that fit Alex, who kept growing. Sold some, kept others. One was a Krehan I imported from Ireland. Another was a Baines I bought from England. It arrived with a broken tree. But I really can’t say they were wastes of money. All were lovely.
Not my money, but my parents bought me a nice Western show saddle when I was 16. I showed in it for 2 years; it’s sat since, unused.
I acquired a huge inventory of breeches, which I sadly outgrew and had to sell after I quit riding. But again, I can’t say they were a waste of money. They were very nice breeches!
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EWWW!!! I have some sensitive toothpaste…EWWW
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The sand pile I put in one of their fields hoping to entice my horse to like down. Not only does he still not lie down, but no one even uses it to roll
The years of Regumate for a mare who was later shown to be blowing through it and had her ovaries removed. I have chosen not to really look at the math on that 
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I’ll add the close cousin of supplements: New fangled, speshul recipe horse cookies my mare won’t eat.
And also:
Bell boots with worthless Velcro
“No turn” bell boots that spin like a roulette wheel on my mare’s feet
Cheap leather halters that crack and tear with modest use
Saddle pads (English and western) that are over-hyped and don’t perform
Products that come in a spray bottle that refuses to actually spray
And my biggest waste of money…
Trendy, must-have apparel that in practice is either uncomfortable, unflattering or so restrictive that I wear it once and then stuff it in the back of my closet where it sits in perpetuity, mocking me 
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I was thinkning of this thread today when I was cleaning the tack room while my friend was holding horses for the farrier. So man girths, random saddles…like I get it, we have 3 ridable horses, one will be started soon and another in a few years…but all the girths we have we don’t like and she ends up buying another. A draft sized halter - where did that even come from? But all I could do was move it out of the tack/feed room into the trunks in the equipment shed just to try to keep the clutter out of the used space.
It’s less about the wasted money and more about the clutter for me. I do have a lot of stuff for my one horse and have kept all my old saddle but still…so much extra stuff…
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I forget to include the Cavallo boots I bought for my grade pony when our roads were redone with really big gravel (like rocks) that was uncomfortable for front feet. The boots seemed to fit OK and didn’t cause any rubs, and he went OK in them, but every time we stopped he would shift his weight on his front feet constantly. He never did that before, so I figured the boots just weren’t comfortable and I sold them to a fellow COTHer. And my solution for driving him was to keep him in the grass ditches and just use the road for a few feet to avoid culverts.
I tried front shoes on my other pony, but got tired of the expense and hassle very quickly. I bought a pair of Boa boots that fit him fine and he went well in them, but they drove me crazy for needing to be tightened several times in a drive.
Eventually the roads were redone and were much better for my barefoot ponies.
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I put in great lighting for my outdoor arena. Then I retired. They’ve been used a dozen times, tops.
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I bought a couple expensive matchy-matchy pad and polo sets because advertising and self-soothing via shopping.
I NEVER use them. They sit in my closet and the polos are…somewhere. I still use the 15 year old Dover diamond-quilt square pads every single day.
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