Disposable leather-cleaning wipes for very light cleaning. Expensive. Wasteful. ADDICTIVE.
4 Likes
Heated indoor arena in the winter. When it’s -20c outside it’s +1c inside and it makes a world of difference being able to ride through the winter.
Smaller luxury: polarized sunglasses.
Little luxury? fleece lined riding gloves!
3 Likes
My horse!!!
21 Likes
X3! 
Non-Equine:
My Airfryer 
Gifted to me by a friend.
I’d have never bought it for myself.
Danged thing gets used almost daily!
It roasts! It bakes!
It keeps my kitchen cool!!
6 Likes
My 2+1 trailer, and the amazing Cummins that pulls it. I feel like a f-ing boss driving that thing around with my two amazing boys in the back. 
Also, I’m a sucker for expensive breeches that I wear every day. They are worth it.
6 Likes
Hiring other people to do the jobs I an unable to do, or just don’t want to do myself.
An example is paying $79.95 to have other people put together my latest order for from Lowes’s and delivering it to the door of my barn. In younger, poorer but fitter days I’d have gone to Lowe’s, loaded the 24 fifty pound bags of fertilizer and 48 2x6 fence boards onto a cart myself, manhandled it to the cash register, loaded it into the back of my truck myself, tied everything down securely, driven home, unloaded everything from the truck myself, and moved it all into the barn for storage.
Now I just order on line, and tomorrow it all will be delivered by a truck, and a forklift will put everything just outside the barn. Now I just have to lift everything one time, rather than the four times if I used to have to lift it all.
21 Likes
I figure I am living in luxury if I have electricity, hot water and an indoor toilet. Now I will add wifi.
15 Likes
Full care board.
6 Likes
My horses.
6 Likes
Oh so much this! A pallet of retaining wall blocks and another of mulch.
5 Likes
This might make me a pariah here, but I’m a recent convert to true full-service board… As in, “Hi, I’ll be there at 2:30 to ride Dobbin.” Dobbin is in the cross-ties, ready to go. With a 90-minute drive to the barn, every minute counts, and I’m here for it.
23 Likes
Good for you, @Tha_Ridge. It’s one thing when the barn is 10, 20 minutes away. But that kind of drive…
5 Likes
Sigh. Yes. Or taking a few days to do a job that in the past you would have completed in one. At this age and stage of homeownership my attitude is: I don’t get martyr points for spending 10 hours killing myself to finish this and then spending the next three days aching as a result.
7 Likes
I pay my neighbor’s kid to do turn-in and feed a few nights a week. I used to do every shift by myself but now have a one year old and I’ll never go back.
Also, not horse-related, but direct flights. I remember the first time I was choosing between the cheaper flight with a stop and the direct flight for about $100 more and said eff it, I’m going direct. That was the moment in life I knew I’d made it 
10 Likes
Run in sheds in the fields.
I love tucking the horses in their stalls during bad weather…but the sheds are convenient if I am short on time, stuck at work or if the weather is more “good” than “bad” for the day or night. Fortunately, everyone uses their sheds. No one standing outside like a dummy.
5 Likes
My two mini donkeys! They are mostly pets but serve as the best babysitters for youngsters and older horses alike. My older donkey I have had for 17 years since he was a yearling when I got him to be a companion for my filly of the same age. Growing up with her he learned to command respect from any horse and I can put him in with the most confident bully of a gelding and he won’t take anything from them. My donkeys are excellent to handle and wonderful with children and my dogs, even letting me sit my dogs on their backs! I cannot imagine my life without them.
31 Likes
My own, personal, arena. There is nothing better than setting jumps and knowing that they will be that way tomorrow. No wondering if you will have to share the ring with a crazy pony kid or the boarding barn ‘Queen’ who thinks she owns the ring.
The footing is the way I like it. The jumps are where I like them. The mounting block never randomly disappears.
Only drawback is I have to drag it myself. I am anxiously awaiting the automatic arena drag robots to become available soon 
27 Likes
I find myself thinking “do I really want to ride today, because that will mean a half hour of dragging (more if I have to connect the arena groomer to the tractor).”
Often I answer myself, “let’s just go on a trail ride.”
2 Likes
I solved this by making myself drag the area every Monday, no matter what.
I also remember that setting my jumps one time and then only having to raise poles saves so much time compared to having to set a full course every time I want to ride in a shared arena.
6 Likes
I have just started to really take advantage of this at horse shows.
For the longest time I felt REALLY guilty because I love taking care of my horse; I was a working student so I know how to do all this stuff. But I think I’ve made peace with it because a) duh, there are plenty of competent people the barn employees who know how Dobbin likes his bridle put on and will stretch his back legs; it’s not rocket science and b) it has been a blessing to better balance the horse time + family time + the job that pays for everything.
3 Likes
