What is a "broke" person?

[DMK]

My life got a lot easier once I learned to figure out which cones are outliers. Most courses fall into a flow, something like “if you can’t see it (more or less) in front of you it’s probably off your left shoulder, except for 4, 12 and 16 which are off the right.”

I keep that kind of plan in the back of my head in case things go sideways. Sometimes it helps My favorite time was when I was all the way on the far side of the field, then had to gallop across the bottom to other side to finish the final 1/3 of the course. I was about 3/4 of the way there when I realized I forgot a 13, whipped around, galloped back and did that cone (it was somewhere in the middle), then galloped through the rest of the course never hitting the brakes. And with no time faults. He is a very fast pony!

[phoenixrises]

That’s fantastic! I do love that you can circle around looking and there’s no faults other than the time it took you to find it.

[kirbydog]

damn, boy
I guess I am a broke person too…I have a plate and screws in my right collar bone, dislocated R elbow, had a compound fracture of the left radius (my left hand now comes off of my arm angled in vs straight) Knees are crap. But my back and head managed to stay intact!

[DMK]

My brain exploded the first time I realized that not only was crossing your path legal, it was pretty much required!

[BITSA]

@Momateur

Guys, I finally hung it up. I still troll on COTH boards because I will forever consider myself a horse person. But in real life, I sold my horse and washed my hands of all of it. No “off ramp” options looked attractive to me after riding and showing at a relatively high level. It’s been about nine months now. Do I miss it? Sort of. Do I question my decision? Not at all.

I could not continue to justify spending thousands upon thousands of dollars a month on myself while trying to raise a family, save for college tuition, and plan for eventual retirement. After 30+ years, the financial burden finally squashed the fun right out of it.

I finally gave up jumping and showing (mostly so we could funnel all finances into my daughter’s last junior year). I thought I would miss it more than I do. It’s hard when I go to a show and watch her jump bigger fences, but not so hard that I think about it every day. And the further I get away from it the more absurd spending that amount of money seems (for my own financial situation), I very much doubt I will return to it once my daughter is off to college. And its fun to just be the show mom.

I didn’t leave horses though. I decided to take dressage lessons 1x a week on an older retired jumper I pay a small lease fee on. I am really enjoying learning a new discipline and learning new things, and meeting some really lovely older riders like me. Plus everyone at the dressage barn thinks I am brave, which is kind of funny since I was not a brave jumper. Its nice to keep riding without the stress and cost of competing.

[fivestrideline]

@BITSA

Plus everyone at the dressage barn thinks I am brave, which is kind of funny since I was not a brave jumper.

This is one of the perks of riding with mostly dressage people - when you decide to pop over a log in the pasture or set up a baby grid for the greenie the WHOLE barn gathers to tell you you’re so brave yes feed my fragile ego!

Meanwhile at the jumper barn we had elementary school kids jumping mini prixs and doing things that scared the heck out of me.

A bit more on topic: I do miss showing and show team lessons. But I don’t miss rated show fees and pressure - it’s the “barn family” and group lessons that I miss the most. I’d be one of the poorest people at a hunter barn, but I’ve been at mostly casual boarding places lately and it’s SO relaxing! There’s much less pressure to spend spend spend, and plenty of people who are thrilled to just go putter around on the trails. So, I’m a “broke” person, but I don’t feel bad about it anymore.

[Momateur]

I have to ask (even though it’s probably rude of me) – what is the cost of keeping a horse at a casual barn like this? I don’t mean just the board. When you include shoes, vet, insurance, supplements, blankets, tack, etc, what do you really pay each month? I can’t figure out how to do it for less than $1000/month, even if there are no lessons or training involved. Maybe it’s my area, but it’s not particularly high COL here.

[fivestrideline]

Honestly $1k is probably a good ballpark - some months far less and some more. I can get it down to $800ish if I don’t buy any new blankets or whatever and he’s barefoot. This includes bodywork, supps, vet budget and misc essentials like fly spray.

ETA I also don’t count my truck and trailer in this figure, and no lessons or shows. Just flex board and basics.

[Tini_Sea_Soldier1]

I’d count it closer to $1200-1400 honestly. Most people near us are charging anywhere from $450-600 for a dry stall, so once you add in feed/grain, hay several times daily, stall maintenance,blanketing, etc., it’s bound to add another $500-600 in the mix to pay for staff and hay/grain.
The training adds in another $1200-1400.

Of course, there are certain regions where things are considerably cheaper (hi, MD and VA!), but generally it’s gone up considerably in the past 5-7 years everywhere else.

[TheJenners]

I guess I’m now a broke person… I just wrote the checks for two horses at two different training barns for the first time in my life and my first time boarding in almost seven years Good thing there are OT shifts floating around this month so I can do a repeat performance in January, assuming ponykins doesn’t sell in Dec. Those two checks were more than the mortgage on my whole ass farm and my truck payment combined. Ha… ha ha…

[chestnutmarebeware]

I completely understand your decision. I’m older than you and single, and currently have two now-retired horses that I’ve had for 24 and 18 years.

I board at their regular barn that they’ve been at for 14 years, and miss riding them, but when they are gone I’m done with horses. I’m about 15 years from retirement and can’t justify spending that money (probably much more with inflation) on a fixed income.

[BITSA]

@Momateur

Maybe. But there’s never been a harder time to be a re-rider. Let’s face it, the lesson horses are going away.

I agree lesson horses are going away, but I feel like half leases are still viable for under 3’ horses. Still not cheap but an option.

[Tini_Sea_Soldier1]

Also, I’d just like to say… as the OP… thank you for everyone keeping this thread informative, with a side of commiseration and humor. We’ve all seen some of these threads go off the rails and I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone and keep it going. I love that we’ve been able to throw open the wallet and the board bills and started to talk a bit more honestly about what our budgets look like and what that means for equestrian life going forward. I’d suspect it has also helped some folks in deciding whether or not it’s time to buy or if they should relocate to certain areas. Hooray for us!

[fivestrideline]

Thanks to this thread I just re-crunched my numbers. I’m in NC, LCOL area, on stall board but the horses are actually out 24/7 unless it’s nasty. No ring, no trainer, no fancy amenities like hot water or a bathroom.

• Board + 5 week trim + bodywork + vet fund + incidentals (fly spray, bell boots, etc): $750/month
• Right now my gelding is in 2 shoes + pads which puts us at $1000/month for him.
• Truck and trailer payments total $600, plus insurance and maintenance and fuel
• Big tack purchases are out of my savings and overtime fund, and blankets/extra vet/etc are hopefully covered by sinking misc horse funds + gift cards

I know my BO isn’t making a profit on us. Maybe breaking even on her costs and her personal horses’ basic needs. The truck and trailer are essentials that allow me to board at backyard (and fabulous!) places for cheaper, and I’d have them even at a show barn because I’m ferociously independent and don’t like being told I can’t go do something .

Just for comparison in my area:

• Stall board with a ring at a multidiscipline place is ~$650-850+ but I can guarantee you’ll be supplying some amount of hay/grain/shavings
• Stall board at a “show barn” runs $900-$3000 here. Most have some sort of training requirement. I’d budget $1500 for a small name local place (board plus required lessons)
• Lessons are averaging $65ish for a private, but I’ve paid $85 for a well known coach but not BNT

I recall when I moved to the “big” barn of the “fancy” place as a junior - we paid $650 for stall board. A $20k budget for a horse was a good start - not FANCY but comparable to a $40k animal these days. Just writing this all out (again)… oof.

[wtxhunter]

Over $2000 without training or lessons or full groom in my area. TX.

[TheJenners]

Ouch! I thought TX was a bit more affordable? It isn’t even that bad in the greater-greater Seattle area (basically I-5 from Mount Vernon to Longview, urban sprawl is a real bitch).

[Ponyplusaninch]

Yeah if you want good turnout read: fields are maintained and safe as well as good feed, stall care, farrier + vet oversight (ie the barn manager will schedule them out or call an emergency vet vs. you having to handle it all)… That basic board sans any kind of “program” is gonna start at around $800 and go up. Indoor rings add another element to cost–and when you get to zone 5, it’s pretty much essential if you want to ride in the winter.

There’s nothing cheap about doing it right. I see people take shortcuts to make it work for their budget, but those short cuts have consequences (more colic prone horse; unable to ride in winter; sub-par farrier care).

IDK about anyone else, but I am seeing folks get more flexible on the sales/leases of horses–a lot more leases to purchases, half-leases, trades, free leases in barn. I’ll be curious to see what a difference that makes for keeping the middle class active in equestrian sport. Don’t know if it’ll be enough purely because of how even the basics like good board are expensive.

[Jo]

@Rumorhasit93

Holy horse welfare. That’s a LOT of jumps.

I was wondering why this hadn’t been brought up. What kind of life is this for your HORSE?

[Rumorhasit93]

I have very strong feelings about hunter divisions being lessened to 3 classes - 2 o/f, 1 u/s.

I have serious FOMO so I’ve been following along at Thermal right now, and many horses are going in TWO pro divisions!! What. The absolute. Hell

[Peggy]

That’s a lot of jumps, even considering that some are back to back and you can do one warmup for two classes and maybe for all four. I’m at Thermal doing the Low Adult jumpers (1-1.05m) and my horse does one class a day for five days.