04/22/2026
I usually post more as myself, Christine Amber , than EquestrianTraining. But, i want to talk about the costs of having and riding horses. This might get long...Start with the dirt or barn where they live. Almost 30 years ago. I and my partner acquired this property in California, we certainly couldn't afford it now. So we put the money in and the effort to develop it in the way that we want to. We don't like a lot of concrete, so we have spread endless loads of wood chip to keep down mud w**ds and dust. 30 years of raking. This was an old property. There was once a can of nails where the outside can had rusted off and nothing was left but all the rusted nails stuck together in the shape of a can. Well when you find something like that where you keep your horses, you must magnetize, 30 years of magnetizing rolling rollers to look for hazards that could injure my horse badly or other people's horses. Horses because yes, this has also been a business. I'm sort of retired, I have my faults as a business person. The whole money thing is really awkward for me, I guess because I was given a chance when I was young when my parents couldn't pay to be involved. But I could help and babysit and work and do whatever needed to be done for a barn and a rental string. This lifestyle requires significant money, and time and or effort. Work must get done and if you can't do it yourself you must hire someone. I think just day laborers now are charging $25 to $30 an hour. And then they don't know how to do much and so you take your time that you could be working getting things done to train them. What to do. Maybe it's w**ding. Maybe it's spraying. Maybe it's cleaning stalls or cleaning pastures. Or maybe it's moving hay bales? Or maybe it's harrowing the arenas. Or maybe it's picking up rocks that you find on a riding trail. Maybe it's putting together a w**d wacker that you bought. Maybe it's teaching the basics of electricity so that an electric fence can be maintained or put up.
Many of us are land locked, which means you can ride on the property that you live on, but you must use a horse trailer to get to trails. You cannot even ride on the roads to get there. So there you go, cost of trailers, cost of tires for your trailers, cost of registration and insurance for your trailer cost of modifications if your trailer gets broken or just wear and tear where the wood rots or the aluminum gets dirty and full of pony poo. Somebody has to wash it or you pay somebody. And you have to do that to preserve your investment. It's not like it's a choice because steel rusts and rots and aluminum gets pitted so it's just another task that comes with the territory.
And arena, it's not just dirt as a general rule. Most of us pay a significant amount of money to make a base so that there is not mud and then put footing on top of it. I guess about 25 years ago mine was only $17,000. Not bad. Now. Oh it would be way more. So dragging that arena and making it useful is taking care of an investment. It's not something you can ignore. It has to be done. It can't just be ridden in because then you get cowtrails, you get water washing rivlets and your horse tripping etc. And maybe even the horse falls on you. Yes, that has happened to me. Just some of the things that have to be done. You probably need a tractor too. Well we do but I even have an old vehicle that I use for certain property tasks. Driving a couple acres away with pieces of fencing, putting up electric fencing, buying electric fencing, buying electric chargers. These are just a few more things that have to be done and maintained and you don't get a choice, or your animals could possibly get out on the street or break a fence and fight with the neighbors animal.
Then there's the whole activity of horse shows and showing, who's going to put the hay in the trailer. Who's going to put the shavings in the trailer? Who's going to put the horse grain in the trailer? Who's going to pack my clothes? Who's going to pack the tack who's going to unpack it all. Someone has to do it either. Pay somebody to do it, or I do it unless someone is helping. There are different ways to keep horses and some can be very expensive. For example, the Hunter jumper world of which I am not apart is very expensive. I hear that it can be a couple thousand dollars for a weekend of showing. Why, because somebody has to do the work and so somebody is paying for the skill of the trainer. The judge to judge you the driver to drive you all these things. Why am I saying all this. I recently posted about the younger generation. And there have been a number of younger generation people I have met who don't conceive all of the work and effort that goes into this kind of a lifestyle. Horses that break things horses that break your property horses that get injured and require veterinary Care that you pay for or that you do yourself. The list never ends. I'm not complaining. I'm trying to give some insight into all of the work that's required. Maybe it might be up in the middle of the night walking a sick horse, or finding a sick horse and having to call the veterinarian and be up all night with it. Maybe it's waiting for the Tallow truck to come and haul the dead horse the veterinarian had to put down. Just because a person doesn't see what's happening, it doesn't mean that that it isn't happening. The cost of buying a horse can be almost nothing to hundreds of thousands of dollars. I imagine if you ride or pay for the hundreds of thousand dollar horses, you pay for all of this work to be done and that's why horses can be so expensive. Now if you own a horse and you want to do things and you do it yourself, you find less expensive ways. But all of the same work is required. All of the same effort and all of the same time maybe more time because you can't always afford to pay somebody to do the things that need to be done. And then what about your personal life. I know a lot of trainers who haven't had a personal life can't have a personal life because they're too busy trying to manage their business and their people. Well I'm fortunate enough to have a personal life but it has it's pitfalls as well. I'm aging, my body is aging. My husband is aging. We have health issues. Do I ride in spite of it all? You're damn right I do. I recently posted about our Aging dog with diabetes requiring insulin shots and waking us up several times a night. Yes, my dog does sleep in the house yes and it even sleeps on my bed. And yes I choose that, but it has a cost. Makes me tired. Up at night when I'm this old. A friend responded to my generational complaint in a very valid way that we must lead by example, if we want the newer younger generations to step up to the plate and do the work. i Am writing this partly because of that. Just because people don't see what you're doing doesn't mean it's not happening. You can write them lists and you can attach prices, but I guess sometimes unless you give somebody an invoice they don't see that all of your work is value to them, not just the specifics that they see or partake in. I have my faults. As mouthy as I can be. Sometimes I may not communicate very clearly, and I would wish that all the fruits and efforts of labor would be an example to anyone who wants this lifestyle, whether you pay for it or you're just lucky enough to spend time in it.
Brian and I when I was fortunate enough to have him come along and help and have fun.
