Posted in YourOwnHorse
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I recently received a comment from anonymous. They asked what responsibilities and costs would have to be sacrificed if they were to buy their first horse. If you are not planning on showing or competing right away, look for a decent horse in the newspaper. You can probably find a good old horse to start with for really cheap or even free. I got my first horse given to me by an older gentleman who didn't use him anymore. Kayro, my first horse, was 16 years old at the time, which is the perfect age to start on. Amazingly, I got my second horse free too! He was described as a well-trained, frisky, older Arabian who could do anything. He was free, but we had to pay around $100 for the saddle, blanket, and bridle. A good horse found in the newspaper will probably be around $500 more or less. Sometimes you'll be lucky and get an awesome horse for free! If you are planning on competing / showing, and want a challenge, and are used to riding, the best price you will get is $1,000 more or less. =S pricey, I know. The first thing to worry about is land. You need to buy fence posts (metal, wood, whatever suits you. The cheapest way to go is metal steaks. They are sturdy too.) and wire. Just plain barbed or not barbed wire works great. If you get a horse that is especially hard on fences, you might want to buy electric wire. All this put together would be estimated $750 or more. A horse only needs 1/2 acre or less if you are feeding hay. Food is most essential! If you don't have pasture, grass hay will do fine. Before you go get grass hay, ask to see it. Open a bale and make sure it isn't wet or moldy, and smells fresh. $150 a ton is an excellent price for hay. A horse needs around 4 ton of hay a year. You won't need to supplement grain unless your horse is thin or you are working it hard. Grain is pretty expensive, about $60 for three bags, so if you can ask around at restaurants or bread stores if they would donate their old bread to you, bread works great to fatten up a horse. Just make sure you don't feed one horse more than three loafs a day. They can founder easily on it. Tack: In order to ride, you'll need tack! Decide whether you want to ride English or Western, and check out the prices for used saddles at a nearby Co-op. If you don't want to spend that much money on a saddle, bridle, etc. right away, then sign up at your local 4-H. You can learn how to ride and use the instuctor's saddles too. To sign up for 4-H is only $5 per kid where I live. The rest of the year, everything else is free. You can buy brushes, a hoofpick, and what not at a co-op for pretty cheap too. Every day responsibilities: Your horse is up way before you are. In all reality, horses want fed about 6:00 AM! If you don't want to feed them this early, you can wait. I feed my horses at 7 AM and on Saturdays . . . around 9 AM. LOL But your horse needs fed consistantly. It's easier to feed two big helpings twice a day - once in the morning and once at night. But it's healthier to feed your horse three or four times a day in smaller portions. For example: when I am home, I feed my two horses two flakes each, about 3 times a day. A horse needs 2 pounds of hay for every 100 pounds of horse. Go figure. Try not to feed on top of manure. Eating on manure can give them worms. Speaking of worms . . . you need to deworm your horse at the very least twice a year. Fresh water is a must have. If you don't want to pay the money for a big water trough, a plastic trash can will do just fine. When riding. . . WEAR A HELMET!!!!! I have been riding with helmets, and nothing bad happens. When I rode without them . . . EVERYTHING bad happened. Falling off on a huge pile of sharp rocks, hurting my ribs, falling off while jumping and hitting my head and having a headache and major dizziness for a week, oh! The gratefullness never ends for a decent helmet! WEAR ONE! They are about $50 for a good one at a co-op store. Those are pretty much the basics . . . buying, feeding, safety, tack, hmmm. . . if I missed anything, please tell me! Any more questions? Just give a holler. ~ Mandy
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