Growing up In northeastern Ohio, I had a neighbor named MR DIXON who used to haul horses for the Amish. I used to get to tag along with him to Amish farms and pull horses all over Ohio.
What is it about horses that makes them so fun to ride? For me it’s knowing that this animal is so strong it can buck you off at any moment. They don’t care who you are or how much money you make. They treat you just like you treat them. Riding is an absolute ART. As a kid I never imagined owning my own horse let alone horses. When I got married my wife talked about her childhood and how she use to jump her horses. How much fun it was and how she would love for our kids to ride.
We began in the horse world like a lot of people I am guessing. Not having a clue about horses but knowing the horses make your kids happy and that they are expensive. But like many parents, if it makes your kids happy, you don’t mind the cost as your kid’s happiness is essential.
Before we knew it, we were traveling all over the country to horse shows to compete. Creating lots of memories and just enjoying the ride that the horse world had to offer. If you are really into it, you can do a monthly horse show all year round. Some people travel from city to city living out of their horse trailers for months at a time.
There are horse trainers on every corner, each with their niche. Every time you switch horse trainers, it seems the new trainer notices something the old trainer didn’t and ends up causing you to want to sell your horses and buy new ones. Buying The horse is the cheap part! Horse training starts at around $1000 a month per horse and goes up. This Doesn’t include horseshoes which go on about every 6 -8 weeks or vet bills.
About the time you buy and sell a couple of horses, you quickly realize that there is no limit to the amount of money you can spend on a horse. You start to see that if you spend more money on a horse it greatly increases the chances of how well you can do in the show ring. It makes the rider’s job easier which increases the chances of winning. However there is no substitute for just being a great rider.
In the Arabian horse world, when you start, it’s with a $5,000-$10,000 horse, then before you know it, you have sold and bought & traded up to a $40,000 horse, then about the time you get up to the 14 & under you have a $50,000-$75,000 horse then when you hit the 15-18 yr old classes the horses are all upwards of $75,000-$250,000, and the sky is the limit people own horses that are eight figures at that point, you are just asking yourself how the heck you ended up eating breathing and sleeping horses.
There are hundreds of different kinds of horses and disciplines, and each requires a different kind of horse-like pure bread or half bread, etc.; many people travel the country showing multiple horses.
Do you think your baggage fees are expensive on an airline? Think about what it costs to ship a horse across the country to a horse show, let alone 2 or 3 horses! It’s about a dollar a mile. One thousand miles $1000, so cross country could be $2000-3500 or so per horse per show unless you are hauling yourself, at which point I will tell you the trucks that pull these start as small as a 50-gallon tank $300 for a fill-up and the semi-trucks that haul horses can hold up to 500 gallons $3000 fill up.
I guess the moral of this story is if you are concerned about dollars and cents, the horse world probably isn’t your best bet. But if you are looking to teach your kids responsibility and want them to learn a skill that they travel the country doing with a great group of down to earth people the horse world is a great place to be!!