Horses!

[TJAnonymous]

Nice looking horses! Have you entered this contest?

Equine Show Ring​

I just did....

 

[Peaches Lee]

Really? Around here you can get a purebred Friesian foal for $5-6k.

A lot of it has to do with bloodlines and registration. A full paper FHANA/KFPS foal is going to bring a higher price tag than a foal from a parent that is registered elsewhere.

A price of 5k-6k to me would tell me that it isn't FHANA/KFPS or there is something wrong with it. Best to do some digging before purchase.

 

[littledog]

Who thinks this: Geldings=not so smart but I love him. stallion= bad. mares = GREAT!

No Way! My current gelding is super smart, but definitely has opinions of his own. He's more of a drama queen than any mare I've ever had! It made him good at Eventing though, because he was confident enough to make good decisions and get us out of a tight spot if I made a mistake. He was a challenge to start though, and it took us longer than usual to do well at Dressage. He's calmed down a lot now that he's 28, but still very opinionated and likes things to be a certain way.
I also had his full brother (2 yrs younger) who was the exact opposite - just the sweetest guy in every way, super easy to start, wanted to do whatever you asked - I could even put non-horsey friends on him when he was still fairly green and he would pack them down the trail. I sold him to a talented teenager who took him up to quite a high level in Dressage.
I also had the sire of both these guys, a Trakehner stallion who was trained to 4th-level Dressage. He was more like the younger brother, really sweet and well-behaved. He was like a big teddy bear!
Partly his nice temperament, but he was very well-trained before I had him - they told me he was taught to understand, leading him with a chain over the nose means breeding time, but a regular halter or bridle means ignore the mares. I could ride him with mares around, and he would just concentrate on his work. The only stallion-ish thing he would do, was show off when I turned him out to his paddock. His was at the end, past all the mares, so he would arch his neck, flag his tail, and do a piaffe-like trot while eyeing all the mares in their paddocks, snorting and tossing his mane, and the mares would come up to their gates to watch him and call to him.
He was so nice that I could even turn him out with his younger son, even before the youngster was gelded, and they would just graze together like best buds. I only did this when there were no mares around, though. He passed away at age 26 - we had to say goodbye after his liver cancer progressed to the point where he couldn't keep weight on in spite of all the special mashes and supplements we fed him. I miss that guy so much - he taught me a ton.
I totally agree with "mares = GREAT!" Mares have a certain instinct for self-preservation, more than geldings and stallions, at least in my experience. Every mare I've ridden has been ready and willing to try hard and go along with what I want, until they decide it's a bad idea. And they're often right!

TLDR! Just from my own experiences: mares, geldings and stallions definitely each have tendencies, but they're all individuals, and their training makes a big difference.

Random question, do any other horse lovers collect Breyer Horse Models? I can't own a horse so I collect models instead.

Yes! Schleise horses too, and other Schleise farm animals! I collected them when I was a kid, way back in the days when dinosaurs ruled the planet.
My precious Breyers were carefully displayed on my bookshelves, but Schleise were my favorites because they were tiny but still really detailed and accurate. I made different configurations of little farms and cross-country courses all over my bedroom floor, out of houses, barns and fences cut from cardboard shoe boxes.
Unfortunately, when I went off to college, my Mom got rid of them. All my favorite horse books, too! I'm pretty sure she gave them to a younger horse girl, the daughter of one of her friends so they didn't go to waste at least, but still, GRRR!
They would all be valuable now, most of them considered rare and vintage! And what made me angriest was, I'd paid for them all myself! Every week I'd go to the store that sold them, scrape together whatever few dollars and cents I'd earned that week from weeding the neighbors' yard or bathing their dogs, buy the horse model I'd been coveting all week, and plan out how I would earn enough next week, to buy the cart that went with today's draft horse.
Aargh! Learn from my mistake - before you move out, put all your models in a box, tape it up securely, and stow it somewhere safe.

More horse drawings

Those are phenomenal! Especially love the black pony stallion with his mane all askew.

What's the oldest horse anyone here has ever kept

My current oldie is 28, but a few years ago there was a 42 year old horse in my barn. Still healthy and rideable (lightly) too!

No. Not in my opinion. Yes she's older, but still has lots of life and if she's well trained then I think that's a good price.

Interesting to see the prices of horses in other parts of the country. The horse economy seems to make no sense right now. The price of hay is through the roof, but horse prices are, too.

This is Emmy. She's on stall rest due to a bowed tendon.

Oh, poor Emmy! At least she looks like she's tolerating her stall rest fairly well, what a good girl. Please give her a carrot from me.

My daughter and her friend have a business which involves taking OTTBs and training them for new homes & jobs. They work with several charities focused on retired racehorses. They've trained and placed over a dozen horses so far...

What a great service these young women are providing, not only to the OTTBs but to potential new owners and the horse industry as a whole!
I'm curious how they work this - do the charities rescue TBs from the track/auctions/animal-control situations and pass likely candidates on to your daughter's business to retrain and restart and make them suitable for new homes, and then screen adopters?
Or does your daughter have contacts at the track who point them to OTTBs with potential for new careers, they retrain them, and then list them for sale or adoption through the charities? Or is it a combination of both?
Not that either scenario is better than the other as long as the horses end up in a good place - I'm just curious about what currently works better in your part of the country.

But I was just wondering because I’ve seen horses just as well trained for $1500-$2500 or less or whatever so I was curious.

I'm trying to make sense of the horse economy (and the economy in general) and I just can't! In my area, $1500-2500 could not even touch a sound, ridable horse under 25. Even though hay prices are through the roof! Which also makes no sense, because this summer was pretty much perfect weather for a huge hay crop - lots of rain in the spring, then dry weather for growing, cutting, drying and baling. Local farmers are advertising decent hay all over craigslist and other outlets - but never less than $300/ton, and board prices are still through the roof.
In 2015 I was paying $625 to board my two horses. Every year it's increased, and now I'm paying $1120, plus extra surcharges and less amenities - more grain I have to buy myself that used to be provided, more horses crammed on the property so my horses' turnout areas are smaller. That's almost double in 7 years - way more than the 10% inflation the news outlets are claiming.
Leaving alone board prices and hay prices, just looking at the prices to buy horses... I really don't understand.

A bit of history, which I'm sure most of you remember:
Back in 2008, we had a financial crisis, and it was tragically harmful for many horses but the results were somewhat predictable. Gas prices increased, so of course hay prices and general living prices increased, since transportation is a big part of the cost of things we all need like food, hay and grain. Increased transportation costs led many companies to tighten up on labor and lay off people tp reduce costs, at the same time as everybody's property lost value, also the same time as people who had scamming, predatory home loans were due for big balloon payments. Which led to a domino effect of upside-down mortgages, job losses and foreclosures. Too many horse owners who used to be casual breeders and make a few bucks or at least pay the mortgage on their 20 acres by raising and selling decent youngsters, couldn't do it any more. Some lost their property, some got overwhelmed with extra hours at minimum-wage jobs and no time or money to geld or train the colts. running around their soon-to-be-foreclosed property.
If you were around to see the auctions then, it was tragic. Good horses, who used to be the best friend of someone, sold for $50 and shipped on a several-day trip with no food or water to Mexico, to be slaughtered for dog food. Even worse, if that's possible, horses were left on abandoned, foreclosed properties with no food or water and many died.
Back then, all the rescue organizations were full. Anybody capable of affording a horse and taking care of it, getting farrier, vat care and training, could adopt a best friend for minimal cost.

Horse world is a crazy place.

It makes no sense to me that in my area, in spite of the fact that hay prices and board prices are killer, the price to buy a horse keeps going up and up, Any horse or pony that looks cute and is sound enough to jump a log, is advertised as "potential child's hunter" for 5 figures, even if it's done nothing but be led to and from its barn while being grey, pretty, Welsh-Araby-looking or having white socks.
We have so many local OTTBs sold directly from the track, with no opportunity to ride them unless the buyer has a track license, and even those can't be touched for less than 5000, unless they need injury rehab.
Even just a nice horse who's over 20, has enough training to pack around a kid on the trails, and is serviceably sound, will go for over 5000.
It totally kills me that in other parts of the country, nice horses who are just as good as the ones I've described but are skinny or young and untrained, end up at a killer auction.
Crazy place, no doubt.

 

[casportpony]

I just did....

 

[Silkie Princess]

That feeling when you find a picture of someone riding in your tack

 

[CatLoverLu]

That feeling when you find a picture of someone riding in your tack

Jealousy?

 

[Silkie Princess]

Jealousy?

Lol no.
I just found a pic on FB of a girl riding in my tack (tack that I purchased). It’s an old picture so no worries. I just found it funny

 

[TJAnonymous]

No Way! My current gelding is super smart, but definitely has opinions of his own. He's more of a drama queen than any mare I've ever had! It made him good at Eventing though, because he was confident enough to make good decisions and get us out of a tight spot if I made a mistake. He was a challenge to start though, and it took us longer than usual to do well at Dressage. He's calmed down a lot now that he's 28, but still very opinionated and likes things to be a certain way.
I also had his full brother (2 yrs younger) who was the exact opposite - just the sweetest guy in every way, super easy to start, wanted to do whatever you asked - I could even put non-horsey friends on him when he was still fairly green and he would pack them down the trail. I sold him to a talented teenager who took him up to quite a high level in Dressage.
I also had the sire of both these guys, a Trakehner stallion who was trained to 4th-level Dressage. He was more like the younger brother, really sweet and well-behaved. He was like a big teddy bear!
Partly his nice temperament, but he was very well-trained before I had him - they told me he was taught to understand, leading him with a chain over the nose means breeding time, but a regular halter or bridle means ignore the mares. I could ride him with mares around, and he would just concentrate on his work. The only stallion-ish thing he would do, was show off when I turned him out to his paddock. His was at the end, past all the mares, so he would arch his neck, flag his tail, and do a piaffe-like trot while eyeing all the mares in their paddocks, snorting and tossing his mane, and the mares would come up to their gates to watch him and call to him.
He was so nice that I could even turn him out with his younger son, even before the youngster was gelded, and they would just graze together like best buds. I only did this when there were no mares around, though. He passed away at age 26 - we had to say goodbye after his liver cancer progressed to the point where he couldn't keep weight on in spite of all the special mashes and supplements we fed him. I miss that guy so much - he taught me a ton.
I totally agree with "mares = GREAT!" Mares have a certain instinct for self-preservation, more than geldings and stallions, at least in my experience. Every mare I've ridden has been ready and willing to try hard and go along with what I want, until they decide it's a bad idea. And they're often right!

TLDR! Just from my own experiences: mares, geldings and stallions definitely each have tendencies, but they're all individuals, and their training makes a big difference.

Yes! Schleise horses too, and other Schleise farm animals! I collected them when I was a kid, way back in the days when dinosaurs ruled the planet.
My precious Breyers were carefully displayed on my bookshelves, but Schleise were my favorites because they were tiny but still really detailed and accurate. I made different configurations of little farms and cross-country courses all over my bedroom floor, out of houses, barns and fences cut from cardboard shoe boxes.
Unfortunately, when I went off to college, my Mom got rid of them. All my favorite horse books, too! I'm pretty sure she gave them to a younger horse girl, the daughter of one of her friends so they didn't go to waste at least, but still, GRRR!
They would all be valuable now, most of them considered rare and vintage! And what made me angriest was, I'd paid for them all myself! Every week I'd go to the store that sold them, scrape together whatever few dollars and cents I'd earned that week from weeding the neighbors' yard or bathing their dogs, buy the horse model I'd been coveting all week, and plan out how I would earn enough next week, to buy the cart that went with today's draft horse.
Aargh! Learn from my mistake - before you move out, put all your models in a box, tape it up securely, and stow it somewhere safe.

Those are phenomenal! Especially love the black pony stallion with his mane all askew.

My current oldie is 28, but a few years ago there was a 42 year old horse in my barn. Still healthy and rideable (lightly) too!

Interesting to see the prices of horses in other parts of the country. The horse economy seems to make no sense right now. The price of hay is through the roof, but horse prices are, too.

Oh, poor Emmy! At least she looks like she's tolerating her stall rest fairly well, what a good girl. Please give her a carrot from me.

What a great service these young women are providing, not only to the OTTBs but to potential new owners and the horse industry as a whole!
I'm curious how they work this - do the charities rescue TBs from the track/auctions/animal-control situations and pass likely candidates on to your daughter's business to retrain and restart and make them suitable for new homes, and then screen adopters?
Or does your daughter have contacts at the track who point them to OTTBs with potential for new careers, they retrain them, and then list them for sale or adoption through the charities? Or is it a combination of both?
Not that either scenario is better than the other as long as the horses end up in a good place - I'm just curious about what currently works better in your part of the country.

I'm trying to make sense of the horse economy (and the economy in general) and I just can't! In my area, $1500-2500 could not even touch a sound, ridable horse under 25. Even though hay prices are through the roof! Which also makes no sense, because this summer was pretty much perfect weather for a huge hay crop - lots of rain in the spring, then dry weather for growing, cutting, drying and baling. Local farmers are advertising decent hay all over craigslist and other outlets - but never less than $300/ton, and board prices are still through the roof.
In 2015 I was paying $625 to board my two horses. Every year it's increased, and now I'm paying $1120, plus extra surcharges and less amenities - more grain I have to buy myself that used to be provided, more horses crammed on the property so my horses' turnout areas are smaller. That's almost double in 7 years - way more than the 10% inflation the news outlets are claiming.
Leaving alone board prices and hay prices, just looking at the prices to buy horses... I really don't understand.

A bit of history, which I'm sure most of you remember:
Back in 2008, we had a financial crisis, and it was tragically harmful for many horses but the results were somewhat predictable. Gas prices increased, so of course hay prices and general living prices increased, since transportation is a big part of the cost of things we all need like food, hay and grain. Increased transportation costs led many companies to tighten up on labor and lay off people tp reduce costs, at the same time as everybody's property lost value, also the same time as people who had scamming, predatory home loans were due for big balloon payments. Which led to a domino effect of upside-down mortgages, job losses and foreclosures. Too many horse owners who used to be casual breeders and make a few bucks or at least pay the mortgage on their 20 acres by raising and selling decent youngsters, couldn't do it any more. Some lost their property, some got overwhelmed with extra hours at minimum-wage jobs and no time or money to geld or train the colts. running around their soon-to-be-foreclosed property.
If you were around to see the auctions then, it was tragic. Good horses, who used to be the best friend of someone, sold for $50 and shipped on a several-day trip with no food or water to Mexico, to be slaughtered for dog food. Even worse, if that's possible, horses were left on abandoned, foreclosed properties with no food or water and many died.
Back then, all the rescue organizations were full. Anybody capable of affording a horse and taking care of it, getting farrier, vat care and training, could adopt a best friend for minimal cost.


It makes no sense to me that in my area, in spite of the fact that hay prices and board prices are killer, the price to buy a horse keeps going up and up, Any horse or pony that looks cute and is sound enough to jump a log, is advertised as "potential child's hunter" for 5 figures, even if it's done nothing but be led to and from its barn while being grey, pretty, Welsh-Araby-looking or having white socks.
We have so many local OTTBs sold directly from the track, with no opportunity to ride them unless the buyer has a track license, and even those can't be touched for less than 5000, unless they need injury rehab.
Even just a nice horse who's over 20, has enough training to pack around a kid on the trails, and is serviceably sound, will go for over 5000.
It totally kills me that in other parts of the country, nice horses who are just as good as the ones I've described but are skinny or young and untrained, end up at a killer auction.
Crazy place, no doubt.

Emmy escaped her stall last night so I think she's definitely no longer a fan of stall rest.... We were letting her out at night but her leg seemed to get worse so she's back on complete stall rest again. Poor girl.... I can only imagine how boring it is. I've put stuff in her stall to help, but she's not interested. I keep the radio playing all day and I put hay in Dapples (her pasture buddy) stall in an effort to give her some incentive to keep Emmy company.

As for the girls & their training business, I don't have all the details but I think the charities hire them to do the training. I know there are some pretty detailed contracts in place about responsibilities, animal care, etc.... The charities take responsibility to ensure the horses don't have any serious/hidden injuries that might preclude them from their new jobs, usually western & english type disciplines. I believe the charities also deal directly with the new buyers/adopters. This has all been a learning experience for the girls.

They were buying horses themselves directly (and still do) which burned them a couple of times when they got horses that had injuries (either physical or mental) which would prevent them from either being candidates for new purposes. I think they've had one or two horses which they gave back for being psycho dangerous. I'm not sure where they get the listing of what horses are available but they have picked up some pretty amazing finds. I've heard them mention buying horses for $3k-$5k and selling them for $8k - $10k. They work with the horses anywhere from 1 to 3 or 4 months before selling so you have to deduct operational expenses, but they seem to be making a profit.

 

[ButtonHoarder]

Interesting to see the prices of horses in other parts of the country. The horse economy seems to make no sense right now. The price of hay is through the roof, but horse prices are, too

I know. I just bought 800$ worth of hay, and I’m going to need a lot more.

 

[ShrekDawg]

I wish I could have a horse