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Idunno whether you know this already, but horses need really good hay (absolutely no mold or dust, not weedy, and not cut when overmature) - and if you are already set up to produce good horse hay (with seeded hayfields, tractor and implements etc) then it is still costing you what you could have gotten by selling that hay to someone else - especially in a bad hay year like this!
Beyond that, those "small amounts at different times" add up fast. As do the once-every-nce-in-a-while Big Surprises, like a $500 injury that needs suturing or colic call, or $2000 worth of choke and pneumonia. Put money in a cookie jar as if you had a horse and were spending it on upkeep, and soon you will have money enough to buy one
But my main point is that the reason there aren't enough homes for surplus horses IN GENERAL is that there are too few people who can/will afford the upkeep, even if the horse itself comes free.
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Oh no oh no oh no...
Racehorses may be 'pampered' in the sense of getting expensive feed and expensive pharmaceuticals and not enough turnout, but none of these things prepares them well for civilian life! Racehorses typically are very young, very silly (think 'hand grenade with wiggly loose pin'), very very energetic, and frankly (most of them) almost entirely ignorant about the niceties of horse-human interaction. Some have had "do not squish the person at the other end of the leadrope" beaten into their heads, but that is often about the scope of it. If you don't know how things like hoof handling and grooming are done at the track, you will have to re-teach them that as well.
And being "mild mannered" is SO not what wins races. Your typical racehorse is bred for maximal silliness and energy, and these things are encouraged in training and at the track, as long as the seasoned professionals there can still handle the horse without getting killed. (Off the track Standardbreds - harness horses, that is - are somewhat less silly with better ground manners, tho still racehorses).
Of course there are SOME Thoroughbreds who can step right out of a race barn and take you out safely for a day's hunting the next weekend with nary a blip. But they are very much the exception. I =love= off the track Thoroughbreds, and prefer working with them to practically any other breed... however, the vast majority are REALLY REALLY not for the inexperienced. By inexperienced I mean 'have not worked with young energetic goofy horses under professional supervision before".
However, why get stuck on Thoroughbreds? There are gazillions of other equally deserving horses out there who are literally dying to find good homes, and if you can genuinely afford to keep a horse (or two - they're as much herd creatures as chickens are, would you keep a lone chicken? no)... look up horse rescue organizations in your area. For $200 you are not likely to get a *rideable* horse unless you know the right people and are lucky (and have a knowledgeable horse person come along to make sure the horse is appropriate for you)... but you can get a young or middle-aged (therefore, no ultra-high feed/vet bills for now) unrideable but calm and mannerly horse or horses. They're nice just to hang around with even if you aren't riding them, and BOY are there a lot of good solid 'surplus' horses out there who sure deserve a good home.
Best wishes,
Pat
