I can't believe how much the prices of everything to do with horses have increased! The past 5 years hay has doubled in price, so of course the feed stores have followed suit for grain, tack, supplements, even salt blocks!
The last time this happened was 2008 when the land value bubble popped, feed prices increased because of fuel costs, people were getting foreclosed, they could no longer afford their horses, so good horses were going for a fraction of what they were worth. You could pick up good horses for pennies.
I don't understand why, with land prices and rents out of control today, people are selling their elderly horses, untrained colts or Mustangs, ex-racehorses with behavior quirks, horses with unsoundness that can be managed but only for trails or light riding, for never less than $5000. A horse with potential to be competitive is never less than $10,000 - $15,000, and a horse trained in whatever discipline, even a middle-aged one moving down to a kid's schoolmaster level from a professional level is like $30,000 - $50,000.
Maybe the people in 2008 who owned a lot of land and just let colts and mares breed indiscriminately no longer own land? So there's no longer a glut of youngsters?
But it seems like just as many horses are getting auctioned off to the slaughter buyers, so I don't get what is happening with the horse economy or why.
The one thing I do know, is middle-income people are getting forced out of horse ownership.
That's a good series, my 87-year-old Mom is a fan.
