Anyone out there own a horse???

Chas

Jay-Jay wrote:

OOh you've just reminded me to get our dentist out (though he's £40 per horse :eek: ) One of ours is taking twice as long to eat his dinner.

We decided tonight to have our Sec D's foot XRayed and as he has exemptions on his insurance it will have to be paid for.

Ho hum.. the words 'money' and 'pit' come to mind.... :rolleyes:


*Chas, sorry to hear about the theft - are you down south by any chance? I hear that there are a lot of dodgy goings on around Berkshire at the moment with rugs being stolen from off horses backs during these burglaries. You can't sleep easy in your bed at night can you? *

We are near Cambridge & there are a lot of people who live in caravans (am I allowed to say that?) if you get my drift.

Fingers crossed, we haven't been targetted for over a year now, but when it happened three times in quick succession we realised exactly how Tony Martin must have felt when he shot a burglar (who also happened to live in a caravan).

bj-sailaway

How about going to a charity for a long term loan? This seems a really good idea, bearing in mind how long horses live, and that they will have had good training and a full vet report etc., and the back-up of good health advice. I know 2 people at our yard who've done this and it works well, if you outgrow the horse, they can find it a new home, and you can foster another one!

Dazzieboo

Redwings are currently loaning out horses and Ponies to approved homes. It is something they have only recently started doing, but with the amount of foals being born to rescued Mums, there is becoming an increasing amount of equines in rescue centres which really don't need to be there. Also try the ILPH. Both tend to loan out this time of year only, to ensure stabling as well as grazing will be available.

Jay-Jay_4

Aha, showing :rolleyes: local shows aren't so bad at £3.50 per class but then there's no point going for one class so you enter a few. Then you need to be a member to get the reduced rates and to qualify for the champs.... and so your fees are more like £20 for the day... and petrol... and as thule says the picnics and flasks. Factor in the cost of a decent jacket (I paid £70 second hand for a kids tweed) show jods, show boots, show hat (blue velvet with flesh harness) shirt, tie and gloves... all of which need to be of a specific type for each class :rolleyes: then of course may have seperate tack for shows, numnah, girth, bits....It just doesn't stop.

There are ways of doing it cheaper of course, ebay has really saved me megabucks as has learning how to transform a school shirt and beige jods into canary shirt and canary jods with a packet of Smartprice dusters on a 60 degree wash (you HAVE to try this!!!)

Also our local tack shop has a second hand section which sometimes has some brilliant bits and bobs without the hassle of bidding against someone on ebay. Lots of smaller tack shops do this so it's worthwhile rooting about. I'm just off to my tack shop to flog a saddle, bridle, umpteen sets of reins, numnah and a bag of bits. They do charge 10% for this but again, less hassle if you're not sure about using ebay and don't want the bother of buyers.

Chas wrote:

We are near Cambridge & there are a lot of people who live in caravans (am I allowed to say that?) if you get my drift.

Fingers crossed, we haven't been targetted for over a year now, but when it happened three times in quick succession we realised exactly how Tony Martin must have felt when he shot a burglar (who also happened to live in a caravan).

It's dodgy ground, I'm not suggesting that anyone who lives in a caravan is of ill repute but there were some caravan dwellers driving a transit up our lane and taking a particular interest in our feed bins and rugs which are visible from the road. One of ours in an appaloosa and we kept an extra special eye on him and our fencing for the following few weeks.


Sophiesmum, you've brought all of us horsey types together so thanks for that and sorry for hijacking a bit there

Jay-Jay_4

Found a 14.2hh gelding for loan nr Bury (advert in local tack shop), wrote down the details but must've dropped the bit of paper :rolleyes2 There was a 15hh steel grey cob gelding for sale too and I can't remember which details belonged to which . I think the 14.2 was 9 yrs old and it was a 2 year loan.

I don't know whether 14.2 would be too small for your daughter, it would depend what breed it was. I could get the details again if it's of any interest.

iwanttosave_2

How much are loans nowerdays? I remember loaning a welsh B when I was young and it cost £19 a week (she stayed on her own site)

Jay-Jay_4

I suppose it would depend whether you were going to keep it on the same yard and how much the livery was. I almost got a pony on loan for my daughter and the deal was that we would take it away and pay for its upkeep entirely. A bit like selling it but they would legally still own it without having to pay for it or look after it.

A full loan is as close to owning as you can get without actually having paid out for the horse in the first place. I would expect the loanee to pay for all costs inc insurance, jabs etc.

iwanttosave_2

Ekk you got back to me before I could, I was having a blonde moment

I bet not many other than riding schools do part time loans anymore.

There is a job going in my local(ish) riding school as a groom, I was so going to go for it until I realised where it was at

Jayjay, you rent your land dont you? Just basic set if if I remember correctly.

Jay-Jay_4

Yep, a rented field with no running water, light or leccy. Makes winter interesting

It's a cheap way of doing things if you can get land, build a shelter, build somewhere to keep hay/straw, take all your tack home, fence it yourself, take 10 gallon drums of water when it hasn't rained for a few days, take headtorches in winter, deal with mud-mud-mud etc ...:D

I love having our own place but what I wouldn't give for a floodlit sandschool.....

iwanttosave_2

Someone at the front of us has made their own set up (next to elton res) looks really good what they have made of it, its something similar to what I would like to do myself. On a good day you can smell the muck heap, I love that smell on a cold morning

We were thinking (eventually) I would get my seccy D and then get a small plod to keep it company and also something for the kids to learn on. I think before that, I would like to get a part loan, just to get myself into the swing of things :rolleyes:

Oh well, off to school I toddle