Thrifty Horse Keeping - All Comments

re: Selling and Sharing

H. — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:00:20 GMT

What I have done, for a limited number of friends, is make a page on my website for their horse. I post numerous pictures, sometimes I make a gif (animated picture) of their horse going over a jump, give loads of information and the contact information of the person selling. Then my friends can pay less for an ad by either putting the webpage location in the ad or asking interested parties to call for the webpage location/information.

Here is an example:

www.hollyhuxford.com/keegansakeeper1.htm

(I edited out my friend's contact information.)

It's worked for several friends so far!

re: Selling and Sharing

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:48:46 GMT

I purchased a horse a little over a year ago after the market had started its slide. I had watched the ads for a year before and I still watch them. I am astonished at some of these would-be sellers. Things like: 1. No photos, bad photos, or making it difficult to get photos (having to go through complicated websites and links, sometimes not working), 2. Failure to explain the extent of the training (I had to ask in nearly every inquiry) 3. Prices far above the current market value for that type of horse and level of training, 4. Comments that are offensive to potential buyers, 5. Misrepresenting the horse so that when you arrive and look at it it's a totally different animal from what you were expecting (and completely unsuitable).

One particular seller stood out. She described her horse in a way that made it seem very suitable for me, but when I arrived for a test ride, I got a different story. The horse was timid, and no stranger (including the vet) could get within 10 feet of it. How was anyone going to test ride this horse being sold as a riding horse? How was it going to be vetted? How was it going to be transported in a trailer? Due to rain, the footing was bad, and the owner was nervous about showing her jumpy horse. After I had driven 600 miles to see this horse (and paid for gas and hotel), she said I was "not serious" about buying! This horse was also priced about 4x its market value for what it really was--a candidate for extensive retraining with no guarantees of a usable result. As a final touch, she was selling as a potential show horse an animal she had not bothered to register. So the buyer has to take on the additional expense and risk of not being able to transfer the registration. Needless to say, this horse has not been sold.

re: What is Your Board Worth

Ellen — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:59:12 GMT

Where is it that most of you reside. I live in Riverhead on Long Island. Boarding ranges from 500.00 and up per month?????

re: Farm Equipment: Buy or Lease?

john — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:09:40 GMT

I just found some great tips here.. wow, I'm amazed. I could use these info with my <a href="http://www.starlineforklifts.com.au">used forklifts </a> site.

re: What is Your Board Worth

Martha — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:52:55 GMT

Approximately 25 years ago when we first got into horses we rented a barn and pasture within 3 miles of our home. We did all of the work ourselves and were at the barn every day. When the barn owner decided to move another renter in who knew NOTHING about horses and their care and their horses were causing injuries to ours we moved to a boarding facility where we were still with in 3-4 miles from our home and we still provided all our own bedding feed and care and paid a minimal fee for having stalls. I would never have trusted those folks with the care of my horses. After several safety issues came up (finding manure forks the metal kind in my stalls, a long yearling that "accidentally" ran into a barbed wire fence, there were dirt bikes "hidden" when we arrived to take care of the injury. and arriving back from a horse show at about 10 11 pm and finding one of my horses tied to a mail box at the end of the driveway along side a busy road") we chose to move to another barn. That barn was 45 mins from my home and we no longer did everything but were able to pick up barn chores to help defray the cost (I had 6 horses there in the end). I eventually sold off my broodmares and babies for a show horse which I then kept with a trainer for several years. Often buying green/unbroke then getting them broke reselling and buy "up". After a few years I got married and moved to Florida and could no longer afford to keep horses. When my husband passed away 8 years ago I got back into the horses again. I did the green/unbroke trainer/sell buy up thing for a few years but then I really couldn't afford to keep a horse 24/7 with a trainer and I had a niece that had CP (very mild)was in a riding for the handicapped program and felt I could buy a safe well broke horse we could share and I could maintain and open a spot for a more needy person in the program. Because I know have to have a real job and don't have my own farm I need a full board facility. I like to show so a facility with an indoor arean is a plus for me. 4 years ago when I bought my mare I had friends I know from showing that had a facility with in 7 miles of my house and the board was pretty reasonable. They did have an outdoor arean but not an indoor and there was turn out but no pasture. I was able to pick up barn chorse and allow by mare used in the lesson program to defray costs. I was there for about 2.5 years. Ultimately I was not happy. The turn our was far too muddy and my mare was often coming in sore or ooutright lame. There were so many lessons there was never time for the boarder to use the arena or you had to do your riding during lessons so had to give tot he lesson folks. I was fortunate in that the barn owner did really care for my horse so she RARELY was used in lessons but I saw other boarders that had to work their horse time around lessons because there horses were ALWAYS in lessons. And drama. The drama was unbelievable! I finally got tired of not being fairly reimbursed for my time in barn chores, $6.50 each time I fed which included turnout/in or both feeding and cleaning stalls for 20+ horses and everything so i moved. The new barn is A complete 180 from the last place and the board was only $100 more than what I would have paid without chores at the previous one. The boarders as consulted if changes are going to be made. There is an indoor arean, 2 out door areana, a covered round pen, bathroom facilities and a heated/air conditioned office/lounge, indoor wash rack with hot/cold water full time barn staff NO drama, hardly anyone to compete for use of the facilities, 100 acres of cross fenced pasture that is rotated, horses are turned out in small groups, miles of trails, barn organized activities, a drill team for the kids in the winter that then gives performances for the boarders, friends & family, a trainer (if needed and is extra) and so on and so forth. The only down side is they are 45 mins from my house. I still go out nearly daily and they have recently allowed boarders to pick up some chores for a FAIR reimbursement. I LOVE it there! I'm breeding my mare in the spring and they even are knowledgable in foaling and we have good vets available. It's a show barn but their motto is "where a horse can be a horse and clients are family". They live up to it. All the horses even the "show" horses are turned out and even used for trail riding and the clients ARE treated like family!! Now that I've rambled I think the bottom line is I now look sfor safe knowledgable owners/staff, facilities, value then proximity to me in that order.