The Novice Horseman

Have you done your homework?  Have you figured out your budget?  I truly hope you didn’t skip that assignment.  You are finding out that even if you have your own place, owning a horse is NOT CHEAP!  It’s better to find out the cost of horse ownership on the front end of this process.  You don’t want to find out in a couple of months that you have to sell your dream horse because you under estimated the cost of upkeep.  It is far more important for you to make your mortgage payment and feed your family. 

If you’ve found that your finances are in order and you can afford the maintenance of a horse, you are going to ask what horse is best for me?  For a novice owner, there are sooo many choices.  There are also some that you should steer away from for now.  I’m going to break this down into several posts.  This way I don’t have to try to condense the information too much.

In my Jan 9 2008 post, I suggested a mature horse.  By this I mean a horse that is an 8-15 year old, I would even go as far as a 20 year old for the right horse.  Why?  Because these guys have been around a bit.  They probably have years of training/riding and unless they are the nervous type, they are well out of that fidgety young horse mentality.  Beside this, there are a few other manners that they probably have learned with age.  They should have good ground manners, they have probably learned not to lean on the farrier, and they shouldn’t try to hurt the vet at shot time.  If the horse has been shown or was a ranch horse, it will probably load in a trailer easily.  I absolutely can’t emphasize enough just how much that is worth.

You want to find a horse that has a kind soft eye, not one that only shows the whites and has that wild scared look all of time.  You want a horse that stands quietly no matter if it is tied to a fence, on crossties or tied to your trailer.  You want a horse that respects you, your space and your authority.  You don’t need a horse that strikes at you, tries to walk over you, or challenges your leadership.  You want a horse that is reasonably trained.  While it doesn’t have to be a "push button" horse, it should be a well broke horse.  You want a horse that is healthy in both body & mind.  You and the horse should have mutual trust for each.  Without trust, you will never develop a rewarding relationship, you will never become a team.

Where do you find a horse like this?  Like in the post mentioned above, your riding instructor may know of a prospect.  Try your horse friends.  They may know a youth or amateur who has outgrown their current horse and is looking for more of a challenge.  Horse shows, especially the big breed shows, always have horses for sale.  Use caution here though.  You may find a good prospect.  But if the owner is from out of town, they may want to sell while at the show.  This could make it more difficult to test ride the horse a couple of times.  It would also make it very hard to get a pre-purchase exam (I’ll discuss this more later).  Working ranches will also have dispersal sales.  This would be a good place to pick a nice ranch horse.  This is also an instance where you need to be careful and taking a knowledgeable horse person with you would be best.  They could help steer you away from a horse that may not be right for you.  There are the classified ads in both the paper and on the internet.  And finally, there are the bulletin boards at feed stores, tack stores and livestock sales.

Remember what I said about being in too much of a hurry.  You don’t want your dream horse to turn out to be your worst nightmare.

You’re so excitied. You’ve scrimped and saved until you finally have enough money for the purchase price for your new horse. Congratulations should be in order. But wait!! Have you thoroughly researched the cost of keeping a horse? If you haven’t, you’ve missed a VERY important step. Relatively speaking, buying the horse probably is the least expensive part of horse ownership.

Let’s start at the begining. You have a lot of homework to do. The first step is look at your monthly expenses. I don’t want to discourage anyone, but you have to be brutally honest here. Sit down & figure out what you have as far as expenses. This includes utility bills, insurance, daycare, car payments, food and any other type of expense that applies to you. If you are only living paycheck to paycheck, you can’t afford a horse. If you only have a little left over at the end of each month for a few extras, you can’t afford a horse. If you don’t have enough left over at the end of each month to cover one of those life’s gotchas, you can’t afford a horse.

Now here is your homework. You have to research costs for each of these, because prices vary in every part of the country. Have you found a stable? Are you going to do self service or full board? Are you bringing the horse back to your own property? Have you found a hay supplier? Which feed is right and where is the feed store? Have you decided on a vet, found a farrier or trainer? These are just a few fundamentals for horse ownership and if you don’t have an answer for even one of them, you are not ready to buy.

As a novice horse owner, it is your responsibility to make yourself as edcuated as possible. As a horse owner, it is your responsibility to make sure the horse is cared for properly. Doing your research on the costs of keeping a horse is the first step in making sure it is healthy and happy.