Liz has detailed her true cost in time and money of horse ownership. I, too, received my horse for free. However, in as close to detail as I can remember, here is what I have spent on my "free" horse.
Hotel for travel to see him and to retrieve him: $260
Gas for two trips to Texas: $420
Board for 8 months at Christensens: $3500
Board for 19 months at TMR: $11,500
Lessons: $600
Colic Intervention: $700
Stitches: $60
Vaccines: $450
Dex/Bute/Banamine: $300
Chiro/Teeth: $625
Supplements: $800
Tack: $6000
Truck: $50,000
Trailer: $7500
Farrier: $700
To date, my free horse has cost 83k.
Yearly costs going forward:
Board: $7320
Smartpak: $600
TC Omega Max: $104
Equipride: $130
Vet/Vaccines: $180
Chiro/Teeth: $250
Farrier: $300
Yearly costs: $9k
And that's if I don't purchase any tack.
Time commitment:
Estimated: @ 1700 hours
Since then I spend five days a week at the barn consistently. Weeknights are about 3 hours. Weekends can be anywhere from 3 to 7 hours. Riding and spending time with him consistently is some thing I treat like a second job. If I'm not working and riding him he will not get better.
Estimated: @ 20 hours a week/52 wks year = 1040 hours
That's on top of a full time job.
It's no wonder I only sleep about six hours a night and our credit card bills are not paid off.
But how could anyone say no to this face?
Oh my gosh I could totally not say no to that face!!!! I really like how you laid out how much your "free" horse cost because that's one of my big pet peeves is people getting free horses because they can't afford to buy one and then not taking care of it because they never realized that free horses are just as expensive as ones you buy!!
ReplyDeleteI think if I went back to see how much Chrome as cost me since the day I brought him home I might have a heart attack.... I might have to try it though. :)
Wow I just figured out what my yearly cost is and it's basically the same as yours minus the board! So glad I keep mine at home lol. Now to find all of my vet receipts to see how much he has cost me total in the last five years. That is the one that will probably give me a heart attack!
DeleteYeah, I can't bring myself to even look at what the yearly estimate I spend on the horse habit is. But, those faces are seriously more addicting than any drug and probably twice as expensive!
ReplyDeleteWe quit adding it up pretty early - too scary. Now we'd have to add the cost of a ranch. My head hurts.
ReplyDeleteThat comment made me laugh out loud.
DeleteDude. 3 hours on week nights?! You ARE superhuman.
ReplyDelete2 and a half to three, most of the time. One of those nights is usually Friday, though.
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