Horse Notes From Southern California
Yesterday, I wrote about the "mental vitamin C" that comes from experiencing contrast. Today, I'll do some elaborating, based on my just-concluded trip to southern California on behalf of Horse&Rider. The "my world" relates to life in rural north Idaho.
BOARDING COSTS
Their world: $450/month and up.
My world: $250-$300/month.
FUEL:
Their world: $4.58/gallon for regular unleaded.
My world: $4.16/gallon for regular unleaded.
MANURE REMOVAL:
Their world: Placed in Dumpster, fee paid to haul it off. Can't be spread on barn owner property.
My world: Composted and recycled on our land as fertilizer.
BOARD + TRAINING:
Their world: $1,000 and up, up, up.
My world: $600.
HORSEKEEPING
Their world: High horse density in areas where zoning permits; a horse is lucky to have a 12x24 space to live in.
My world: Most horses live in pastures on ample acreage.
LABORERS
Their world: Largely Hispanic; Spanish-English dictionaries kept in barns.
My world: DIY (or hound the kids to do it).
Care to add your own comparative notes, based on where you live?
posted by Juli Thorson @ 12:33 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Wow, I think I want to relocate to your part of the world (LOL!) Hubby manages a ranch between San Jose and Salinas, so I guess we’re considered Bay Area…
Anyone who has Air Conditioning is already one up on me. While we do get the ocean breeze, our normally nice temps can hit 100+ a few times during the summer.
Boarding costs: I actually did that for a bit this spring. We had a bout with Fiddle Neck, and I went into panic mode and moved the horses out of the way until we got it under control. I PROBABLY could have found cheaper board, but I’m one of those annoying, finicky mommies who insisted on pasture in addition to stall at a nice facility…$650/mo.
Fuel Costs: Hubby’s Chevy one ton gets the stinker award with diesel @ $4.99/gal. My unleaded bounces around the $4.60 range.
Manure: I just harrow the pasture on a daily basis, although I do try to keep a medium sized compost pile out behind my chicken house. You can’t beat horse manure as rose food, and the chickens are absolutely riveted on the pile.
Board + Training: There is a world champion trainer close by (who shall not be named- I don’t want to have any unnecessary competition should I decide to take my horses to him.) While he does stay busy, he offered $750/mo for training & boarding (feed, shoeing , etc… can be added for an additional fee.)
Horse keeping: We’re still ironing that one out. 10,000 acre ranch, and I’m still rotating around trying to find ‘my’ space. I’m not the only occupant here. One tenant has more than a baker’s dozen of horses and hoards the barn and main pasture (they’re crammed high density), while two other tenants and myself try to share between two other pastures and a ‘working corral’ area (fairly low density.) So far, it’s worked alright, we just have to accommodate for issues such as not pasturing mares with geldings, keeping ‘kickers’ away from everyone else, and a protective new mommy who didn’t want anybody else near her foal.
Laborers: DIY. I dream of someday hounding my kids into it…right after I teach them to flush a toilet or take their dishes to the sink.
Board: $90 (very rare, but available for pasture only). There are many places that charge $150+ I personally pay $120/horse a month. This includes 24/7 turnout in pastures (corrals for winter). There is parking for my trailer, an outdoor arena, tack room and barn with box stalls. The barn is used mostly for tacking/grooming/farrier/vet. Horses are only stalled when neccessary (ie sick/injured)
Fuel: I just topped up my "horse truck" today. (2000 F250 Super Duty). $76.00 for half a tank :(
Fuel is at $1.35/litre. IF I've done all the conversions correctly that would be approx. $4.85/gallon US. (Gasoline, not diesel)
Board + Training: lowest I've seen that I would consider using is $500/month.
Manure: most people have a manure pile that sits until it composts and then is spread.
Horse keeping & labour: DIY. As I said above my horses are boarded where they are turned out 24/7. All the BO does is feed hay. Additional feeding, deworming, etc is done by me & hubby.
Mine would be pretty similar to yours as you know - although I would like to point out that many trainers in the Washington/Idaho area are more in the : $700 - 900 range.
Its the nice special trainers around here who can charge $600 a month and still make a living...and the good ones are few and far between...
We are very fortunate in that regards.
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