Very rarely do people talk about the actually cost of horse ownership (or animals in general). Actually I should rephrase that...it is talked about, but only to be stated that it is expensive. But so many times it is asked what a horse is worth...so what is that deciding factor. Well simply put a horse is worth what the owner claims it is and based on what the current market is. But that is ever changing there for a horses worth is forever changing. A $10,000 horse may only be worth $1,000 the next time it is put on the market depending on what it can do. And so often the care the horse receives is based off it's worth to the owner at the time.
I saw a picture the other day that said something to effect of: The value of a horse is decided on the whim of a person. That is so very true. I can't say that enough. All 5 of my horses are living proof of that. Race horses are living proof of that. A horse can be worth thousands one day and nothing a short amount of time later. So what is the true value or worth of any given horse, to me that is all decided by the owner. I can tell you my horses are worth way more to me than what I paid for them. So many people often decide how much they are willing to spend by how much the horse costs or it is sometimes judged by how much the horse can do for the owner.
My main riding horse Pixie was just diagnosed with acute laminitis. Actually she is now passed the acute part and on the the healing phase, however she will not see grass for the rest of summer. Regardless, for the last week she has been in a little dry lot run next to a horse that got a very bad case of laminitis this summer. The poor horse could barely stand to get into the trailer. Now a month or so out she is getting better and better daily. All thanks to the wonderful barn staff, not because of her owners. She is still in a safe location and the barn staff has done everything they can for her. She should be fine and recover, but not because of the owners. They did the bare minimum they could stating they couldn't afford more. That is not a valid reason! You own the animal you are obligated to get them what they need regardless. If you can't make that commitment then don't own an animal, plain and simple.
Many people ask me how I afford all my animals, and the answer is very very carefully. We are super cheap when it comes to things for ourselves, lol. I give up a lot to own my animals, but it is because I want to. I made that commitment to them when they came home with us. Like yesterday Pixie went to the vet to have x-rays and nerve blocks done so I can figure out a treatment plan for her. Is the 1st of the month a good time for me? No, no it is not since I also have to write a $930 check for board. However, I don't get to pick and choose when my animals get hurt and she needed to have this done. I just don't understand how there could be owners out there that don't feel they need to treat their sick/ hurting animal. I understand money isn't grown on trees, lol, I get that, but I also know that a living breathing animal that can hurt and feel pain as much as us is relying on us. If you don't want to spend the money, then don't buy an animal in the first place.
Here is the breakdown of cost to maintain my 5 horses:
What I paid for each one: Based on this alone my horses are not worth a lot to the average person.
Pixie- $500 adoption fee
Jess- $2800
Willow- $500
Navi- $150
Char- $0
Monthly costs to maintain them: Board, meds, etc...
Pixie- $175 (Board), $20( supplements starting soon,) $40+($80-120 every 8 weeks for special shoes)
Jess- $175 (Board), $80 (supplement), $30 (fee for daily feeding of supplements), $28.50 (shot for arthritis), $40 (shoes, its $80 every 8 weeks)
Willow- $175 (Board), $35 every other month for trims
Navi- $175 (Board), $35 every other month for trims, ? replacement fly masks when ever she loses them.
Char- $175 (Board), ?? trimming by farrier what ever he can do.
Total- Roughly $ 1,198.50 a month ( To be perfectly transparent here that is more than I make in two weeks) So don't tell me that you cannot afford proper care for your horse! Don't own them if you don't want to spend the money...plain and simple.
This does not include vet bills, those are just icing on the cake, lol.
That being said, I wouldn't have it any other way. My horses are my escape, my relief from the crazy world. I have them so I don't have to have a therapist :)
Saturday, July 2, 2016
Thursday, May 12, 2016
Success! Char did it :)
We finally were able to get Char's front feet trimmed by the farrier. It took me with treats, my partner and Jess (the horse) for emotional and well physical support too. OH and one patient farrier! We didn't even attempt the back as she still doesn't really like us holding them up for too long, but we got the fronts trimmed and filed :) She was nervous, but never blew up or got pushed past her threshold. When it was all done, she went back to letting us pick them up while she was loose in her pasture. I was proud of her, it has been a long process, one that is far from over, but we will gain some better ground now that I have a set schedule and we can dedicate one evening a week to her.
Sunday, May 8, 2016
School is out and only 1 job = Horse Time!
I am finally back to having some free time on my hands. Now what to do with myself that I am working a set schedule M- F job :)
Update on Navi and her driving training. She is doing great! She is long lining around the outdoor arena. Currently we are still focusing on verbal cues of walk, right,left, back and of course whoa. She is starting to get consistent unless of course we are battling the distraction of grass. She hasn't quite figured out that she actually has to work when the lines are attached. She is getting better day by day and we just avoid the sides of the arena where the grass is at, lol. Right now I am only training her two days a week. And soon I will be adding in a 3rd day, but I feel like that is good for her. She gets bored easily and does better if she has some time off in between. So far her leg has been holding up and she has been staying sound after the ground work. We officially passed the year mark of her cut and it has been decided she will never be sound for riding. Does it still make me sad, yes in a way it does. Especially when we hike and she will jump over or cross over any log I point her at. She doesn't spook when we flush birds and over all has a great time hiking on the trails. So while that makes me sad she won't ever be a trail horse, it proves to me how great of a driving horse she will be because of her laid back personality. Besides I wanted a horse I could take from the ground up and nothing quite like teaching something you haven't ever taught before. Right? lol. It is making me a better trainer in the end learning how to teach something new and do it without force or fear. I am using some pressure and release when it comes to steering. But she understands how to move with the halter/and or sidepull bridle so that isn't new to her. Plus there is clicking and treating at the slightest try after my verbal cue. All in all she is doing well and I am excited to take this journey with her. It will be a long twisting road, but one that should be exciting! Besides we aren't in a hurry anyways being that she just turned 5 last month.
Pixie and I continue to hit milestone after milestone. We cantered bridle-less for the 1st time in the outdoor arena this last week and yesterday we carried and drug a tarp around the outdoor arena while walking and trotting. She didn't even bat an eye to the tarp flying around her. Good Mare! I can't believe next month I will have owned Pixie for 6 years. Time does fly!
Update on Navi and her driving training. She is doing great! She is long lining around the outdoor arena. Currently we are still focusing on verbal cues of walk, right,left, back and of course whoa. She is starting to get consistent unless of course we are battling the distraction of grass. She hasn't quite figured out that she actually has to work when the lines are attached. She is getting better day by day and we just avoid the sides of the arena where the grass is at, lol. Right now I am only training her two days a week. And soon I will be adding in a 3rd day, but I feel like that is good for her. She gets bored easily and does better if she has some time off in between. So far her leg has been holding up and she has been staying sound after the ground work. We officially passed the year mark of her cut and it has been decided she will never be sound for riding. Does it still make me sad, yes in a way it does. Especially when we hike and she will jump over or cross over any log I point her at. She doesn't spook when we flush birds and over all has a great time hiking on the trails. So while that makes me sad she won't ever be a trail horse, it proves to me how great of a driving horse she will be because of her laid back personality. Besides I wanted a horse I could take from the ground up and nothing quite like teaching something you haven't ever taught before. Right? lol. It is making me a better trainer in the end learning how to teach something new and do it without force or fear. I am using some pressure and release when it comes to steering. But she understands how to move with the halter/and or sidepull bridle so that isn't new to her. Plus there is clicking and treating at the slightest try after my verbal cue. All in all she is doing well and I am excited to take this journey with her. It will be a long twisting road, but one that should be exciting! Besides we aren't in a hurry anyways being that she just turned 5 last month.
Pixie and I continue to hit milestone after milestone. We cantered bridle-less for the 1st time in the outdoor arena this last week and yesterday we carried and drug a tarp around the outdoor arena while walking and trotting. She didn't even bat an eye to the tarp flying around her. Good Mare! I can't believe next month I will have owned Pixie for 6 years. Time does fly!
Wednesday, April 20, 2016
Freedom and Finding Myself again.
In my last post I mentioned that I had a lot of changes on the work front and that is what this post is going to center around. However, I want to tie it into the horse world too...I chose the title Freedom because to me that is what I have gained, but I also understand more now why I was drawn to positive training instead of Negative Reinforcement with my horses.
Since 2004 I have been involved in the service industry for a big corporation. And when I burnt out of dog training, I moved on to grooming. Why? Well at first it was a money decision, but then I fell in love with dog grooming. I worked my way into management because I like managing also. And for years I was asked if I liked what I did. And for a long time the answer was yes, but then as time went I realized I wasn't enjoying it as much as I used too. It all really came down to numbers. And as one area would be going great something else always went south it seemed. As I would improve something, they would say that is good, but. It took me a long while to see the toll it was taking on me. Somewhere along the way I started to answer the question about if I loved my job with "well it allows me to have my horses, and other animals" That was my way of trying to convince myself that I stilled enjoyed what I did. But I was slowly losing myself as time went. I was becoming bitter in a lot of ways. I felt stuck. I try to be a very positive person, I love finding the joy in life. But I was finding myself complaining a lot and not liking the person I was becoming. And then one day last summer while on a conference call I was told from the higher ups that if I wanted to keep my job I wouldn't allow two people to take vacation at the same time during the summer. We had plenty of coverage and I knew how to run my schedule so we would be fine. I had already approved their vacation requests, so I got to be the wonderful person who went and told them someone couldn't go. That was the day I realized I could no longer work for the type of corporation that looked at their people as numbers and just that. They were telling me to choose between being a decent human being and keeping my job. It wasn't the 1st time my job was threaten over someone else. But it was the beginning of the end for me. It was then that I decided to change my future. I enrolled in school and decided to switch careers. A very hard decision for me as change scares me, but change doesn't scare quite as much as the person I was becoming. I lived my life stressed, but I never really knew how much until I was no longer in that position. Tomorrow I will go in and groom my last dog, one would think I would be sad, but I am not. I am not sad because my love of that career was ruined by never being told "Thank you" and always hearing about how we needed to work harder and take more dogs. I have now found out what it is like to live not stressed. I am finally finding myself again.
So how does this apply to horses, well simply put it proves the journey does matter not just the end result. I want to make sure my horses are thanked each and every time they come out to work with me. And if the only "reward" I use is removing a threat then that isn't much of a reward is it? Just as with my job my reward was keeping my job if my team performed to their (corporations) expectations. Frankly that wasn't a reward in my eyes that was a relief. Keep that in mind the next time you keep using pressure for your horse to perform and all you give them at the end is release of the pressure. Think about what motivates you to do better, threats or rewards? I can tell you I did improve under threats our team made our plans, kept us under budget, tried to make sure it was a safe salon, and overall grew the business, but I wouldn't have grown bitter if they hadn't threaten so much. When I gave my notice I was thanked for all my hard work, but by then it was too late. I had grown to hate it and no matter how many thanks they gave me at the end it wasn't going to make up for all the threats they doled out through-out the years. Lucky for us horses are more forgiving then humans and they will give us another chance to get it right.
Moving on and looking forward to a bright and happy (less stressful) future.
Since 2004 I have been involved in the service industry for a big corporation. And when I burnt out of dog training, I moved on to grooming. Why? Well at first it was a money decision, but then I fell in love with dog grooming. I worked my way into management because I like managing also. And for years I was asked if I liked what I did. And for a long time the answer was yes, but then as time went I realized I wasn't enjoying it as much as I used too. It all really came down to numbers. And as one area would be going great something else always went south it seemed. As I would improve something, they would say that is good, but. It took me a long while to see the toll it was taking on me. Somewhere along the way I started to answer the question about if I loved my job with "well it allows me to have my horses, and other animals" That was my way of trying to convince myself that I stilled enjoyed what I did. But I was slowly losing myself as time went. I was becoming bitter in a lot of ways. I felt stuck. I try to be a very positive person, I love finding the joy in life. But I was finding myself complaining a lot and not liking the person I was becoming. And then one day last summer while on a conference call I was told from the higher ups that if I wanted to keep my job I wouldn't allow two people to take vacation at the same time during the summer. We had plenty of coverage and I knew how to run my schedule so we would be fine. I had already approved their vacation requests, so I got to be the wonderful person who went and told them someone couldn't go. That was the day I realized I could no longer work for the type of corporation that looked at their people as numbers and just that. They were telling me to choose between being a decent human being and keeping my job. It wasn't the 1st time my job was threaten over someone else. But it was the beginning of the end for me. It was then that I decided to change my future. I enrolled in school and decided to switch careers. A very hard decision for me as change scares me, but change doesn't scare quite as much as the person I was becoming. I lived my life stressed, but I never really knew how much until I was no longer in that position. Tomorrow I will go in and groom my last dog, one would think I would be sad, but I am not. I am not sad because my love of that career was ruined by never being told "Thank you" and always hearing about how we needed to work harder and take more dogs. I have now found out what it is like to live not stressed. I am finally finding myself again.
So how does this apply to horses, well simply put it proves the journey does matter not just the end result. I want to make sure my horses are thanked each and every time they come out to work with me. And if the only "reward" I use is removing a threat then that isn't much of a reward is it? Just as with my job my reward was keeping my job if my team performed to their (corporations) expectations. Frankly that wasn't a reward in my eyes that was a relief. Keep that in mind the next time you keep using pressure for your horse to perform and all you give them at the end is release of the pressure. Think about what motivates you to do better, threats or rewards? I can tell you I did improve under threats our team made our plans, kept us under budget, tried to make sure it was a safe salon, and overall grew the business, but I wouldn't have grown bitter if they hadn't threaten so much. When I gave my notice I was thanked for all my hard work, but by then it was too late. I had grown to hate it and no matter how many thanks they gave me at the end it wasn't going to make up for all the threats they doled out through-out the years. Lucky for us horses are more forgiving then humans and they will give us another chance to get it right.
Moving on and looking forward to a bright and happy (less stressful) future.
Sunday, April 17, 2016
Catch up time again
Wow, 2016 is really flying by. Lots of changes for me, but not many on the horse front.
In the next few weeks I will be down to one job and no college for the summer. I will have so much time on my hands I won't know what to do,lol. Wait...yes, I will. Navi and I will hit the ground running with our driving training. We continue to pick at it slowly due to lack of time, but soon that won't be an issue. She is doing well and we had our 1st successful long lining lesson. Although it wasn't pretty (due to me and my clumsiness) she did great!
Pixie and I continue to just refine our work on the ground and undersaddle. We have been out on a few rides and she has been awesome. We got our new saddle and it seems to be working well for both of us :)
As far as changes for me, I am now working a Mon-Fri job and off by 4pm, so that leaves me with the ability to look into doing something I have always wanted to do, but haven't been able to due to an every changing schedule and having to be available to cover at work if something happened. I really want to look into doing some actual training/lessons for people. My new job will give me the ability to leave work at work and have a life outside of work :) And for that reason I am considering doing what I wanted to do last year and that was actually start training people and their horses. I have always believed that if you want change you have to be the change. So I decided last year I wanted to help people gain the confidence and knowledge they needed to train their horses, but work never really allowed me to get it off the ground. So I decided to change fields, and lucky for me I was hired in my new field long before I was expecting it. Change is scary to me, but I knew if I wanted to follow my passions I had to change something. So here I sit, in a few weeks I will be done at the job that I have known for 12+ years and will be down to 1 job with a set schedule and way less stress. I am excited at all the possibilities and look forward to following my dreams.
In the next few weeks I will be down to one job and no college for the summer. I will have so much time on my hands I won't know what to do,lol. Wait...yes, I will. Navi and I will hit the ground running with our driving training. We continue to pick at it slowly due to lack of time, but soon that won't be an issue. She is doing well and we had our 1st successful long lining lesson. Although it wasn't pretty (due to me and my clumsiness) she did great!
Pixie and I continue to just refine our work on the ground and undersaddle. We have been out on a few rides and she has been awesome. We got our new saddle and it seems to be working well for both of us :)
As far as changes for me, I am now working a Mon-Fri job and off by 4pm, so that leaves me with the ability to look into doing something I have always wanted to do, but haven't been able to due to an every changing schedule and having to be available to cover at work if something happened. I really want to look into doing some actual training/lessons for people. My new job will give me the ability to leave work at work and have a life outside of work :) And for that reason I am considering doing what I wanted to do last year and that was actually start training people and their horses. I have always believed that if you want change you have to be the change. So I decided last year I wanted to help people gain the confidence and knowledge they needed to train their horses, but work never really allowed me to get it off the ground. So I decided to change fields, and lucky for me I was hired in my new field long before I was expecting it. Change is scary to me, but I knew if I wanted to follow my passions I had to change something. So here I sit, in a few weeks I will be done at the job that I have known for 12+ years and will be down to 1 job with a set schedule and way less stress. I am excited at all the possibilities and look forward to following my dreams.
Friday, January 22, 2016
Finished?
Yesterday while driving to the barn I was doing some thinking about what we considered a finished horse. Everyone has their own ideas and everyone has their thoughts on the matter so I don't know that there is one answer.
What got me thinking about this topic was last week when I was talking with a friend about Navi. I was telling her that I have to stop comparing Navi to Pixie. When I think about working with Navi most times I think about everything she doesn't know, but then I realize it isn't that she doesn't know a lot it is just that she doesn't know as much as Pixie. But that is ok and I know that now. I realize that expecting Navi to be Pixie will never happen. One because they are two very very different horses, but also because I haven't invested near the time into Navi that I have Pixie. But that being said it dawned on me that Navi can do a lot of behaviors that "finished" horses cannot. Okay so riding isn't one of them, lol, but that is besides the point. But seriously for a 4yr old horse she can do very advanced ground work behavior . She is getting better and better at liberty work and she is a safe calm horse to be around. Just don't brush her she might get a bit nippy then...she still hates it! I was thinking about how difficult it is for her to respond to just verbal cues of walk, whoa, and back. Because I am not putting pressure on her to push her into the behavior it is being all shaped. How many finished horses can walk and back in a straight line with you behind them with no pressure or physical cues given. I have to give her the credit she deserves, I am not asking simple behaviors from her. I am asking her to be independent and think things through all while paying attention to the slightest cue given from me. I guess thinking about it my horses will never be "finished" because there is always something to work on and I don't ever want a "robot" horse that is scared to move because of a threat.
As I have stated before I think the opposite of what most people think. I feel like a truly "finished" horse is one that doesn't have to have the big bit, spurs, or other equipment to do their job. If you need those "aids" to have your horse respond are they "finished" or are they so dull to everything around them that you have to use strong threats. If you are going along in your training and having to use stronger "aids" you are going backwards instead of forwards. Isn't the point of training to get lighter and lighter?? One simply does not need stronger equipment to teach more complex behaviors and if a trainer tells you that you do then they don't know how to effectively teach behaviors without the aid of threats.
What got me thinking about this topic was last week when I was talking with a friend about Navi. I was telling her that I have to stop comparing Navi to Pixie. When I think about working with Navi most times I think about everything she doesn't know, but then I realize it isn't that she doesn't know a lot it is just that she doesn't know as much as Pixie. But that is ok and I know that now. I realize that expecting Navi to be Pixie will never happen. One because they are two very very different horses, but also because I haven't invested near the time into Navi that I have Pixie. But that being said it dawned on me that Navi can do a lot of behaviors that "finished" horses cannot. Okay so riding isn't one of them, lol, but that is besides the point. But seriously for a 4yr old horse she can do very advanced ground work behavior . She is getting better and better at liberty work and she is a safe calm horse to be around. Just don't brush her she might get a bit nippy then...she still hates it! I was thinking about how difficult it is for her to respond to just verbal cues of walk, whoa, and back. Because I am not putting pressure on her to push her into the behavior it is being all shaped. How many finished horses can walk and back in a straight line with you behind them with no pressure or physical cues given. I have to give her the credit she deserves, I am not asking simple behaviors from her. I am asking her to be independent and think things through all while paying attention to the slightest cue given from me. I guess thinking about it my horses will never be "finished" because there is always something to work on and I don't ever want a "robot" horse that is scared to move because of a threat.
As I have stated before I think the opposite of what most people think. I feel like a truly "finished" horse is one that doesn't have to have the big bit, spurs, or other equipment to do their job. If you need those "aids" to have your horse respond are they "finished" or are they so dull to everything around them that you have to use strong threats. If you are going along in your training and having to use stronger "aids" you are going backwards instead of forwards. Isn't the point of training to get lighter and lighter?? One simply does not need stronger equipment to teach more complex behaviors and if a trainer tells you that you do then they don't know how to effectively teach behaviors without the aid of threats.
Getting the Hang of Things...
Yesterday I had the chance to enjoy a beautiful winter day at the barn :) Love day like that!
Navi and I are continuing to work on our walk, whoa, and back verbal cues. She is understanding them enough that I decided to do some work outside of the arena yesterday. I wanted to work on our cues while on the road. I am happy to say she did great for the first time practicing outside of the arena. She had a couple times where walking in a straight line was hard for her, but otherwise it went well. When she would curve around I would just reset and start over. We are getting somewhere between 5-10 feet before I reward her now. We increase the distance every time we work. Her surcingle and drive lines are ordered so I can start teaching her right and left soon :) She is very reliable on her back cue that is almost 100%. Soon we can combine all the cues and start ground driving officially.
Navi and I are continuing to work on our walk, whoa, and back verbal cues. She is understanding them enough that I decided to do some work outside of the arena yesterday. I wanted to work on our cues while on the road. I am happy to say she did great for the first time practicing outside of the arena. She had a couple times where walking in a straight line was hard for her, but otherwise it went well. When she would curve around I would just reset and start over. We are getting somewhere between 5-10 feet before I reward her now. We increase the distance every time we work. Her surcingle and drive lines are ordered so I can start teaching her right and left soon :) She is very reliable on her back cue that is almost 100%. Soon we can combine all the cues and start ground driving officially.
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