[karibear]

Originally Posted by HeatherDawn

I have never had to spend a lot on a horse. However, as you know, if something does go wrong, you might be screwed. During the summer, they just get a handful of feed each day because they're all easy keepers. They pretty much stay fat on grass. When the grass goes, we feed hay. Hay prices just depend on the year. So, if you don't count feed, I have gotten off pretty cheap. $40 to get feet trimmed now and then, on old horses I might have their teeth floated once in awhile. I've never had any big vet bills.

Kari mentioned shoes but I never shoe mine. There is no need for it if you are riding on natural surfaces and if you go on trails that include slippery rocks, shoes can be bad news. Also, I have seen a hoof split from shoes. They have their purpose, but not every horse needs them if you keep their feet trimmed.

Yeah, the shoes are an either/or thing. It depends on where a person rides, and what kind of surface they are riding on. Most of the places I've lived where I had anything to do with horses, there was a lot of cement and pavement around, and those can be hard on hooves. Also, if there are problems with a hoof, a good farrier may be able to do more to fix it than a vet will.

[karibear]

Originally Posted by redbird4848

Here you go. Oklahoma horses for sale. $50-$mega-bucks.

Horses for Sale in Oklahoma

Here is a slide show from the Extreme Mustang Makeover. Where they take a wild mustang to their ranch for one year of training. Nice to see those beautiful horses going through training process.

Mustang Makeover

Do you realize that recently a house - a liveable house, at that - sold for less than the one horse listed for sale here?!

[HeatherDawn]

I saw a broodmare sell at Heritage Place for $180K two years ago.

The general (not specialty) horse market is way down, though, because of the ban on slaughter houses. People will blame it on the economy but this was an issue way before the economy went downhill.

[karibear]

Originally Posted by HeatherDawn

I saw a broodmare sell at Heritage Place for $180K two years ago.

The general (not specialty) horse market is way down, though, because of the ban on slaughter houses. People will blame it on the economy but this was an issue way before the economy went downhill.

There have been quite a few sold around here because people have decided they can't afford to keep them. I got mine because the people decided they were more interested in taking road trips and camping than worrying about taking care of the horses. Back in WA, there were a lot of horses surrendered to various shelters, and in one instance, a thoroughbred was found wandering around loose near the race track, but no one ever claimed it. The papers also had quite a few for 'free to a good home' - just like an unwanted dog.

And I really dislike the thought of horses being slaughtered for pet food.

[HeatherDawn]

Everyone dislikes that thought. However, if you research the topic (something that our friends at PETA and the US Congress failed to do) you may find that it is the lesser of two evils. Without a way to get rid of old, sick, lame, vicious or otherwise unkeepable (yes, I made that word up) horses, people will abandon them. More horses will be found starving and neglected because there is nowhere to send them. Also, it's expensive to have one put down and the body disposed of.

[karibear]

Originally Posted by HeatherDawn

Everyone dislikes that thought. However, if you research the topic (something that our friends at PETA and the US Congress failed to do) you may find that it is the lesser of two evils. Without a way to get rid of old, sick, lame, vicious or otherwise unkeepable (yes, I made that word up) horses, people will abandon them. More horses will be found starving and neglected because there is nowhere to send them. Also, it's expensive to have one put down and the body disposed of.

It depends on what an animal is sick with. But it's not the slaughtering itself - I know a number of people who managed to get through college on limited budgets because they were able to buy horsemeat for food - it's the way slaughterhouses operate. I also don't like the way beef, pork, and poultry is slaughtered. It's not like having taken care of the critters and made sure they were reasonably healthy and well-fed before being butchered humanely [and there are any number of ways to do that], it's the production line way it's done now. And it's not just the old or vicious or lame ones that were sent to be slaughtered, as I recall both PETA and Congress were concerned mostly about the remaining wild mustangs that were rounded up for slaughter [and no, I am in no way in agreement with anything PETA does or says]. As for the old ones, I rather think that if they have spent their lives working at whatever they were used for, they deserve a peaceful retirement, at least as long as they are reasonably healthy. There's more than enough pasture land that is suitable for an older horse, and there are plenty of spooky young ones that would benefit from a calm pasture mate and becoma a lot more tractable - and useful - as a result.

It's expensive to have a dog put down and disposed of, too. The last one I had to have done cost me 350.00. But I also know someone who had a horse suddenly die who had it buried on his own land, and all it cost him was the price of a six pack of beer for the driver of a bulldozer who was working on a road nearby.

[HeatherDawn]

Not everyone knows someone with a bulldozer...All this suitable land that you are talking about-are you going to convince the owners to keep useless horses there?

Also, I don't like the way beef, pork and poultry are mass-produced. However, I get tired of people who still buy their meat in stores after saying that.

[karibear]

Originally Posted by HeatherDawn

Not everyone knows someone with a bulldozer...All this suitable land that you are talking about-are you going to convince the owners to keep useless horses there?

Also, I don't like the way beef, pork and poultry are mass-produced. However, I get tired of people who still buy their meat in stores after saying that.

I wasn't thinking so much of privately owned land, but all that federal land that is set aside for conserving the 'real prairie' and so on. Besides, it seems like the farm bank could just as well pay - or at least give tax credits to - people who provide refuges for unwanted horses just as well as for not growing certain crops.

I knew someone 40 or so years ago whose hobby was retraining 'retired' race horses. She'd buy what she could afford, teach them saddle manners, and resell them as saddle horses, then use the profits to buy more and keep on. Quite a few of them went on to be shown by new owners in smaller local shows as saddle horses. There's a limit to what thoroughbreds can do, they aren't much good for western pleasure, for instance, but some can be taught to jump and used as hunters. It's just a shame that an animal whose life span may be 30 years can be considered washed up and good for nothing but slaughter at 4 or 5 years.

FWIW, I think anyone who eats a lot of meat should either be required to butcher their own at least once, or tour a slaughterhouse. At least they'd know what's involved when they eat their KFC or bacon and eggs or deluxe hamburger.

[colleeng47]

Originally Posted by karibear

FWIW, I think anyone who eats a lot of meat should either be required to butcher their own at least once, or tour a slaughterhouse. At least they'd know what's involved when they eat their KFC or bacon and eggs or deluxe hamburger.

Or at least read a copy of Robin Cook's Toxic.

[Goodpasture]

Happiness is a big gut pile............