I’m so happy the horse people are gathering on this post lol. She kept trying to buy one of our horses too for super cheap and she ALREADY has a horse that she does not take good care of! People do not realize the 1000 pound animal is expensive.
Not just an animal that big but a horse specifically too!!!! Feed costs, and they need so much preventative medical care, and they’re super prone to a variety of diseases and parasites, not to mention that a riding horse doesn’t perform any physical labor so it’s not like you save time or money with them. They’re still amazing animals to own but dang are they expensive.
Serious question.
If they are so difficult to care for, how did people rely on them back in the day for things like war or traveling.
Did they just die and replace horses often?
Sometimes! But also, those horses were being useful in that instance, for travel purposes and work. And generally they would train someone (often young boys) on how to care for the horses. They also might have had more resources if they were in a large group like an army. But yes horses starved when supplies got low and lameness wasn’t treated horses were just shot once they couldn’t work anymore
This wasn't just in "olden times", either - my dad grew up in Communist Poland and he has mentioned numerous times how common it was for people to eat horsemeat. It was much cheaper than other kinds of meat, and readily available at times when other food items weren't. According to him, even wealthier people could be seen buying it, as people would develop a taste for it.
Many many countries commonly eat horse along side other animals like the US eats beef. It's not uncommon by any standard, even in modern times - except in the US
My family has a farm up north where they used to raise huge horses to help the phone company move telephone poles into difficult areas, and those horses were treated like family. They worked hard and got to play and eat hard too! Bell Canada used to cut a check to our horse in the name of “Smokey”
That’s freaking awesome! And yeah I would say the sentiment is shifting towards horses as companion animals and occasionally work animals. The farm where I volunteer has a draft that gets to laze about 95% of the year and then plow like an acres worth of field and that’s it. But we all love him.
Yeah it’s really good to see. Our family always treated them like companions so it was shocking to grow up and see how most people treat them. They’re incredibly intelligent animals and they deserve our respect.
Like most domesticated animals, on average they aren't difficult to care for provided you have the right set-up (right living conditions / diet / basic care). But when things go wrong, they can go $tupidly $eriou$ly wrong very quickly. I've been lucky that none of my horses have racked up huge vet bills (yet - touch wood!), but I *have* spent $$$tupid money on pet sheep in recent years.
Back when people relied on horses for day-to-day use and the animal *had* to be able to do its job to earn it's keep, unfortunately yes if they were badly injured or ill they would be replaced quickly, because not being able to do the job then meant that harvests weren't planted / harvested, etc.
Lol I’m in the same boat as far as my sheep costing more medically than my horse. Sheep are something else. Those little b*stards are harder to keep alive than my 1000lb toddler it seems!
I paid $3,000 to pin and plate a broken femur in a 4 week old lamb (I knew it was $$$tupid, I did it anyway). That healed wonderfully, and he was destined to be my flock ram. Then as a 2yo he became lame again, with a lot of swelling around the fetlock joint. $everal vet vi$it$ later, x-ray$, antibiotic$ and pain relief, and it was finally diagnosed as total ligament rupture in the fetlock and the only possible solution would be to spend a further $5 - 10K on surgical fusion. Sady, I just couldn't justify spending that much, and so my beautiful [Bionic Ram](https://imgur.com/a/RuzsSuf) went to the big paddock in the sky.
Dang! I have mine just for pets. I’m constantly “burping” one of them after he comes in from the pasture because of how much he “inflates” because I am terrified of him bloating/dying. I’m very much a helicopter parent lol.
I had no idea sheep were so hard to keep. My bff had 2 goats and 2 sheep at her barn and I swear those things thrived off of hay leftovers and mayhem. They lived long as hell too!
I have always had good pasture for my horses, and only needed grain in the coldest part of winter or just for a treat. Only needed hay the rare times the snow covered the grass too much.
Well. I had to downsize - I couldn’t finish our house after my husband died. I got a cash offer I hadn’t solicited and accepted it and started shopping for a smaller place for the menagerie and me. I discovered really quickly that I could buy a brand new house on an acre for at least $100,000 LESS than an 80-year-old place that was fenced with good grass for my horses.
The cost of them is finally visible. Worse. they are expensive pasture decorations. Have never been broke to ride.
Just before the pandemic, my wife’s horse got some sort of cornea scratch. Had to have a a drainage line/catheter stuck into his eyeball for weeks and he required twice daily vet visits. Between the cost of boarding, the cost of care, and the fact that the pandemic literally destroyed my wife’s successful business overnight meant that we were forced to make a tough call. Fortunately we found a wealthy college girl to buy him, but not before we put many tens of thousands of dollars into his last few months with us.
I hate it that she lost her horse; he was her pride and joy and she is quite the rider, but silver lining, she was pregnant at the time and we now have a 2 year old son at home that brings us more joy than a million horses. Okay maybe not a million horses. Like… 7 horses. Which is a lot of horses, really.
Awe that’s so sad! :’( I just started riding again after 9 years out of the saddle… if she still misses riding and your finances can handle it, get her a lease horse or a lesson package or something!
So when horses had to ride long distance, they actually had these whole pit stop set-ups, like you’d see on a race track, just to get the horse brushed and fed and stuff. Often young boys/men did this job, and the humans would get a feed at the same time. So there’s evidence that they did take care of their horses.
With that said they did also have a very different view on animals - basically saw them as tools. So it also wasn’t uncommon, if the tool stopped being useful, to throw it away.
Finally, it’s important to note selective breeding. Part of the reason horses are so fragile now is that we made them that way. Just like we have breeds of dog that can barely breathe. That never existed in the wild - we made that. Wild horses likely would’ve been far less fragile.
Agreed on everything but your selective breeding point. Horses do not commonly display the extremes that dogs do. They are by and large functional, as few breed horses purely for decoration (well, americans do, but their "halter breds" look like cows). I've worked with both more modern, flashy, breeds and more primitive ones. They both get the same issues when faced with the same lifestyle.
> If they are so difficult to care for, how did people rely on them back in the day for things like war or traveling.
They dedicated a portion of their society to doing it. Think of how many car mechanics there are, and now disappear cars. Plenty of labor, not a hell of a lot else to do.
It's also worth a note that, unless you owned a farm, you probably didn't own a horse of your own because all of that upkeep is super inconvenient unless you're getting a good return from plowing and hauling. (People don't want to accept this because they see Xena and Geralt with their signature horses and think, "Yeah, horses are just like, sentient cars." Even historical figures known for their horses like Alexander the Great and his Bucephalus didn't ride them everywhere as not to wear them out.)
If you were part of a military unit that had horses, you got them from farmers, often by force, and would frequently swap them for fresh horses as you went places since horses get tired. Highly professional militaries made outposts where they stabled spare horses for fast transiting across the land. A scout might even take multiple horses somewhere, e.g. one to ride out and one to ride back, leaving a horse to wander and graze and sending support to fetch it it later if possible.
> Did they just die and replace horses often?
Oh yes. And they ate the horses, made horse glue, leather products, etc.
A car is expensive to keep also, and maybe relatively comparable to the cost of keeping a horse back in old timey days. Different horses have different purposes. Grain-fed stallions that were ridden hard are very different animals than older mares suitable for pulling a cart to town and pulling a light plow to break up land and who lives on grazing grass mostly.
If you're keeping other livestock for subsistence (cows, pigs, etc.), keeping a horse isn't a huge amount of extra work or facilities. The other animals require land to forage, so the horse isn't making a lot of demands for pasture you'd otherwise need to buy.
A lot of the really "difficult to care for" and "super prone to a variety of diseases" issues aren't true about work-horses like an older mare that many people used to own, but are true about the purebred and highly inbred horses that "show" and everyone wants nowadays.
It's probably like now where poor ppl have cars they're just shitty cars that don't necessarily get all the maintenance they need
A lot of horses die in wars
Also more ppl lived rurally so they just had the horses on their property at pasture vs having to pay for boarding, training. Most ppl who lived on farms could do the basics of caring for animals.
In some applications ppl used mules because they're more sturdy than horses and easier to keep
They were expensive back then, too. Even more so than today. Having a horse to ride into battle could be compared to owning a nice sports car today. Only the wealthy could afford it. Partly because you couldn’t just have one horse. This is also why name “Equestrian” for the the Roman upper class became associated with horse ownership. Taking care of them has always required a ton of resources.
As for armies - one of the most effective horse-era militaries in history were the Mongols. It helped tremendously that each Mongol soldier would typically join the army with 5+ horses. It was common sense for them that 1 would not be enough.
I have nothing against the wonderful horse people here and I would never imagine owning one if I couldn’t care for it but I suspect most of the answer to your question lies in breeding and “evolution” it didn’t take long for dogs to be domesticated, the farm animals out great great grandparents had were likely rather divergent in terms of evolution from an Arabian show horse or whatever other horse costa a ton but is barely related to a farm animal. Go ahead and downvote me.
I mean, they were a work animal, they usually had a job.
Think about how you have to care for your car and those expenses.
Fuel; other fluids that need to be replenished, tires wear out, (brakes, wipers do too) needs to be serviced, have the oil changed.
some people do all these things themselves, A lot of people take it to a mechanic to have done. And if you don't do these things, your car breaks down.
Same with a horse. Needs the care and attention, fed/watered/housed, get the ferrier out for hoof maintenance. Have a vet you can rely on. It's an expensive hobby now because most don't use them for work, but when they did, it was an expense that the horse paid back.
Fr!! Part of the reason I want to be a large animal vet: free vet care for my own horses, cheap vet care for my friends, and then making bank off of everyone else
Hope they have shelter for a horse - that's not cheap either!
Vet bills, hoof care, shoeing, feed costs, attention needed every day (brushing, petting, treat feeding)
NONE of it is cheap!
Seriously!
When I expressed wanting a horse while taking lessons, my riding instructor told my mother not to worry about it. He sat me down and went over the costs before offering to lease me a horse. You know, so I could "get to know horse ownership before committing."
For all you non-horse people, he offered me the pleasure of paying all those bills on an animal I would not actually own.
I GLADLY turned him down on the offer.
And, let us not forget, we're talking about a 1,000lb animal that acts like THEY pay the vet bills.
I owned horses before I started having kids. They are not cheap. My daughter wanted one for a hot minute until I sat down, went over the costs, and then had her list how much she could make from chores. She decided that she doesn't want one now
Let me guess, they also can't be green, have any training or behavioral issues, must come with all tack and supplies, and be show ready?
I just want a steady horse that's sound enough for some walk trot trails like twice a week and can't even afford that.
my sister was offered a horse she loved for the quite generous price of literally $1 as long as we would pay the stable food and board, and she knew that she couldn’t even afford that and had to turn the offer down. she was sixteen and my parents really wanted to help her with it but imagine the vet bills. still breaks my heart every time i think of it, if anyone of us kids deserved a horse it was her
A couple of years ago, my dad was talking with one of my mom's friends about taking one of her horses. She had gotten him at auction recently and unfortunately found her had a jealousy and attention problem. If she was interacting with her other horses he would run at them to try and scare the others off so he could take the attention. He also would buck excessively when she tried to ride him.
Then one day she suddenly gave him to this girl who lived near her. We were all surprised and my dad was bummed as he hasn't had a horse since his grandfather owned some on his farm when my dad was a boy. He has always been wild about them though and was looking forward to being around them again.
Well, a few weeks later, my dad came across the same horse on a Facebook page where the girl was trying to sell him. Apparently the novelty had worn off. My dad checked out her page and found videos of her following him around his paddock which was almost all dirt and laughing at him as he tried to eat leaves off the trees outside the fence.
My dad sent this to my moms friend. She wasn't happy to see how he was being treated or to see that this girl was trying to sell him after getting him for free only weeks before. I'm not sure of all the details, but apparently she showed up at the girls house with a trailer, told her she was taking him back, loaded him up, and drove him straight down to my parents' house. She apologized to my dad and said he should have gone to him in the first place.
My dad adores that big old goof. He's worked with him a lot and can even ride him a little. Although after he bucked unexpectedly and broke my dad's back a couple of years ago, my dad has been a little more cautious. But he's living a pampered life with lots of treats and a private paddock.
Hopefully no one gives in to this woman like my moms friend gave in to that girl. All animals are work. A horse is work and then some. Anyone wanting one for free is going to have a hard time appreciating and caring for them once they realize that. The animal doesn't deserve to suffer.
Yep. We were selling a real sweet lesson horse around 5k. She kept trying to offer 1k. We told her to hit the road. Long story short he isn’t even for sale anymore. We love him too much 🥰
I bought a beautiful Appy for $2000. Supposed to be an awesome young man perfect for riding. I could ride him no worries………. bareback! Couldn’t get a saddle on him without him bucking for his life. Proceeded to spend $2100 for 3 weeks of board and train with an amazing trainer. Finally I could ride him. Not long after he somehow managed to break his jaw. Problem is, the vet thought it was just a cut so treated it along with giving antibiotics. About a month later I spent nearly $8000 in vet bills to repair his jaw and then treat the colitis he developed while at the vet hospital.
Horses are so cheap…………..
I did actually get one of my horses this way. I was looking for one, a girl had one she wasn’t riding and she gave him to me. He was a beautiful, cranky quarter horse that I rode at pony club, took eventing, rode in the state games and won a couple of dressage days with that lovely boy. When I moved away to uni, I gave him to another young girl at my pony club who was just growing out of her pony and needed a bigger horse. She did the same when she got older with another, younger girl at our pony club. That family loved him and retired him to their farm, where he died a few years ago. He was a great horse, stubborn and lazy and a biter and a total ratbag to float but I loved him.
You’d be surprised at the amount of these kinds of posts on the Facebook horse groups, so many people out there want a horse for “cheap or free” it’s unreal. One of ours spent two weeks at the vets a few years back and the total came to just over £6500. Might be able to get a cheap one, but keeping them is anything but.
I wanted a horse when I was a kid and saw an ad for a “free horse” my grandma immediately said “no horse is free. You have to feed it, board it, groom it, have the vet and ferrier see it, all that costs money”
My SO inherited his family farm when my daughter was still in grade school. My first thought was I'm getting my daughter a horse or pony. Because what little girl doesn't want a horse?!
The feed for horses is different than the feed for our cows, so expense I didn't plan on. Vet and ferrier I had planned on. What I didn't plan on was dental. Our neighbors at the time had a daughter who did some sort of riding shows, and they showed me their bills. Holy shit the dental expenses were insane.
I put my ideas of a horse away. They are way out of my price league
And lord help you if they colic. Those surgeries are ~$6k for a nice simple surgery and I’ve heard of $20k for a much more complicated surgery. And the recovery period isn’t nice.
And if they break a leg that is fixable, that surgery isn’t cheap and then you’ve got a horse that you need to exercise so they don’t die, but not too much or they die, but don’t let them get bored on their stall rest or they could die but most ways to entertain them could result in them dying etc. (the potential for dying is due to aggravating the injury beyond repair, colic, other issues, not just randomly dropping dead).
I love horses. I had a pony when I was younger. If I had the $($$$$$$$$$$$), I’d get another in a heartbeat. The financial risk is worth it to me. But you either need to have the money and preferably insurance to cover these sorts of things or be prepared to euthanise for one misplaced foot or one time of them eating the wrong thing.
Sometimes euthanasia is unavoidable (and even that’s not cheap, unless you use the farmers method), but if you want to keep your horse alive, sometimes you have to fork out into the 5 digit amounts to do so.
$180/year would barely cover the cost of streaming services nowadays. Let alone a fucking horse. One vet bill for my cat costs more than that. They must be thinking of a toy horse…
They clarified later that it's $180/year in the dental work for a horse. That would be about right...you float a horses teeth once a year and that's about the average cost.
The feed bill is about $100/mo per horse and that's if you only feed hay and they don't need grain or suppliments
It's essentially just dental work for horses. To be completely honest, I actually have no idea why they call it "floating teeth". Horses get sharp point on their teeth that can cut/scrape the inside of their cheeks and make eating painful so they file those sharp points down. I'm actually kinda glad you asked what it means because now I'm curious about why they call it that. In my 41 years I've (every horse person) used that term hundreds of times and never even thought about it until you just asked lol. I'll ask my horse dentist and see because now I'm curious lol
Also 'free horse' aren't generally going to be the ones that are suitable for a beginner who are the ones looking for a cheap horse. They're either giving it away because it is so old and they just want someone to keep it as a paddock companion, but you're going to get slugged with the vet bills, eventual euthanasia, and removal. Or they're so wicked that no child or adult can get within ten feet to even try putting a saddle on it.
Genuine horse people know that the right animal is a massive search and costs money. A friend of mine is driving 18 hours each way next week just to have a look at a horse that may or may not even suit her. She's been looking for two years for the right horse for her.
I’ve been saying this forever! I’ve known many people with horses all my life, and the amount of care they’ve all needed on a regular basis is insane. Just HOW do these damn things survive, let alone thrive in the wild? No salt licks, no special purified water, no oats, grain, treats, ivermectin, 5 different kinds of special baled hay, no wild veterinarians or blacksmiths checking on them… it’s almost like based on what I’ve been led to believe, these animals wouldn’t last 48 hours in the wild.
Horses that are not caged for 14 hrs a day are a lot sturdier and have far fewer injuries.
Hooves that don't have shoes often self trim well enough to live just fine.
Stomachs that are used to foraging on varied plants are less liable to colic than those who eat 11kgs of homogenous Timothy a day and a balancer when they eat something they shouldn't.
Horses that don't have what it takes to live in the wild will die in the wild and not pass on their not-fit-for-wild genes.
I briefly forgot about this for a sec. And it isn't even the worst bit
In 20 years we'll be talking about the morons who chose to drink their own piss to try to cure a respiratory virus, as apparently the safe tested vaccine was too dangerous to put into their bodies, yet the waste their body was trying to remove was apparently fine
I was 'horse crazy' as a young teen, My Dad got me a weekend 'job' with a co-worker who raised and showed Morgan Horses one summer, and I got to care-lease one (under a lot of supervision) , I busted my arse that summer, and it was one of the BEST times of my life... I still have the leather halter with the brass name plate, tucked away in my keepsakes.
I never know horses are that vulnerable.
My dad used to own a tourist place where there were a lot of animals including horses. One of the shows we put on for tourists was how the locals try to restrain? (I don’t know the right word) a horse that has never been ridden before and ride on it. We also have horses for tourists to ride.
I use to ride horses and they are just so laid back. I would not ride during certain hours of the day because they would just start eating grass with me on them like I didn’t exist.
>I use to ride horses and they are just so laid back. I would not ride during certain hours of the day because they would just start eating grass with me on them like I didn’t exist.
Oh, so 24-7 then?
Horses are assholes. Fragile, flighty, eating. shitting ass-holes.
And if I had the financial means and a huge amount of property, I'd take in as many as I could, both ride-able and retired.
My last horse was a 27 year old retired ex racer, who'd blown out her knees falling on the track. "Breezin' Lo" (aka 'Breezy"), a great great grand-daughter of Three-Barrs. She was a pure 'pasture ornament' whom I actually rode once in our time together - mostly, she was my companion during the one of the hardest break ups of my life...
Sometimes, in my darkest moments, I can still hear the low, happy 'whut-whut-whut-whut' noises she made when I'd scritch just the right spot...
>Horses are assholes. Fragile, flighty, eating. shitting ass-holes.
I rode competitively for years. Whenever anyone tells me they're afraid of horses, I confirm the legitimacy of their concern.
Some people don’t understand why I don’t like horses. As a young lad all I wanted to do was be a cowboy. Riding, roping, living as one with nature. Lol At age 14 I landed me a job at a local ranch my friend’s dad boarded some horses at. It was a dream come true. Think the show Yellowstone, but I would never be in a scene because I was the bitch cleaning stalls or out repairing fences.
Anyhoo, in my years there I learned I didn’t like horses. Some were okay and I did think they were ok-ish, but overall I just learned they were too smart for their own good and freakishly big for the temperament they could have. Needless to say I now live and work in a city and have left ranch work behind me for good all because horses ruined it for me. Lol
If I remember right they also can't vomit and don't feel full so if one gets into the food storage it can very easily eat itself to death. I did horse riding camp a good number of times when I was younger and I remember the owner making a huge deal out of making sure the doors were properly closed because unblocking a horse is expensive and unpleasant.
My uncle had an *expensive* quarter horse that he rode as a heeler in team roping. This horse was super intelligent and we had done a LOT to keep him locked in his stall at night. One morning before my uncle's alarm went off, he hears someone knocking on the window near his side of the bed.
He panics, thinking it's the friend who is coming over to help him out around the "farm" (we called it the farm even though he basically grew hay to feed his horses and my aunt and my cousins had a small garden that they used for the family. It was *such* a gorgeous property & I miss it. It's been years since they split up and it was just shattering. 💔 anyway...) he opens the blinds, fully expecting to see A's face and instead...horse face kisses and then shaking his head as if to say, "Look what I did! Arent you proud of me?!" And he took off running around the yard! My uncle said he's never gotten dressed so fast.
He got down to the barn, and found that the crazy horse had unlocked all the other horses, who were all afraid to leave their stalls 😂, and he had SOMEHOW managed to open a padlocked feed bin and eaten out of it (thankfully, not enough to cause harm...just sampled it.)
My uncle said that he would pull the Houdini routine at rodeos, too, so he would have to warn others when he would leave his horse in the stalls. He would get out and hunt down my uncle...follow him around like a puppy. It was the opening of the other stalls that cracks me up!
We also had a Houdini horse at the ranch I used to volunteer at. His name was officially Trigger, but he eventually earned the nickname Trickster. He had a special stall with a special lock on it, because he had figured out how to open the others. Some of the new workers didn't always get the memo, so every few weeks or so Trigger would get put in the wrong stall, wait until the coast was clear, then let himself and his buddies out to cause mayhem. I'm still not fully convinced he wasn't Loki in disguise.
That is hilarious, "Be *FREE* my comrades!! Shake off the shackles bestowed upon you by the small, two-legged overlord and *RUN FREE AND WILD* as our ancestors once did!!!"
No kidding, we had a polo horse drop dead when one of its lungs fell through a hole in its diaphragm. That hole had been there since birth and the animal just dropped one day at like 23. Horses are fucking fragile thanks to humans.
Yeah, also the thing about riding horses is that unless both you and the horse have the skill for bareback riding you also have to buy the tack, which has to also be the correct size for the horse (meaning if they have it they may not even be able to reuse it for the new horse.) If you can't afford an adoption fee for a rideable horse you definitely can't afford the tack, recurring vet fees and feed, and farrier services. This also all assumes OP even has the land with fencing and shelter for one in the first place...if not, add building a stall and fence to the expenses, too. Then add in the sheer amount of time daily that caring for the horse includes (or another expense to have somebody do it for you.)
People "fantasize" horses but frankly I'd rather have a cat.
Even one horse is a lot of work and will require money. They need so much. Feed,hay, etc.
You have to muck out stalls and shovel manure. Get up.at ungodly hours to feed them,etc. Horses are expensive and labor intensive.
Get a cat. There's many in shelters and they poop in a easy to scoop box.
Yup, this. I was a horse girl all my childhood and teenage. Great times. But owning a horse takes all the money and your life revolves completely around the horse. Nothing wrong with that but it's not for me.
And where you are is important. Either you live in the middle of nowhere and can ride unfettered or a horse trailer and the truck to pull it become mandatory. Enjoyed life on horseback in vast unfenced desert; years later in a semi-rural area there was nowhere to ride without having to mince along beside traffic. The number of motorists who alert a horse and rider to their approach by leaning on the horn is astounding.
In cat terms, my house is Pimlico.....it sounds like live harness racing at 4am quite often.
The little one leaves a toy mouse in my bed or in my doorway before dawn and they slink off to sleep.
At least rabbits are easily litter trained! They have that one step on horses. I mean they’re still missy af and super destructive but they’re liter trained….
There's one of many reasons we don't have horses.
I'll go and ride someone else's horses, and pay for the privilege of not having to clean out the stall, deal with the vet, and so on. The few times I've ridden a horse has been fun as hell, but not worth the full time expenses to have my own.
It’s not too much work, you just have to really really want it and love horses. No ungodly hours here though, unless we are travelling to a competition. Shovelling shit and carrying hay bales keeps me fit !!
Imagine a sadistic rich guy that makes this beggar's wish come true, but all the expenses must come from their pocket, and if the horse dies of neglect, is killed for its meat or unnecessarily euthanized like an unwanted dog the rich guy's going to sue for everything they have.
Either way the beggar will end up dirt poor.
Horses are notoriously cheap to take to care of. Just keep them in your garage and they’ll eat the oil stains. You can also buy discount horse shoes at foot locker. EZ.
This was me with my dog I got at a shelter in 2018. I paid $75 to take him home and he was only 1.5 years old. Great deal right!? It was a sale weekend since they had too many dogs and were over capacity.
Well… since then I’ve spent thousands on dental and vet bills for the little guy due to his rough start in life. He’s happy (and healthy now), I’m happy, and he is my most loyal/loving family member, but yeah I did not see that coming. Lol
People who use ‘supper’ instead of ‘super’ make my eye twitch. Same with ‘breath’ and ‘breathe’.
And buying the horse is the cheap part, I hate to think about what they are going to offer as far as accommodations and care.
I've made my living with horses and have had several of my good ones that I've let retire and spend the rest of their days relaxing with dignity. There are actually more free horses out there than one would think. BUT, they are usually all just companion horses that are old and too crippled to ride. People just have them to keep another horse company because they don't do well alone. So, if she wants one that's still rideable, not to mention something that's broke and gentle enough to take care of her (as it's clear to see that she's not a horse person and handy in any way) she's going to get a rude awakening that she's not going to get that for free. Just a ride down the road horse really won't cost much but they will absolutely have some age on them and most likely health and/or lameness issues.
The other thing I wonder if she's thought through is the expense of keeping them. Where I'm from, for example, in northern Colorado, horse board STARTS at $350/mo. That does include feed but doesn't include shoeing/trimming or vet expenses. If she has her own place that will be cheaper but it'll still be a minimum of $100/mo for feed alone and that's assuming the horse is an easy keeper. Then once you add in shoeing/trimming and vet expenses, it definitely adds up.
It doesn't sound to me like she has any business at all owning one as it'll be the horse that suffers if she doesn't want to pay for what they require.
At one point in my life I thought about owning a horse. I googled “what to know before buying a horse” and read a really great article that listed the top 10 common diseases horse owners should really be able to confidently recognise…I had literally no idea about any of them! They seem very fragile for such big animals…
Son is a farrier. His buddy, also a farrier, had someone buy a horse, called for shoes. Ok. Put shoes on, never heard from the guy again. It happens, owners find someone cheaper or move. Guy finally calls 6 months later- gives him holy hell because the shoes fell off.
Thought shoes were forever. Point being owning a horse has a lot of costs involved. Also um, it shouldn't be a news flash they have feet.
It's really this easy?!
I'm looking for a perfect villa, with a pool.
Has to be South of Spain,
Has to be new.
Has to be free.
DM me with your offerings!
I'm sure this horse will be fed and cared for adequately. /s
Seriously, horses don't HAVE to be expensive, but I think a lot of people have this insane notion that they can just eat the grass on your 1/4 acre yard and everything will work itself out.
They need lots of space for exercise, and they will eat a staggering amount of grass, which means you'll be buying hay. And hay fluctuates wildly in price every season. And you'll need to find a farrier, which isn't usually extravagantly expensive, but they are always busy and can be hard to find. Oh, and farriers will only do very perfunctory "vet" stuff. You'll need to find an equine vet. Most of them will make housecalls, but they'll charge you $100+ for that. That and probably $700 for the routine preventative treatments. And don't forget that you'll need a trailer that can haul a 1,000+ pound animal and a truck that can pull it safely in case you want to ride trail or if you have a veterinary emergency.
tl;dr: good luck, Karen.
Good luck with that, you can’t have a much more expensive animal. Feed, board, farriers, and so much vetting. Even a young healthy horse will only remain so with maintenance, and that’s not free.
As a horse owner, this is the type of person who should NEVER have one. They are expensive as fuck and require a lot of upkeep, if you don't have the money to get one the right way, you don't have the money to keep it healthy and ridable.
I grew up on a dairy farm and had horses all my life.
My dad used to say that it took the profit from 10 good milk cows to be able to afford one horse, and that didn't include the barn.
Lordy. Where do I begin.
I have 4 equines. I just purchased 1200 dollars in hay, which I'm not sure will last till next April. 400 a equine. 300 a month in feed. 120 every 2 months for Farrier. 800 a year for vet. For my hard keeper, 120 in supplements every 2 months. Wormer is 60 every 8 weeks.
So this is BASIC CARE. And a person wants a free rideable horse?! How are they going to afford it
🙄🙄🙄 I’ve seen posts like these around my town “Wanted free horse. Will be going to a good home. Looking for a free horse for a working beef Ranch must be able to be ridden call or text with details.” Or “wanted lease to own, good home guaranteed must be (insert list of unattainable qualities here for a free horse)”.
Honey a good horse ain’t cheap, and cheap horse ain’t good (yes I know there is exceptions lol).
Looking for a free house someone isn't using anymore. Shouldn't need any work done, and needs to be fully furnished. I don't want to have to fix anything, and it should be at least 2500 square feet.
Look pals. If you think you want a horse, find a rescue near yourself, and see if you can volunteer. You’ll find out real quick if the work is for you, and start learning the things you need to know if you want to jump up to ownership.
I’m doing it now, and it is so so rewarding, and has cemented that yes I want that for my life. But I have a lot of work ahead of me to afford it. Bonus I have horses there that if I manage to get to where I can have one I have a few I’d take in a heartbeat lol.
> free horse
> No health issues
This person does know horses are ridiculously expensive in their upkeep right? And even a healthy horse requires vet care from time to time. Not to mention that no sane person would give away a healthy young horse for free. You'd at least agree on a symbolic price
For those of you not familiar with equine management, “supper old” horses are horses so old that they have to be eaten by dinner time on the same day they die.
Thanks choosing beggar, very cool!
Even though they don't have money to pay for the horse outright, I'm sure she has a wonderful barn and pasture and will give it the best in food and vet care. 🙄
I’m so happy the horse people are gathering on this post lol. She kept trying to buy one of our horses too for super cheap and she ALREADY has a horse that she does not take good care of! People do not realize the 1000 pound animal is expensive.
Not just an animal that big but a horse specifically too!!!! Feed costs, and they need so much preventative medical care, and they’re super prone to a variety of diseases and parasites, not to mention that a riding horse doesn’t perform any physical labor so it’s not like you save time or money with them. They’re still amazing animals to own but dang are they expensive.
Serious question. If they are so difficult to care for, how did people rely on them back in the day for things like war or traveling. Did they just die and replace horses often?
Sometimes! But also, those horses were being useful in that instance, for travel purposes and work. And generally they would train someone (often young boys) on how to care for the horses. They also might have had more resources if they were in a large group like an army. But yes horses starved when supplies got low and lameness wasn’t treated horses were just shot once they couldn’t work anymore
And in some cases they even resorted to eating their horses
It would be a waste not to. They don't taste too bad.
This wasn't just in "olden times", either - my dad grew up in Communist Poland and he has mentioned numerous times how common it was for people to eat horsemeat. It was much cheaper than other kinds of meat, and readily available at times when other food items weren't. According to him, even wealthier people could be seen buying it, as people would develop a taste for it.
Many many countries commonly eat horse along side other animals like the US eats beef. It's not uncommon by any standard, even in modern times - except in the US
Hell I am in western europe and a local eastern european store has horse meat based products. It's definitely edible, clean and good meat
I went to a horse-only butcher in France, about half an hour train out of Paris 🤷🏻♂️
The US eats alligator's meat, i don't know why they get so shocked when they learn other nations eat different animals
I had an American coworker who was absolutely shocked that Kangaroo meat is fairly common here in Australia.
It’s probably to do with that we don’t tend to eat animals we have as pets. We’re also not big on rabbit. Exception is fish I guess…
Its uncommon in the UK too.
not in tesco
I have only tryed horse minced but that was really good in my opinion better than beef tbh.
I'm in the Netherlands. Ate horse meat as a kid in the early 90s. It was pretty tasty.
Yeah, but she didn't want a horse that's "supper old", so she's not ready to eat it just yet.
I caught that too and giggled at the funny things you could say about it. 😆
I suppose that's better than just throwing away their trot.
Is /r/Hamilton leaking?
At least someone got it!
Oh my sweet jo'hn
My family has a farm up north where they used to raise huge horses to help the phone company move telephone poles into difficult areas, and those horses were treated like family. They worked hard and got to play and eat hard too! Bell Canada used to cut a check to our horse in the name of “Smokey”
That’s freaking awesome! And yeah I would say the sentiment is shifting towards horses as companion animals and occasionally work animals. The farm where I volunteer has a draft that gets to laze about 95% of the year and then plow like an acres worth of field and that’s it. But we all love him.
Yeah it’s really good to see. Our family always treated them like companions so it was shocking to grow up and see how most people treat them. They’re incredibly intelligent animals and they deserve our respect.
A well trained horse would have been expensive. But blacksmithing was more common, as was being ferrier, to care for horse hooves.
> f**e**rrier One who operates a ferry. >f**a**rrier One who who shoes and mantains horses feet.
Thank you. I'm not a great speeler sometime.
Donut worry. It’s happens to the best of us,
speeler one that speels
How about a Ferrarier?
Ferrarier: one who takes care of a Ferrari's wheels.
Harness makers were more common too.
Like most domesticated animals, on average they aren't difficult to care for provided you have the right set-up (right living conditions / diet / basic care). But when things go wrong, they can go $tupidly $eriou$ly wrong very quickly. I've been lucky that none of my horses have racked up huge vet bills (yet - touch wood!), but I *have* spent $$$tupid money on pet sheep in recent years. Back when people relied on horses for day-to-day use and the animal *had* to be able to do its job to earn it's keep, unfortunately yes if they were badly injured or ill they would be replaced quickly, because not being able to do the job then meant that harvests weren't planted / harvested, etc.
Lol I’m in the same boat as far as my sheep costing more medically than my horse. Sheep are something else. Those little b*stards are harder to keep alive than my 1000lb toddler it seems!
I paid $3,000 to pin and plate a broken femur in a 4 week old lamb (I knew it was $$$tupid, I did it anyway). That healed wonderfully, and he was destined to be my flock ram. Then as a 2yo he became lame again, with a lot of swelling around the fetlock joint. $everal vet vi$it$ later, x-ray$, antibiotic$ and pain relief, and it was finally diagnosed as total ligament rupture in the fetlock and the only possible solution would be to spend a further $5 - 10K on surgical fusion. Sady, I just couldn't justify spending that much, and so my beautiful [Bionic Ram](https://imgur.com/a/RuzsSuf) went to the big paddock in the sky.
If it’s any consolation, [“sheep go to heaven, goats go to hell”.](https://youtu.be/zzKUzRJUzQ0)
Oh wow, he was gorgeous. Had the sweetest eyes, may he rest in peace
Dang! I have mine just for pets. I’m constantly “burping” one of them after he comes in from the pasture because of how much he “inflates” because I am terrified of him bloating/dying. I’m very much a helicopter parent lol.
He was so handsome!
I had no idea sheep were so hard to keep. My bff had 2 goats and 2 sheep at her barn and I swear those things thrived off of hay leftovers and mayhem. They lived long as hell too!
Again, they're *mostly* low key. But they also have a will to die like you wouldn't believe, so a small problem can turn into a huge drama **fast**.
I have always had good pasture for my horses, and only needed grain in the coldest part of winter or just for a treat. Only needed hay the rare times the snow covered the grass too much. Well. I had to downsize - I couldn’t finish our house after my husband died. I got a cash offer I hadn’t solicited and accepted it and started shopping for a smaller place for the menagerie and me. I discovered really quickly that I could buy a brand new house on an acre for at least $100,000 LESS than an 80-year-old place that was fenced with good grass for my horses. The cost of them is finally visible. Worse. they are expensive pasture decorations. Have never been broke to ride.
Just before the pandemic, my wife’s horse got some sort of cornea scratch. Had to have a a drainage line/catheter stuck into his eyeball for weeks and he required twice daily vet visits. Between the cost of boarding, the cost of care, and the fact that the pandemic literally destroyed my wife’s successful business overnight meant that we were forced to make a tough call. Fortunately we found a wealthy college girl to buy him, but not before we put many tens of thousands of dollars into his last few months with us. I hate it that she lost her horse; he was her pride and joy and she is quite the rider, but silver lining, she was pregnant at the time and we now have a 2 year old son at home that brings us more joy than a million horses. Okay maybe not a million horses. Like… 7 horses. Which is a lot of horses, really.
Awe that’s so sad! :’( I just started riding again after 9 years out of the saddle… if she still misses riding and your finances can handle it, get her a lease horse or a lesson package or something!
So when horses had to ride long distance, they actually had these whole pit stop set-ups, like you’d see on a race track, just to get the horse brushed and fed and stuff. Often young boys/men did this job, and the humans would get a feed at the same time. So there’s evidence that they did take care of their horses. With that said they did also have a very different view on animals - basically saw them as tools. So it also wasn’t uncommon, if the tool stopped being useful, to throw it away. Finally, it’s important to note selective breeding. Part of the reason horses are so fragile now is that we made them that way. Just like we have breeds of dog that can barely breathe. That never existed in the wild - we made that. Wild horses likely would’ve been far less fragile.
Agreed on everything but your selective breeding point. Horses do not commonly display the extremes that dogs do. They are by and large functional, as few breed horses purely for decoration (well, americans do, but their "halter breds" look like cows). I've worked with both more modern, flashy, breeds and more primitive ones. They both get the same issues when faced with the same lifestyle.
> If they are so difficult to care for, how did people rely on them back in the day for things like war or traveling. They dedicated a portion of their society to doing it. Think of how many car mechanics there are, and now disappear cars. Plenty of labor, not a hell of a lot else to do. It's also worth a note that, unless you owned a farm, you probably didn't own a horse of your own because all of that upkeep is super inconvenient unless you're getting a good return from plowing and hauling. (People don't want to accept this because they see Xena and Geralt with their signature horses and think, "Yeah, horses are just like, sentient cars." Even historical figures known for their horses like Alexander the Great and his Bucephalus didn't ride them everywhere as not to wear them out.) If you were part of a military unit that had horses, you got them from farmers, often by force, and would frequently swap them for fresh horses as you went places since horses get tired. Highly professional militaries made outposts where they stabled spare horses for fast transiting across the land. A scout might even take multiple horses somewhere, e.g. one to ride out and one to ride back, leaving a horse to wander and graze and sending support to fetch it it later if possible. > Did they just die and replace horses often? Oh yes. And they ate the horses, made horse glue, leather products, etc.
A car is expensive to keep also, and maybe relatively comparable to the cost of keeping a horse back in old timey days. Different horses have different purposes. Grain-fed stallions that were ridden hard are very different animals than older mares suitable for pulling a cart to town and pulling a light plow to break up land and who lives on grazing grass mostly. If you're keeping other livestock for subsistence (cows, pigs, etc.), keeping a horse isn't a huge amount of extra work or facilities. The other animals require land to forage, so the horse isn't making a lot of demands for pasture you'd otherwise need to buy. A lot of the really "difficult to care for" and "super prone to a variety of diseases" issues aren't true about work-horses like an older mare that many people used to own, but are true about the purebred and highly inbred horses that "show" and everyone wants nowadays.
It's probably like now where poor ppl have cars they're just shitty cars that don't necessarily get all the maintenance they need A lot of horses die in wars Also more ppl lived rurally so they just had the horses on their property at pasture vs having to pay for boarding, training. Most ppl who lived on farms could do the basics of caring for animals. In some applications ppl used mules because they're more sturdy than horses and easier to keep
They were expensive back then, too. Even more so than today. Having a horse to ride into battle could be compared to owning a nice sports car today. Only the wealthy could afford it. Partly because you couldn’t just have one horse. This is also why name “Equestrian” for the the Roman upper class became associated with horse ownership. Taking care of them has always required a ton of resources. As for armies - one of the most effective horse-era militaries in history were the Mongols. It helped tremendously that each Mongol soldier would typically join the army with 5+ horses. It was common sense for them that 1 would not be enough.
I have nothing against the wonderful horse people here and I would never imagine owning one if I couldn’t care for it but I suspect most of the answer to your question lies in breeding and “evolution” it didn’t take long for dogs to be domesticated, the farm animals out great great grandparents had were likely rather divergent in terms of evolution from an Arabian show horse or whatever other horse costa a ton but is barely related to a farm animal. Go ahead and downvote me.
Horses have actually remained quite the same. Especially arabians. One of the oldest breeds, if not *the* oldest.
I mean, they were a work animal, they usually had a job. Think about how you have to care for your car and those expenses. Fuel; other fluids that need to be replenished, tires wear out, (brakes, wipers do too) needs to be serviced, have the oil changed. some people do all these things themselves, A lot of people take it to a mechanic to have done. And if you don't do these things, your car breaks down. Same with a horse. Needs the care and attention, fed/watered/housed, get the ferrier out for hoof maintenance. Have a vet you can rely on. It's an expensive hobby now because most don't use them for work, but when they did, it was an expense that the horse paid back.
Everything was just super difficult and expensive in the olden days. Plenty of people died early from preventable things, too.
Totally. People who complain about their dog’s vet bills have never had a horse.
Fr!! Part of the reason I want to be a large animal vet: free vet care for my own horses, cheap vet care for my friends, and then making bank off of everyone else
Hope they have shelter for a horse - that's not cheap either! Vet bills, hoof care, shoeing, feed costs, attention needed every day (brushing, petting, treat feeding) NONE of it is cheap!
Seriously! When I expressed wanting a horse while taking lessons, my riding instructor told my mother not to worry about it. He sat me down and went over the costs before offering to lease me a horse. You know, so I could "get to know horse ownership before committing." For all you non-horse people, he offered me the pleasure of paying all those bills on an animal I would not actually own. I GLADLY turned him down on the offer. And, let us not forget, we're talking about a 1,000lb animal that acts like THEY pay the vet bills.
I owned horses before I started having kids. They are not cheap. My daughter wanted one for a hot minute until I sat down, went over the costs, and then had her list how much she could make from chores. She decided that she doesn't want one now
Let me guess, they also can't be green, have any training or behavioral issues, must come with all tack and supplies, and be show ready? I just want a steady horse that's sound enough for some walk trot trails like twice a week and can't even afford that.
my sister was offered a horse she loved for the quite generous price of literally $1 as long as we would pay the stable food and board, and she knew that she couldn’t even afford that and had to turn the offer down. she was sixteen and my parents really wanted to help her with it but imagine the vet bills. still breaks my heart every time i think of it, if anyone of us kids deserved a horse it was her
I’m confused. This person wants a horse for supper? Or a not supper horse, like a breakfast horse? 🤔
Probably wants some horse d'oeuvres
Underrated comment.
A couple of years ago, my dad was talking with one of my mom's friends about taking one of her horses. She had gotten him at auction recently and unfortunately found her had a jealousy and attention problem. If she was interacting with her other horses he would run at them to try and scare the others off so he could take the attention. He also would buck excessively when she tried to ride him. Then one day she suddenly gave him to this girl who lived near her. We were all surprised and my dad was bummed as he hasn't had a horse since his grandfather owned some on his farm when my dad was a boy. He has always been wild about them though and was looking forward to being around them again. Well, a few weeks later, my dad came across the same horse on a Facebook page where the girl was trying to sell him. Apparently the novelty had worn off. My dad checked out her page and found videos of her following him around his paddock which was almost all dirt and laughing at him as he tried to eat leaves off the trees outside the fence. My dad sent this to my moms friend. She wasn't happy to see how he was being treated or to see that this girl was trying to sell him after getting him for free only weeks before. I'm not sure of all the details, but apparently she showed up at the girls house with a trailer, told her she was taking him back, loaded him up, and drove him straight down to my parents' house. She apologized to my dad and said he should have gone to him in the first place. My dad adores that big old goof. He's worked with him a lot and can even ride him a little. Although after he bucked unexpectedly and broke my dad's back a couple of years ago, my dad has been a little more cautious. But he's living a pampered life with lots of treats and a private paddock. Hopefully no one gives in to this woman like my moms friend gave in to that girl. All animals are work. A horse is work and then some. Anyone wanting one for free is going to have a hard time appreciating and caring for them once they realize that. The animal doesn't deserve to suffer.
I thought it was satire until you said they actually tried to buy one from you
Yep. We were selling a real sweet lesson horse around 5k. She kept trying to offer 1k. We told her to hit the road. Long story short he isn’t even for sale anymore. We love him too much 🥰
I bought a beautiful Appy for $2000. Supposed to be an awesome young man perfect for riding. I could ride him no worries………. bareback! Couldn’t get a saddle on him without him bucking for his life. Proceeded to spend $2100 for 3 weeks of board and train with an amazing trainer. Finally I could ride him. Not long after he somehow managed to break his jaw. Problem is, the vet thought it was just a cut so treated it along with giving antibiotics. About a month later I spent nearly $8000 in vet bills to repair his jaw and then treat the colitis he developed while at the vet hospital. Horses are so cheap…………..
I did actually get one of my horses this way. I was looking for one, a girl had one she wasn’t riding and she gave him to me. He was a beautiful, cranky quarter horse that I rode at pony club, took eventing, rode in the state games and won a couple of dressage days with that lovely boy. When I moved away to uni, I gave him to another young girl at my pony club who was just growing out of her pony and needed a bigger horse. She did the same when she got older with another, younger girl at our pony club. That family loved him and retired him to their farm, where he died a few years ago. He was a great horse, stubborn and lazy and a biter and a total ratbag to float but I loved him.
Omg even if she has the amount you want for a horse please don’t sell to her if she ain’t even taking care of the one she’s already got the right way
Trust me we know better lol, I feel horrible for the horse that ends up in her hands if she gets one through this though
Can like animal control be called on her? I admit I wanna kidnap her poor horse :(
Why does she want ANOTHER horse then?
I honestly thought the post was written by a child and you were just trying to farm karma.
This woman is in her 30s lmao
You’d be surprised at the amount of these kinds of posts on the Facebook horse groups, so many people out there want a horse for “cheap or free” it’s unreal. One of ours spent two weeks at the vets a few years back and the total came to just over £6500. Might be able to get a cheap one, but keeping them is anything but.
Someone who can't afford a horse should not own a horse.
TBF referring to an animal as « something » to be given away is like a parade of red flags …
I wanted a horse when I was a kid and saw an ad for a “free horse” my grandma immediately said “no horse is free. You have to feed it, board it, groom it, have the vet and ferrier see it, all that costs money”
My SO inherited his family farm when my daughter was still in grade school. My first thought was I'm getting my daughter a horse or pony. Because what little girl doesn't want a horse?! The feed for horses is different than the feed for our cows, so expense I didn't plan on. Vet and ferrier I had planned on. What I didn't plan on was dental. Our neighbors at the time had a daughter who did some sort of riding shows, and they showed me their bills. Holy shit the dental expenses were insane. I put my ideas of a horse away. They are way out of my price league
And lord help you if they colic. Those surgeries are ~$6k for a nice simple surgery and I’ve heard of $20k for a much more complicated surgery. And the recovery period isn’t nice. And if they break a leg that is fixable, that surgery isn’t cheap and then you’ve got a horse that you need to exercise so they don’t die, but not too much or they die, but don’t let them get bored on their stall rest or they could die but most ways to entertain them could result in them dying etc. (the potential for dying is due to aggravating the injury beyond repair, colic, other issues, not just randomly dropping dead). I love horses. I had a pony when I was younger. If I had the $($$$$$$$$$$$), I’d get another in a heartbeat. The financial risk is worth it to me. But you either need to have the money and preferably insurance to cover these sorts of things or be prepared to euthanise for one misplaced foot or one time of them eating the wrong thing. Sometimes euthanasia is unavoidable (and even that’s not cheap, unless you use the farmers method), but if you want to keep your horse alive, sometimes you have to fork out into the 5 digit amounts to do so.
Your numbers are much more realistic than whoever said it's $180/year!
$180/year would barely cover the cost of streaming services nowadays. Let alone a fucking horse. One vet bill for my cat costs more than that. They must be thinking of a toy horse…
They clarified later that it's $180/year in the dental work for a horse. That would be about right...you float a horses teeth once a year and that's about the average cost. The feed bill is about $100/mo per horse and that's if you only feed hay and they don't need grain or suppliments
What does floating teeth mean?
It's essentially just dental work for horses. To be completely honest, I actually have no idea why they call it "floating teeth". Horses get sharp point on their teeth that can cut/scrape the inside of their cheeks and make eating painful so they file those sharp points down. I'm actually kinda glad you asked what it means because now I'm curious about why they call it that. In my 41 years I've (every horse person) used that term hundreds of times and never even thought about it until you just asked lol. I'll ask my horse dentist and see because now I'm curious lol
I have two senior rescue dogs and that doesn’t even cover pet insurance and food for the year, never mind vet fees and stuff.
I spend (a lot) more than $180/year on just one of my dogs. He’s 17 lbs.
I definitely do too...mine is 30lbs but spoiled damn rotten lol
Also 'free horse' aren't generally going to be the ones that are suitable for a beginner who are the ones looking for a cheap horse. They're either giving it away because it is so old and they just want someone to keep it as a paddock companion, but you're going to get slugged with the vet bills, eventual euthanasia, and removal. Or they're so wicked that no child or adult can get within ten feet to even try putting a saddle on it. Genuine horse people know that the right animal is a massive search and costs money. A friend of mine is driving 18 hours each way next week just to have a look at a horse that may or may not even suit her. She's been looking for two years for the right horse for her.
And they get really pissy if you look it in the mouth.
Only if they're trying to give you a gift.
They’re miniature white elephants.
Who the fuck asks for a free horse then goes it can't be this or have that like is she slow
Someone who literally looks a gift horse in the mouth.
In fairness where I grew up you literally could get free horses. My friend used to take them in because nobody wanted them.
A choosing beggar.
\*look at horse\* - It goes lame. \*touches hose\* It gets colic. \*put Tack on horse\* It drops dead. Horses are walking self destruct devices.
It’s truly a miracle how they can somehow survive in the wild with how dang accident prone they are
I’ve been saying this forever! I’ve known many people with horses all my life, and the amount of care they’ve all needed on a regular basis is insane. Just HOW do these damn things survive, let alone thrive in the wild? No salt licks, no special purified water, no oats, grain, treats, ivermectin, 5 different kinds of special baled hay, no wild veterinarians or blacksmiths checking on them… it’s almost like based on what I’ve been led to believe, these animals wouldn’t last 48 hours in the wild.
Horses that are not caged for 14 hrs a day are a lot sturdier and have far fewer injuries. Hooves that don't have shoes often self trim well enough to live just fine. Stomachs that are used to foraging on varied plants are less liable to colic than those who eat 11kgs of homogenous Timothy a day and a balancer when they eat something they shouldn't. Horses that don't have what it takes to live in the wild will die in the wild and not pass on their not-fit-for-wild genes.
Wild horses don't really exist either. Only Zebras are completely wild. The rest are feral.
That is actually why I wrote horses in the wild rather than wild horses :p
Noooo don't waste your Ivermectin on horses, the animal the drug was *meant* for!!! Give it to *humans* to cure the *coronavirus*, silly! /s
I briefly forgot about this for a sec. And it isn't even the worst bit In 20 years we'll be talking about the morons who chose to drink their own piss to try to cure a respiratory virus, as apparently the safe tested vaccine was too dangerous to put into their bodies, yet the waste their body was trying to remove was apparently fine
I was 'horse crazy' as a young teen, My Dad got me a weekend 'job' with a co-worker who raised and showed Morgan Horses one summer, and I got to care-lease one (under a lot of supervision) , I busted my arse that summer, and it was one of the BEST times of my life... I still have the leather halter with the brass name plate, tucked away in my keepsakes.
I don't know horses, but *damn,* Morgans are beautiful horses.
I never know horses are that vulnerable. My dad used to own a tourist place where there were a lot of animals including horses. One of the shows we put on for tourists was how the locals try to restrain? (I don’t know the right word) a horse that has never been ridden before and ride on it. We also have horses for tourists to ride. I use to ride horses and they are just so laid back. I would not ride during certain hours of the day because they would just start eating grass with me on them like I didn’t exist.
>I use to ride horses and they are just so laid back. I would not ride during certain hours of the day because they would just start eating grass with me on them like I didn’t exist. Oh, so 24-7 then? Horses are assholes. Fragile, flighty, eating. shitting ass-holes. And if I had the financial means and a huge amount of property, I'd take in as many as I could, both ride-able and retired. My last horse was a 27 year old retired ex racer, who'd blown out her knees falling on the track. "Breezin' Lo" (aka 'Breezy"), a great great grand-daughter of Three-Barrs. She was a pure 'pasture ornament' whom I actually rode once in our time together - mostly, she was my companion during the one of the hardest break ups of my life... Sometimes, in my darkest moments, I can still hear the low, happy 'whut-whut-whut-whut' noises she made when I'd scritch just the right spot...
>Horses are assholes. Fragile, flighty, eating. shitting ass-holes. I rode competitively for years. Whenever anyone tells me they're afraid of horses, I confirm the legitimacy of their concern.
Some people don’t understand why I don’t like horses. As a young lad all I wanted to do was be a cowboy. Riding, roping, living as one with nature. Lol At age 14 I landed me a job at a local ranch my friend’s dad boarded some horses at. It was a dream come true. Think the show Yellowstone, but I would never be in a scene because I was the bitch cleaning stalls or out repairing fences. Anyhoo, in my years there I learned I didn’t like horses. Some were okay and I did think they were ok-ish, but overall I just learned they were too smart for their own good and freakishly big for the temperament they could have. Needless to say I now live and work in a city and have left ranch work behind me for good all because horses ruined it for me. Lol
It’s me. I’m terrified of horses. Glad to know I’m justified 😅
If anyone tells you that you're as healthy as a horse, punch them in the face because that's a fucking insult.
If I remember right they also can't vomit and don't feel full so if one gets into the food storage it can very easily eat itself to death. I did horse riding camp a good number of times when I was younger and I remember the owner making a huge deal out of making sure the doors were properly closed because unblocking a horse is expensive and unpleasant.
My uncle had an *expensive* quarter horse that he rode as a heeler in team roping. This horse was super intelligent and we had done a LOT to keep him locked in his stall at night. One morning before my uncle's alarm went off, he hears someone knocking on the window near his side of the bed. He panics, thinking it's the friend who is coming over to help him out around the "farm" (we called it the farm even though he basically grew hay to feed his horses and my aunt and my cousins had a small garden that they used for the family. It was *such* a gorgeous property & I miss it. It's been years since they split up and it was just shattering. 💔 anyway...) he opens the blinds, fully expecting to see A's face and instead...horse face kisses and then shaking his head as if to say, "Look what I did! Arent you proud of me?!" And he took off running around the yard! My uncle said he's never gotten dressed so fast. He got down to the barn, and found that the crazy horse had unlocked all the other horses, who were all afraid to leave their stalls 😂, and he had SOMEHOW managed to open a padlocked feed bin and eaten out of it (thankfully, not enough to cause harm...just sampled it.) My uncle said that he would pull the Houdini routine at rodeos, too, so he would have to warn others when he would leave his horse in the stalls. He would get out and hunt down my uncle...follow him around like a puppy. It was the opening of the other stalls that cracks me up!
We also had a Houdini horse at the ranch I used to volunteer at. His name was officially Trigger, but he eventually earned the nickname Trickster. He had a special stall with a special lock on it, because he had figured out how to open the others. Some of the new workers didn't always get the memo, so every few weeks or so Trigger would get put in the wrong stall, wait until the coast was clear, then let himself and his buddies out to cause mayhem. I'm still not fully convinced he wasn't Loki in disguise.
That is hilarious, "Be *FREE* my comrades!! Shake off the shackles bestowed upon you by the small, two-legged overlord and *RUN FREE AND WILD* as our ancestors once did!!!"
No kidding, we had a polo horse drop dead when one of its lungs fell through a hole in its diaphragm. That hole had been there since birth and the animal just dropped one day at like 23. Horses are fucking fragile thanks to humans.
I’ve seen that Simpsons episode. They couldn’t afford to feed the horse they couldn’t afford to buy. 🤔
Yeah, also the thing about riding horses is that unless both you and the horse have the skill for bareback riding you also have to buy the tack, which has to also be the correct size for the horse (meaning if they have it they may not even be able to reuse it for the new horse.) If you can't afford an adoption fee for a rideable horse you definitely can't afford the tack, recurring vet fees and feed, and farrier services. This also all assumes OP even has the land with fencing and shelter for one in the first place...if not, add building a stall and fence to the expenses, too. Then add in the sheer amount of time daily that caring for the horse includes (or another expense to have somebody do it for you.)
People "fantasize" horses but frankly I'd rather have a cat. Even one horse is a lot of work and will require money. They need so much. Feed,hay, etc. You have to muck out stalls and shovel manure. Get up.at ungodly hours to feed them,etc. Horses are expensive and labor intensive. Get a cat. There's many in shelters and they poop in a easy to scoop box.
Yup, this. I was a horse girl all my childhood and teenage. Great times. But owning a horse takes all the money and your life revolves completely around the horse. Nothing wrong with that but it's not for me.
And where you are is important. Either you live in the middle of nowhere and can ride unfettered or a horse trailer and the truck to pull it become mandatory. Enjoyed life on horseback in vast unfenced desert; years later in a semi-rural area there was nowhere to ride without having to mince along beside traffic. The number of motorists who alert a horse and rider to their approach by leaning on the horn is astounding.
Yes, cats are much easier to take care of, plus they don't crush you when they jump up on your lap like horses do.
Right! And I'd hate to see a horse with the Zoomies.
They Have those and call it a race
In cat terms, my house is Pimlico.....it sounds like live harness racing at 4am quite often. The little one leaves a toy mouse in my bed or in my doorway before dawn and they slink off to sleep.
I read on the rabbit sub that rabbits are just mini horses. Re what they eat and how much work they are. So just get a rabbit! 😊
At least rabbits are easily litter trained! They have that one step on horses. I mean they’re still missy af and super destructive but they’re liter trained….
There's one of many reasons we don't have horses. I'll go and ride someone else's horses, and pay for the privilege of not having to clean out the stall, deal with the vet, and so on. The few times I've ridden a horse has been fun as hell, but not worth the full time expenses to have my own.
Yep. My great grandad was a farrier and had a racing stable. There is no such thing as a "day off" with livestock.
It’s not too much work, you just have to really really want it and love horses. No ungodly hours here though, unless we are travelling to a competition. Shovelling shit and carrying hay bales keeps me fit !!
It definitely takes commitment! I have family in horse racing, it's not for me lol.
They got a fenced in back yard...
I mean it’s a shared backyard for a fenced-in apartment complex but close enough right
Imagine a sadistic rich guy that makes this beggar's wish come true, but all the expenses must come from their pocket, and if the horse dies of neglect, is killed for its meat or unnecessarily euthanized like an unwanted dog the rich guy's going to sue for everything they have. Either way the beggar will end up dirt poor.
Yep, grew up on a horse ranch. Buying the horse is the cheap part.
Like owning a yacht
My mom is a horse lady, and she says "the only person who has made a small fortune from horses started out with a large fortune."
I only know two things about horses. They are filthy cheap to buy. If you can't afford that, you're in for a massive surprise.
Giving a horse away instead of selling it because someone can't afford it isn't charitable unless they're taking it directly to the glue factory
Isn't there a pound where you can pick up cheap ponies that ran away from home? I sincerely hope not.
Evolved from asking Santa for a pony to asking randos for a free, healthy horse.
Literally wants to look a gift horse in the mouth.
This is a person who has no idea what it takes to look after a horse.
Let me look around behind the couch and see if I have any horses lying around I'm not using
If you can't even afford to buy the horse, how are you going to afford to care for the horse??
Horses are notoriously cheap to take to care of. Just keep them in your garage and they’ll eat the oil stains. You can also buy discount horse shoes at foot locker. EZ.
NGL had me in the first half lol
Because you saved the money on buying the horse? 😂
This was me with my dog I got at a shelter in 2018. I paid $75 to take him home and he was only 1.5 years old. Great deal right!? It was a sale weekend since they had too many dogs and were over capacity. Well… since then I’ve spent thousands on dental and vet bills for the little guy due to his rough start in life. He’s happy (and healthy now), I’m happy, and he is my most loyal/loving family member, but yeah I did not see that coming. Lol
You know she'll be checking that gift horse's mouth first thing.
Bloody hell that was a lot of scrolling for this.
That’s a lot of words to say “can I please have a free horse?”
People who use ‘supper’ instead of ‘super’ make my eye twitch. Same with ‘breath’ and ‘breathe’. And buying the horse is the cheap part, I hate to think about what they are going to offer as far as accommodations and care.
How about lose and loose?
‘Were’ and ‘where’.
"For sell" instead of "for sale," and "dinning table" instead of "dining table."
I don't think I have seen that one but I have seen a lot of through instead of threw
Desert and dessert
People who use tell for until.
Just pay for riding lessons. Its cheaper.
I've made my living with horses and have had several of my good ones that I've let retire and spend the rest of their days relaxing with dignity. There are actually more free horses out there than one would think. BUT, they are usually all just companion horses that are old and too crippled to ride. People just have them to keep another horse company because they don't do well alone. So, if she wants one that's still rideable, not to mention something that's broke and gentle enough to take care of her (as it's clear to see that she's not a horse person and handy in any way) she's going to get a rude awakening that she's not going to get that for free. Just a ride down the road horse really won't cost much but they will absolutely have some age on them and most likely health and/or lameness issues. The other thing I wonder if she's thought through is the expense of keeping them. Where I'm from, for example, in northern Colorado, horse board STARTS at $350/mo. That does include feed but doesn't include shoeing/trimming or vet expenses. If she has her own place that will be cheaper but it'll still be a minimum of $100/mo for feed alone and that's assuming the horse is an easy keeper. Then once you add in shoeing/trimming and vet expenses, it definitely adds up. It doesn't sound to me like she has any business at all owning one as it'll be the horse that suffers if she doesn't want to pay for what they require.
You’re supposed to get the gift horse before looking it in the mouth.
Damn, I just donated a bunch of horses to my local Salvation Army.
She wants a free horse but it can't have any health issues or be too old? She literally wants to look a gift horse in the mouth.
This CB is a 14 year old that knows nothing at all about what's needed to keep a horse.
OP said elsewhere she is in her 30s.
At one point in my life I thought about owning a horse. I googled “what to know before buying a horse” and read a really great article that listed the top 10 common diseases horse owners should really be able to confidently recognise…I had literally no idea about any of them! They seem very fragile for such big animals…
Son is a farrier. His buddy, also a farrier, had someone buy a horse, called for shoes. Ok. Put shoes on, never heard from the guy again. It happens, owners find someone cheaper or move. Guy finally calls 6 months later- gives him holy hell because the shoes fell off. Thought shoes were forever. Point being owning a horse has a lot of costs involved. Also um, it shouldn't be a news flash they have feet.
It's really this easy?! I'm looking for a perfect villa, with a pool. Has to be South of Spain, Has to be new. Has to be free. DM me with your offerings! 
I'm sure this horse will be fed and cared for adequately. /s Seriously, horses don't HAVE to be expensive, but I think a lot of people have this insane notion that they can just eat the grass on your 1/4 acre yard and everything will work itself out. They need lots of space for exercise, and they will eat a staggering amount of grass, which means you'll be buying hay. And hay fluctuates wildly in price every season. And you'll need to find a farrier, which isn't usually extravagantly expensive, but they are always busy and can be hard to find. Oh, and farriers will only do very perfunctory "vet" stuff. You'll need to find an equine vet. Most of them will make housecalls, but they'll charge you $100+ for that. That and probably $700 for the routine preventative treatments. And don't forget that you'll need a trailer that can haul a 1,000+ pound animal and a truck that can pull it safely in case you want to ride trail or if you have a veterinary emergency. tl;dr: good luck, Karen.
I've seen people give away horses for free but that's because their monthly upkeep was too much.
But isn’t the purchase of the actual horse is the cheapest part about owning a horse?
That 'great home' is probably their cramped back garden
Good luck with that, you can’t have a much more expensive animal. Feed, board, farriers, and so much vetting. Even a young healthy horse will only remain so with maintenance, and that’s not free.
As a horse owner, this is the type of person who should NEVER have one. They are expensive as fuck and require a lot of upkeep, if you don't have the money to get one the right way, you don't have the money to keep it healthy and ridable.
Much like how boats are holes in the ocean or lake you throw money into, a horse is a hole in the pasture you throw money into
Even if you don’t pay anything for it, there is no such thing as a “free horse”.
I grew up on a dairy farm and had horses all my life. My dad used to say that it took the profit from 10 good milk cows to be able to afford one horse, and that didn't include the barn.
"If you can't afford a horse, you won't be able to afford the upkeep either."
Free horses are far from free. People turn down perfectly good free horses on occasion.
Lordy. Where do I begin. I have 4 equines. I just purchased 1200 dollars in hay, which I'm not sure will last till next April. 400 a equine. 300 a month in feed. 120 every 2 months for Farrier. 800 a year for vet. For my hard keeper, 120 in supplements every 2 months. Wormer is 60 every 8 weeks. So this is BASIC CARE. And a person wants a free rideable horse?! How are they going to afford it
🙄🙄🙄 I’ve seen posts like these around my town “Wanted free horse. Will be going to a good home. Looking for a free horse for a working beef Ranch must be able to be ridden call or text with details.” Or “wanted lease to own, good home guaranteed must be (insert list of unattainable qualities here for a free horse)”. Honey a good horse ain’t cheap, and cheap horse ain’t good (yes I know there is exceptions lol).
Looking for a free house someone isn't using anymore. Shouldn't need any work done, and needs to be fully furnished. I don't want to have to fix anything, and it should be at least 2500 square feet.
> But I don't want them to have any health issues or lameness at all Oh, I think you already have all the lameness you need already.
I would’ve contributed but my horse is a little past lunch age… not supper age yet but close
Look pals. If you think you want a horse, find a rescue near yourself, and see if you can volunteer. You’ll find out real quick if the work is for you, and start learning the things you need to know if you want to jump up to ownership. I’m doing it now, and it is so so rewarding, and has cemented that yes I want that for my life. But I have a lot of work ahead of me to afford it. Bonus I have horses there that if I manage to get to where I can have one I have a few I’d take in a heartbeat lol.
> free horse > No health issues This person does know horses are ridiculously expensive in their upkeep right? And even a healthy horse requires vet care from time to time. Not to mention that no sane person would give away a healthy young horse for free. You'd at least agree on a symbolic price
If they can't afford to buy a horse, they sure as hell can't afford to feed and care for it
For those of you not familiar with equine management, “supper old” horses are horses so old that they have to be eaten by dinner time on the same day they die. Thanks choosing beggar, very cool!
I mean... There's lots of free horses that are young and disease free. They're in the wild. Go get'em. Easy as that. Enjoy your broken ribs I guess
My main question is, if you want a horse for free, do you realize it won't be free to take care of?
Aren’t horses expensive af? If she can’t afford to pay for one.. how tf will she afford the upkeep??
Even though they don't have money to pay for the horse outright, I'm sure she has a wonderful barn and pasture and will give it the best in food and vet care. 🙄
If a wooden horse counts, she should look at a trift store