How much work IS a horse?

[s1120]

OK, reading RichZ's posts about the horses got me to thinking.[Ya, Ya,I know, thats not always a good thing [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img] ] How much work IS a horse? Is it a everyday, for hours type of a thing? How do you go away on vacation? I can bring the dogs with me, but its hard to fit a horse in the car. So whats invalved on a daly bases? Food, water? Grooming? Whats the deal. Can you get by a week, by just having someone stop by to feed, and water? I don't want to sound dumb, but I got NO idea. Thanks.

[MikePA]

Caring for a horse is work [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] , whether it's a lot of work is kind of subjective. It involves the following activities;

1. Feed and water twice a day, every day. Vacation? What's a vacation? [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] If we leave, we ask a relative to feed the horses for us. If we can't get a volunteer, someone stays home. How long this takes is a function of how many horses you have. Our three horses take 15-20 minutes to feed, twice a day. This counts the time it takes to walk to the barn.

2. Stalls should be cleaned out on a daily basis (my opinion) and bedding (straw, wood chips, etc.) added as needed. If you don't do it every day, it just builds up. For our three equine children, an hour a day.

3. The barn needs cleaned on a regular basis. Floor swept, tack room cleaned, etc. 3 hours a week

4. The horses should also be groomed (brushed, hooves cleaned, etc.) on a regular basis. Maybe not daily, but at least once per week. This is when you find things for the vet and farrier to do. [img]/forums/images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] 3 hours a week

5. Tack needs cleaned and maintained which is a function of how much you use it.

6. Water buckets, feed buckets, etc. needed cleaned on a regular basis.

7. Add in all the normal maintenance a barn needs.

8. Add in all the normal maintenance a horse trailer needs (assuming you have one).

9. Add in time spent on the phone arranging to be there for the farrier and vet. You don't always have to be there, but we prefer to be there.

10. Someone has to go the the feed store to get food, salt blocks, wood chips (what we use). One Saturday morning per month is dedicated to this trip and then unloading the supplies.

11. Unlike doc, we have to buy our hay from a local farmer. Pick the first nice weekend in April/May and the hottest weekend in July/August and guess what I am doing? The farmer calls and I go get hay.Sometimes he will bring a wagon full, but it needs unloaded right away if for no other reason than he needs it back to load more hay on it. Some people have hay delivered and stacked. Great if you can afford it.

Lotta work? Yep.

[s1120]

OK, So if you are going away, you would have to get someone to devote an hour, or two every day to take care of the horses? Normaly that does not seem like TOO much work. I find you spend a lot of time just hanging around looking for something to do anyways. Thanks.

[MikePA]

We are happy if we can find someone to just feed and water them, much less all the other daily activities. Someone in our area started a business that offers this service, but we haven't used them.

[RichZ]

Mike did a great job of describing the work, but one man's work is another man's pleasure. I get up early every morning to clean Rosies' stall. I do it first thing before I take a shower. Believe it or not, I enjoy it! Then I groom her, and even play with her for a while, or else do some lead training, depending on how much time I have. To me, none of this stuff is work, but it is VERY TIME CONSUMING!!!

One thing you left out, Mike is brush hogging pastures and keeping the paddock in shape. And, oh yeah, I spend a lot of time mending fences, both wood fences and electric fences. Believe it or not, I love all of that.

Also, I'm trying my hand at growing my own hay. That takes a lot of time, but again, I love it. More tractor time!!!

Like anything else when it comes to animals, it's a committment!! And don't forget that horses can live over 30 years, so it's a long committment!!

[s1120]

<font color="red">That takes a lot of time, but again, I love it </font color>

Rich, That says it all! [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Like anything, its not work unless you don't want to do it.

[LazyJ_Arabians]

For the last four years I've made a notch in the gatepost to my garden for every wheelbarrow full of horse manure I've dumped in there. I recently had to move to a different post because the original max'ed out at a little over 3,000 notches. I grow big tomatoes!

[lmassom]

Yes, it takes some "work", but I wouldn't trade the joy I get from interacting with my horses every day for a year of vacation!

Larry

[RichZ]

I agree, Larry! When we bought our farm, and started getting many animals, my wife and I agreed that the farm IS our vacation. We have no intention of going away for anything other than a family emergency. We'd rather have our animals than a vacation, any day!!

[farmhouse]

My daughter wanted a horse so badly that we extracted a promise that she would take care of him. She kept her part of the bargain but I was willing to lend a hand when necessary. We had about 4 acres of native pasture for grazing and we supplemented with oats and some hay in the winter months. The grooming was a whenever schedule but with little girls and their horses this was usually on a pretty regular basis. We found that the horse could survive very well during a week-long absence in the summer. Winter, of course, required feeding each day. Ample water is essential no matter what the season. Owning a horse in the country is a great experience but it's like the boatowner once said, two of the greatest days of his life had to do with his boat-the day he bought it and the day he sold it! Good luck